“Guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t asking.” He took my scarred right hand and filled it with more of the same black material. “Undergarments for the bath. Wouldn’t want to offend your delicate sense of modesty.”
Cheeks blazing, I clutched the fine cloth to my chest. “How gentlemanly of you.”
“Naturally.” With a slight incline of his head, he smirked, inky eyes twinkling. “You can put those on when we get to the bathhouse.”
“Have you forgotten already?” I retreated, lip curled. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“It’s a bath, not a grand inquisition,” he drawled, tossing me a look. “A little soapy water isn’t going to kill you”—his nose wrinkled—“but it’ll damn sure do some good.”
“Need I remind you of the shower, not ten paces from where we now stand?”
“After all these many years, I’ve come to understand one thing, Miss Tannovic.” He stooped, meeting my eyes. “Nothing about you is harmless or innocent. Say I were to agree. To allow you to shower here, behind a locked door, as I would any other woman in my care.” His fingers went to the tiny crimson smear beneath his jaw, where I had pressed a rusty blade. “There’s the vanity mirror to consider,” he said, ticking words off on his fingers. “The shaving razors. Various hygiene chemicals and several other items that could be used to maim, poison, blind, or otherwise injure me should you be so inclined.” He laughed. “Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if you tried to bludgeon me with a bar of soap wrapped in a towel.”
“Huh. Gravity weapon,” I mused, fingers pressed to my lips to conceal a smirk. “Good idea.”
“Exactly my point. So the answer is an emphatic, and instantaneous ‘I think the fuck not’. We’re going to the bathhouse where I can keep you in my sights. Within reach.”
Baring teeth, I tilted my head to the side. “You’ll have to sleep sometime, Captain…”
He set his palm on my upper back, steering me toward the door. “There are chains secured to the floor beneath my bed.”
I squawked. “You’re joking.”
But to this, he didn’t respond, marching me down the stairs with a savage grin of his own.
“Holy shit,” Marco said as we approached the kitchen, taking a massive, guilty step back from a pink-cheeked Alicia. “And here I thought you’d gone to bed already, old man.”
“If I did,” the captain replied, pausing to bump his hip against the doorframe, “it’s only because I’ve been doing it longer and better than you, pup.”
Chortling, Marco conceded the point, asking, “Where you off to in such a hurry?”
“Bathhouse. Oh,” the captain said, catching Alicia’s eye. “Alicia, could you have the bedsheets changed while we’re gone? They’re soiled.”
“Of course, sir.” She grinned, waggling her brows at me. “It would be mypleasure.”
“Ah,” Marco said, tapping the side of his nose. “Better andlonger, huh? Seems unlikely, given that you’ve been gone what? Ten minutes?”
Scowling, I picked at my collar, finding interest in the tops of my filthy feet. “I’m hungry.”
The captain snorted. “And I suppose you think I should reward your most recent attempt on my life, hmm?”
“Attempt on your—” Marco choked on the words, eyes bulging. “Please tell me you’re referring to this morning? I fuckin’told youto chain her up while she slept. But did you listen?”
“It’s not a reward,” I snapped as Alicia’s smile slid from her face only to be replaced with a tight-lipped frown. “I’m not a dog.”
“No, but by Caledonian law, you’re still my slave. When you eat ismyconcern.”
“Well, I may have lost count of how long I’ve been in this cesspit, oh wise and powerful master of everything beneath the stars, but you haven’t fed meanythingsince I got here.”
It was his turn to gape at me. “Fucksakes,” he said at length, running a hand through his hair, making it stick up at odd angles. “I didn’t realize—Fuck.”
“A compromise,” Alicia demurred, approaching with a graceful roll of her hips, holding a juicy, red apple aloft. “Something light until you return from the baths, all refreshed and… cleaned up.” She caught my eye, squeezing just atouchtoo hard as she clasped my hands around the fruit.
I sneered, sinking my modified canines into the fruity red flesh without breaking eye contact. Oh, I’d play the part, alright. Just not the role the traitor had cast me in.
“Mm,” Marco hummed, sliding his hands around Alicia’s waist. “So thoughtful, pretty girl.” He kissed the side of her neck, making her squeal, though still, she did not break from my scowl.
The captain flung the front door wide. “We’re leaving now.”
