Once the plate was empty, the female hurried over, placing the tote beside me. She went back to the door, disappearing for a moment only to return with a small army of fae. They carried a copper tub, dropping it in the space between the stone slabs. Water sloshed over the edges, hitting my legs. I jerked my feet back. The liquid was cold.
Aric snapped his fingers, and the other fae quickly left. Only he and the female remained. He turned to me. “Stand.”
I climbed to my feet.
Aric tilted his head, his pale gaze flickering over me. “You’re so much easier to deal with like this.” He approached me, curlinghis fingers around my chin and tilting my head back. “Which means, this will go so much more smoothly. Because I know the minute I release my hold on you, you’re going to fight this.”
I blinked slowly as he reached around, unhooking the band secured to my neck. He placed it on the stone.
“Because I know you’ll find every second of this utterly humiliating, being stripped and tended to as if you are nothing more than a child. I want to see that. The red flush of embarrassment, and the futile attempts to cover yourself.” His eyes closed as he sighed. “It would truly be a marvelous sight to behold. But alas, I fear it would break you, and since you’re my favorite new pet, I’m not done playing with you.”
He opened his eyes. “Plus, I have important business to do today.” Slipping his hand from my chin, he stepped back and motioned the female forward.
I stood still, waiting.
Aric pivoted, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cellphone. He stared down at it as the female picked up the tote and began taking out items. Removing two pitchers, she filled them with the water from the tub.
“Undress,” she said, her voice sharp as an icicle. “And get in the tub.”
My gaze flicked from her to the Ancient’s back.
The female beside me sighed with annoyance. “My lord.”
He glanced over his shoulder and, a moment later, he chuckled. “Undress and get in the tub, little bird.”
I did as he requested, letting the soiled clothing fall to the floor. The water was a shock, stunning me into immobility as the cold shot straight up my legs and my spine. There was no time to adjust. Hands landed on my shoulders, forcing me down so I was sitting. Gasping, I reached out, clasping the sides of the tub.
The female got to work, working a lavender-scented bar of soap against my skin. The sting against the raw cuts warredwith the numbing properties of the frigid water, and eventually, the water won. The smarting pain faded as the female moved to a cloth, dragging it down my arms as she knelt behind me. Quickly, the once-clear water turned murky.
Aric moved to the other slab of stone, stretched out on it, reclining as if he were lounging by a pool. “Ask me what business I have to take care of, little bird,” he said, looking up from his phone.
Teeth chattering, I winced as the female dragged the soapy cloth along my back. “W-what business d-do you have to t-take care of?”
“Well, since you asked.” He returned to thumbing through his cell. “I have a very important meeting with a…certain member of the Summer Court who, like me, wishes to see the return of the Queen. For very different reasons, but reasons nonetheless.”
My head jerked back as the female scrubbed at my tangled hair, lathering the oily strands.
“I’m so close to reopening the doorway and freeing my Queen.” Looking up from his phone, Aric glanced over at me just as the female tugged on my hair once more. One eyebrow rose as his gaze dipped. The corners of his lips tipped up. “Do you know how I will succeed? Answer me.”
My spine bowed as the female guided my head. She picked up the pitcher. “No.”
Swinging his legs off the stone, he stood and approached the tub. “Obviously, the likelihood of the King having a child with a halfling is slim, but there is one way that the gateway could be opened. The King himself can do it.”
He dropped to his knees in front of the tub, snapping his fingers. A moment later, he held the pitcher. “But why would he?”
Shivering, I waited for him to continue.
He curved a hand around the nape of my neck. “Tip your head back,” he coaxed, and I obeyed. “The King wouldn’t unless he was forced. After all, he would do anything to protect hismortuus.The Summer fae can bring me the King’s weakness, and with that, I will be able to make him do whatever I want.”
The cold water pouring over my head wasn’t as much of a shock as it had been when I first climbed into the tub, but it still caused me to jolt.
“And as more younglings and Summer fae taste the Devil’s Breath, the Order will be too busy wrangling them as I force the King to open the doorway.” He picked up the other pitcher, rinsing the remaining soap from my hair. He placed it aside. “When that happens, this world will finally become the Queen’s, and nothing will be able to stop her this time.”
Drops of water blotted his white shirt as he slid his hand to the front of my throat. “You’ll most likely be dead by then.”
His fingers followed the stream of water coursing down my shoulders and then lower. His gaze tracked his hand. “Perhaps you will make me a liar. You are strangely resilient, and I have yet to bore of our time together. I’m not ready to silence your screams.”
I sucked in a sharp breath at the sudden pinch.
