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Her eyes were frightened and her nod was hesitant. I dropped to one knee at her side.

“And I’m asking ye to trust my family now. Issa would guard Edan as fiercely as Lizzette, and Rowena would gut anyone who tried to harm Ewan. And if ye change yer mind before we reach the springs, we turn around.”

“Promise?” she whispered.

I held her gaze when I nodded, so she’d see the truth there.

Cataline looked down at Edan for a long moment. Finally she swallowed and kissed his forehead, then finally held him out. Issa took him without teasing.

Cataline hugged Ewan next, released him to Rowena, and watched him drag the other human female from the cottage.

“An hour,” she said.

“An hour,” I agreed, and took her hand, vowing that she’d relax.

The springs bubbled from the earth near the base of the cliff, sheltered on two sides by great piles of dark boulders. Peat fires burned in shallow pits around the pool, smoke mingling with the faint sulfurous scent of the water, while steam rolled over the surface and vanished into the cold air.

Cataline sucked in a surprised breath and I grinned as I felt her excitement.

The pool was empty. I had made certain of that before bringing her. She tested the water with one foot, then looked at me in disbelief.

“I cannot believe ‘tis this warm all the time.”

I’d made short work of my clothing, and now I reached for the ties of her bodice.

“The water has healing properties as well. Matthias said yer body will benefit from it.”

I climbed in first and Cataline followed carefully, gripping my arm as she stepped between the stones. The moment the water reached her waist, she stopped, then sank slowly until it covered her to the collarbones.

Her eyes closed on a sigh. “Oh, Maardok.”

Every bit of tension seemed to drain out of her. Her shoulders dropped as her head rested against the stone. The cold air pinkened her cheeks while the water wrapped the rest of her in heat.

“This is incredible.”

I had bathed here since I was a kitling and had never considered the springs remarkable, but watching her made me see them differently.

“I doubt I have ever felt anything this good,” she sighed again

My body responded to the thought of her feeling good before my mind had time to remind it that she’d birthed my son scarcely a sennight ago. I ignored my cock and moved behind her and put my hands on her shoulders.

She tensed, likely thinking I had expectations, but I pressed my thumbs into the muscles beside her neck, and her head immediately dropped forward. She groaned.

“Better?” I murmured.

“Do not stop.”

Since she couldn’t see me, I smiled at the command in her tone.

I worked slowly across her shoulders and upper back, finding one hard knot after another. Cataline had carried too much for too long—wood, food, Ewan when he tired, a bairn inside her, every fear she refused to share. Even now, with people eager to help, her body seemed not to understand ‘twas permitted to put those burdens down.

‘Twas up to me to help her understand.

Little by little, she softened beneath my hands, and at long last, she stretched in the water, splashing some across her shoulders.

“I had forgotten what it felt like to be properly clean,” she murmured.

That hurt more than I expected.