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Did Grey just …
He comes out into the room a moment later, and I pretend I’m sleeping. He stands and watches me for a few seconds, obviously concerned that I heard him just rub one out to thoughts of the Harbinger as I did.
I frown as he moves away.
He wants her, too. This is new. I thought both he and Dane despised her the way I’m supposed to but can’t quite seem to.
But I’m going to be first!
CHAPTER TWELVE
I wake before Dane and, wincing, I get to my feet. My body aches, and my toes are almost numb. I’m so cold. I sniff, wrapping my arms around myself as I glance behind the wooden screen and see a bath. I glance at Dane, who’s still asleep, and then back at the bath. It’s a long time since I’ve seen one of these. I glance at the box on the wall and decide to chance Dane’s anger. I haven’t bathed in anything bigger than a basin since I left the keep. Being thrown in the river doesn’t count.
I wave my hand over the panel and hear the tub magickally fill. Still shivering, I disrobe and step into it, not letting the moan of pleasure escape my lips. It’s just the right temperature, and it smells of pine and mint. I’d love to lay back and relax, but I don’t know how long I have until Dane wakes, and if it’s a choice, I’d rather be clean. Dunking my head under the water, I wash my hair with the soap I find on the shelf beside the bath three times before it feels clean. I do the same with the rest of me, using the rough flannel also provided to divest myself of the dirt that’s ingrained into my skin.
I’m so intent on washing that I don’t hear Dane behind me until he speaks.
‘I thought you were afraid of water.’
The suddenness of his voice makes me shriek loudly, whirling around and making the water splash over the side and onto the floor.
I sink down belatedly so he can’t see me, but his eyes never drop below my chin, thankfully.
I don’t say anything because it’s not water in a bath that terrifies me but I also don’t want to give him anymore that he can use against me.
He stares at me for a while. ‘Are you finished?’ he asks finally. ‘We’re leaving soon, and I’d like one.
My gaze doesn’t leave his as I nod a little, and I breathe out a small sigh of relief when he turns away and leaves me in peace. I finish washing and stand, grabbing a bathing sheet to wrap myself in. I eye my sack with distaste, not wanting to put it back on at all. But I pick it up and walk into the other part of the room so that Dane can have the tub.
He’s currently shirtless, and I turn away immediately with a gasp, trying not to think about the many contours of his body that now seem seared into my mind.
‘Don’t put the sack back on,’ he mutters, sounding amused that I won’t look at him as he undresses.
I scoff at him to hide my rising horror. ‘You wish for me to travel naked now?’
He’s silent for a moment. ‘No.’ His voice sounds strained. ‘There are clothes for you on the bed.’
I hear him get into the bath, not bothering to change the water.
I glance over to see a pile of familiar textiles. ‘You brought some of my clothes?’
I frown. ‘Why have I spent the better part of a week in a potato sack if my clothes were in your pack?’ I ask, my voice rising an octave.
‘Because we needed you to appear to be a slave. Obviously.’
‘And now?’ I ask.
I hear him sigh. ‘You can’t run from us anymore. There’s no point in having you travel with us as an owned human. It draws too much attention.’
‘But won’t a human traveling with you as an equal draw just as much?’
‘Gods, woman, I’m trying to relax in my fine, citrus-scented bath,’ he growls. ‘You can pass for a small part-fae or pixie if you keep your hair over your ears.’
I roll my eyes. ‘It’s pine and mint leaves,’ I mutter.
But I drop the sheet now while he’s in the bath, so I have a bit of privacy while I dress. I find my dark green cotton shirt in the pile, as well as my favorite brown leather trousers. There aren’t any shoes, nor chemise for underneath, but I find some socks and there’s a thin, light brown tunic. It’s much better than the sack.
I dress quickly and then find a comb in the front of Dane’s pack that I liberate for a minute to detangle my hair while he can’t stop me. I leave it down as he said so that I can pretend to be more than a hapless human.
