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She didn’t deny it.
“Why don’t you come out, and we’ll try something else?”
She swam toward the pool steps, pushed the donut aside, and got out, water dripping all over the floor. She walked with Darien to the closed doors of the sauna and steam room.
“Which one would you like to try?” he asked.
Ivy got out of the pool. “Wait, I’m coming too!”
Loren’s eyes flicked between the doors. “The sauna.” She didn’t feel like being wet anymore.
Darien opened the heavy door for her, dry heat wafting out. Ivy hurried up, wet feet slapping the floor, her body wrapped in a fluffy towel. She passed a second one to Loren, and they walked into the sauna together.
Darien made to step in too, but hesitated.
Ivy said, “You’ll roast in here in those clothes. Besides, it’s already on and running fine. I’ll stay with her, you wait out there.”
Darien merely looked at Loren—one more time—before shutting the door.
The sauna was beautiful and lit with red light. It smelled of cedar in here, a sweet scent that owed its thanks to the tiered wooden benches. The walls were made of rock salt, and every so often a fan came on that blew ground salt into the room. Her lips already tasted like it.
They sat on the top bench and leaned back against the warm wall. Loren tucked her knees up to her chin and focused on breathing and the feel of the rock heating up her back, sinking into her muscles and loosening up the knots she hadn’t realized were there.
“I think,” Ivy began, her soft voice filling the room. She was resting her head against the wall, eyes shut. “I’m going to have to ask Roman if he needs a roommate.”
Loren smiled. “This place is pretty incredible.” She glanced toward the door. “He never goes away, does he?” She couldn’t see Darien, but somehow, she knew he was there.
“Do you want him to?” Not at all.
Loren shook her head. “No. I just… I guess it’s kind of weird for me to have people around who care so much.”
Ivy opened her eyes and sat up straighter.
Loren continued, “Roark and Taega were never the…affectionate types. Dallas and I clung to each other a lot, but—” She stopped, her throat suddenly tight. Talking about Dallas made her heart twinge.
Dallas had never been the affectionate type either. But in a lot of ways, she was Loren’s only family. Loren, on the other hand, had always felt as though she had a lot of love to give and no one to give it to. Maybe that was why she’d taken such a liking to plants and animals. They were always in need of love and never refused it.
Ivy was still watching her. Still listening to every word. Even when limned in red light, her face was truly breathtaking.
Loren inhaled the salty air and forced a smile. “I guess family for me was a little different than most. So I’m not used to all of this.” She fluttered a hand toward the door—and the man she knew stood behind it.
“I know you can’t remember everything yet,” Ivy said, “but you’re a part of our family. We love you as if you’re one of us.” Ivy’s statement made her heart feel oddly full and empty at the same time.
Loren looked toward the door again, her mind spinning as she considered all that she’d forgotten from the past six months, the events that had turned the Seven Devils from terrifying strangers into family.
Ivy leaned back against the wall. “You’ve been talking a lot about repaying us for all of this, but believe me when I say you don’t need to worry about that. We’re doing this because we care, and because we’re family—and you don’t have to pay back family.”
Twenty minutes later, she felt warmer than she had since the night she woke up.
Ivy pushed open the door, and Loren followed. They were fully dried off, aside from their hair.
Darien was waiting right there, just like she’d thought. Loren’s eyes immediately magnetized to him, and his to her.
She shut the sauna door tight. “I think you might be onto something.”
60
Witchlight
