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Unfastening the waistband of my trousers, I slid the worn brown fabric down my hips. They collected at my ankles until I kicked them carelessly across the tiled floor. My undergarments followed in the same pursuit before I slipped into the heat of the still water.

Instant relief.

I sank beneath the surface, muscle by muscle, until I was fully submerged in heat. The tension I’d carried for days, across my back, in my ribs, coiled in my thighs, began to unravel. A soft sigh escaped me before I could stop it. I didn’t need to stop it in my isolation. I could just release.

Rolling the back of my neck against the marble edge of the tub, I pressed into the hard surface like it could knead the knots out. It wasn’t gentle; it was firm against the muscle, working every strain out. My eyes flutter shut, breathing through the burn as sore tendons loosened one by one.

Gold flakes drifted along the surface, riding the steam and clinging to my skin. They floated up the length of my thighs and caught in the hair there, sparkling like geodes beneath candlelight. The shimmer, strangely enough, complemented my skin tone. The way the gold hugged my body… I looked almost divine.

At the base of the tub, a cluster of unlabeled bottles sat neatly along the ledge. Soaps, oils, and creams, each one different, but indistinguishable without guidance. I’d have to ask Head Maiden what they were later. For now, I settled on a glass bottle with soft pink liquid inside. It had a creamy consistency, pearlescent in the light, with a subtle shimmer that mirrored the water itself.

Leaning forward, I clutched it in one hand and pressed the top to pump the product onto a folded washcloth. The scent was gentle, barely floral, more earthy than sweet. I lathered it slowly, working it into a thick foam before running it across my skin. Every inch. Every scar. Every curve of muscle and soft place in between. The past few days had worn me down. And maybe I didn’t deserve luxury… but I needed this even just for a moment.

Remembering what Elaine had told me the first time, that the potion wouldn’t work without full submersion, I lowered myself deeper into the tub. My head slipped beneath the surface. The heat enveloped me completely, and for a moment, the world fell silent. Back then, I’d barely made it through an hour underwater. The panic had crept in almost immediately, anxiety clawing at my chest with every minute. Who could blame me? I was still new to all of this. Still human enough to think I might drown.

The truth was... I didn’t. Not until the very end had my lungs begun to burn, not in a desperate, gasping kind of way, but more like a warning signal flickering at the edge of awareness.

This time, it felt different.

I sat still beneath the surface, eyes open, watching the golden flecks spiral around me like fireworks suspended in space. Even though the water had darkened, I could see everything with unnatural clarity. My thighs stood out beneath the murk like polished stone in moonlight, every detail of my skin sharp. When I wiggled my toes, I could see each one flex with perfect precision. The water distorted nothing.

Around the thirty-minute mark, a sudden tingle lit across my chest, a spark that turned into a bolt. I nearly jerked out of the water from the shock, but I forced myself to remain still, unwilling to break the spell. I hadn't taken a breath. I wouldn’t. Not yet.

Then… the mark on my chest ignited.

Thin seams around it began to glow, spilling bright white light through the bathwater like sunlight bleeding through cracks in the sky. The heat surged outward, rippling through my sternum, until the water around it started to bubble, literally boil. Wonder and disorientation rooted me in place.

Each seam that held me together began to dissolve, piece by piece, like molten wax peeling away from its tin. Until the mark was no longer a symbol etched into me. It became a portal. Light poured from my chest in beams, blindingly illuminating the dark water. It blazed through the bath like a small sun, bright and commanding, as if it were alive. Like it was calling something.

A shadowy hand tore through the gateway of my flesh, making my entire body convulse. My hips bucked violently beneath the surface, nearly breaking through the water’s tension. It gripped my shoulder, tight, grounding, as the rest of the arm followed. Dragging itself halfway out, it clawed up from my chest like a birthing canal.

If I hadn’t already been holding my breath, the sensation would’ve ripped it straight from my lungs. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. My entire body felt like it was splitting in two. My hands flew to its wrists on instinct, but they passed through like smoke. The Naemira stared me down, eye to eye, soul to soul, in the depths of the water.

Thoughts entered my mind as if I were the one producing them.

“It’s nice to see you in the waking, Starvos.” My reflection smiled at me with the slickest expression in his eyes. “Since you’ve stopped fighting me, I will provide you with one gift while you train. The air around you will lift like a feather. Strong enough to summon your own storm. Use it wisely.”

“The air?” I thought.

Nodding, his face flicked from solid to shadow. The image was chilling; it was like watching myself disappear from reality. “Remember the first time you felt me in Eari,” it replied. “What happened around you?”

Those first days had been so hurried and chilly. All I could remember was the cold. That unholy chill. When I’d first arrived, the wind had nearly taken me out. It had cut through me like knives after I crawled from the icy lake. Then the memory struck like lightning: the wind howling, twisting into a spiraling tundra, threatening to swallow me whole.

The wind.

Its shadowy face nodded, the motion sending ripples through the water, pushing it into my hair, my eyes, my mouth.

“Yes,” it whispered through the water. Then it smirked. That cruel, knowing smile stretched across its void-black features. “I’m being kind for now. But keep denying me, Valentina… and I don’t know how much nicer I can be.”

I stiffened.

The temperature in the water shifted around us. Colder now. It had confirmed my worst suspicion. It wanted her too. “You can’t have her,” I thought, jaw tightening even underwater. “She’s not yours.”

“But she is,” it hissed, its voice vibrating through my bones. “I’m you. So stop denying yourself.” Its face darkened. Shadows coiled tighter around it as its thoughts drove deeper into me. “It could all be so easy. But I had to pull her myself… since you’re taking so long. And she tasted. So. Good.”

Rage exploded inside me. Before I could respond, before I could think, it slammed itself back into my body. The impact sent a violent ripple through the water. Waves crashed over the tub’s edge, splashing onto the marble, soaking everything. The light vanished. The pain tore through me like a storm, and then I burst from the surface, gasping for air. My chest heaved, water cascading down my face as I clawed at the edges of the tub.

My lungs finally opened as my heartbeat thundered in my ears. That voice still echoed in my skull.