I groan and jerk back into the room, dashing to the small table parked beside the easel. A bowl is tipped, the bits of coal scattered, and I use the hem of Rhordyn’s shirt to wipe the inside clean.
My gaze flicks to my wrist—to the blue lines webbed beneath the delicate, translucent skin.
I take a moment to consider the possibility that I’ve gone terribly mad before I snarl, picturing my arm as his own damn neck and sinking my teeth in.
Deep.
The agony is instant, but I just dig further, imagining him trying to shake out of my hold. Or perhaps yielding tomefor a change.
Warm liquid swells against my lips, and I release my wrist with a gasp, suspending it above the bowl and watching blood fill it in dribbling increments.
Hating it. Loving it just as much.
This sadistic parting gift is as much for me as it is for him.
After a while, the flow of blood slows, but there’s enough collected for him to do whatever the hell he does with it. Hopefully he knows how to ration himself to make this last for the rest of his life, because this toxicthingbetween us is over.
If he wants more, he’ll have to bleed it from my slit throat.
I bind the wound with a strip of blue material, tightening the knot with my teeth.
Leaving the bowl on Rhordyn’s bed where he won’t miss the damn thing, I turn my attention to his dresser ...
If I can find his caspun stash, my life over the next month will be significantly less complicated.
I yank the drawers out and scatter their contents, rifling through his clothes.
“Come on ...”
I’m starting on his bedside table, tossing his personal items in the same disrespectful manner as he tossed mine, when a thought has me flattening to the ground, searching for a loose stone beneath his bed.
It doesn’t take me long to find. It’s in the exact same place as the one in my tower; five stones back from the wall.
“How original of you,” I mutter, lifting it to reveal a cavity beneath the floor. Reaching in, I pull out a fist-sized package wrapped in calico and secured with a long piece of string. One sniff tells me I’ve found what I need, and I don’t bother moving the stone back into place or cleaning up my mess before starting down the stairs, heading to Rhordyn’s personal thermal spring.
He left my room in shambles, it’s only fair I repay the favor.
The air becomes thick and warm as the tunnel opens into a domed cavern, stairs descending beneath the surface of water that’s reminiscent of swirling, liquid gold in this low light.
The stalactites clinging to the roof look like the fangs of a hungry beast ready to chomp down, and the stark silence reminds me just how secluded this place is. I try not to let that thought sink too deep as I consider what it is I’m about to do.
I stop on the threshold and secure the bundle of caspun around my ankle, then step down into the spring.
Unlikemypool, this one allows me to keep my feet on the ground for longer. Water laps at my breasts while I walk toward the wall that separates this place from Puddles, Rhordyn’s shirt swaying around me with the stirring water.
Once I’m near, my gaze plunges into the deep where that hole is punched through the rock, allowing water to flow back and forth between this thermal spring and my own.
I’m not sure I’ll fit through, but it’s my only option. If I wait for Rhordyn to return from his hunt, I have no doubt that boat will be forced to leave for the South without me.
Cainon would be well within his rights to assume I’ve been held against my will.
War would spark. A war that’s better spent on therealenemy—not some possessive bickering between two neighboring High Masters who seem determined to engage in a pissing contest.
I draw a few big breaths, filling my lungs, fueling my blood and brain and austere resolve.
One final, shuddering breath and I dive below the surface, propelling myself into the deep where it’s warm and dense, the light filtered and dim. My vision is hazy, and I feel around until I find the breach in the wall.
Puddles isright there,on the other side.
