Idon’t want to admit it, but the bathhouse experience is nice. The water is hot to the point of pain in the beginning, but once my body gets used to the temperature, it’s heaven. I sink in, letting it cover my head completely, and stay submerged for as long as I can hold my breath.
My ugly reality becomes muffled, and in the underwater silence, I can focus harder on my bond with Ronan. I wish there was a way we could communicate through the connection, just like Karl and I can speak telepathically when we’re in our wolf forms. But all I sense is the same ball of fear and frustration from before. Ronan is worried sick about me.
A pair of hands pulls me up, ending my solitude before I’m ready.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I glare at Lana.
Her eyes are wide. “I’m sorry. I was worried about you.”
“I wasn’t trying to drown if that was your concern, and you know we can’t die like that.”
She releases me, looking sheepish. “What do you mean?”
I give her a droll look. “Vampires can only die in a few ways: decapitation, losing their hearts, burning to a crisp, or meeting the sun—even though the sun doesn’t do jack to you here.”
“I’m not sure where you got that idea, but vampires can die in a myriad of ways, including drowning.”
I blink fast, trying to process the information. I’ve been a vampire for centuries, I’ve lived in King Raphael’s court, and I know that isn’t true. But I’ve only been around powerful vampires. I don’t know how the general population lives.
“That doesn’t track,” I say. “Have you known anyone who died by drowning?”
She nods. “Yes, a new female who was brought in many years ago. She was young, around thirteen. She missed her family terribly, and at the first opportunity, she killed herself right here in the bathhouse.”
My brows arch. “Are you sure she died?”
“I saw her body. She was blue and not breathing.”
“She might have gone into hibernation.”
“But… we don’t suffer from that malady here in Ellnesari. It’s the reason most of us accepted our fates.”
“If she had just been kidnapped, maybe her body hadn’t had the chance to absorb the Nightingale magic.”
Lana’s forehead wrinkles. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
I’m oddly relieved that everything I’ve been taught about vampires isn’t wrong. It would suck ass to know I could die from something as banal as drowning.
“Most likely that’s what happened to her. She went into hibernation, and without the proper magic to preserve the body, it can wither and die. Do you know what happened to her?”
“I believe they burned her body.”
I wince. Burned alive. Yikes. “Yeah, that will do it.”
“Let’s not talk about sad things anymore. Come closer to the edge and I can wash your hair.”
Just to be difficult, I could refuse, but the idea of getting my hair washed by someone else sounds too good to pass up. I let Lana do it, and soon, I begin to truly relax, until she starts to hum a song that reminds me of an old lullaby my mother used to sing when I was young. I haven’t thought about her in a very long time.
“Can you please not sing?” I ask, not wanting a reminder of the female who allowed her own son to be beaten almost to death.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I sound bad?”
“No, I… I have a headache.”
Lana stops humming at once and continues massaging my scalp in silence. But I’m no longer relaxed. My heart feels heavy, and more than ever, I want to find Ronan and get the fuck out of here.
Twenty-Nine
CHERYL
