“Sara, my lady, though it means little any longer. And she is Abani.” She indicated toward her companion.
Abani nodded to me curtly and resumed her duty of tending the fire pit. She had already ignited the wood, and a little yellow flame was peeking up from between the dark logs. I meant, then, to inquire about the obvious issue of fire in a room without a chimney, but I swallowed my question again when I saw it grow. Only the tips of the elongated flames remained yellow now, while the bulk of their bodies were a striking green-blue. A ghostly fire; heat without smoke. When Abani was satisfied with its size, she slid a metal stand into place above the pit and hoisted a cauldron of tepid water over the top.
My handmaidens administered the bath once the water reached a pleasing temperature, with one woman pouring it over me using a smaller vessel while the other scrubbed me down with soaps. This process was something I was at least used to, though I’d never been waited on and the water had never been warm. I thought it might be polite to try making conversation, but my mental exhaustion took over. I sat quietly while they rinsed off the evidence of my death.
When I was declared clean, I stepped out of the tub and dried myself off with the towel that was offered to me. I began to roughly dry my hair with it, too, but Sara snatched it outof my hands and herded me instead toward the stone chair in the corner of the room. She sat me down naked upon it and began to rub lotion into my skin. Meanwhile, Abani applied a slick concoction to the unruly mess of my hair and attacked the tangles with her comb.
I sank into a silent reverie as they worked, until Sara finally put away the lotion and shuffled through a separate collection of alabaster vessels. I deduced from their shape that I was to be anointed with aromatic oils. But as she was about to remove the stopper from her selection, Sara stiffened abruptly and shrank away from the direction of the doorway.
In the following instant, Thanatos strode across the threshold, having returned to me from the realm of mortals. It was apparent that he’d taken a dip, too: his long hair was wet, and his shirt was missing.Gods have mercy. My cheeks heated when I caught myself staring.
“I will do that,” he said, and he flicked his wings unconsciously as he waved my attendants away. I blushed harder when they bowed low and shuffled hastily out the door.
Thanatos paid them no attention. He knelt before me and slid his hands up my bare thighs. “Your sisters are still afraid of me,” he reported brightly.
I chuckled and raised a brow at his good spirits. “And you find that hilarious, don’t you?” I accused. “Youenjoytormenting them!”
“It is amusing at the very least,” he acknowledged with a naughty grin.
“So they’re—hey, that tickles!” He’d retrieved the scented oil and was rubbing it into the backs of my knees. My legs jerked at his touch, and Thanatos made a chiding sound, as if sorely disappointed in my involuntary rebellion.
“So they’re alright?” I tried again, giggling. I focused on combating the impulse to kick until he finished with my legs and switched to my wrists.
“Your sisters are just fine,” he promised me, “though I cannot say the same for much of the city’s infrastructure. Anyhow, you can all discuss it tomorrow. I told them I would bring you to the garden in the evening.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I needed to be sure. Do you know anything about the rest of the city?”
“The militia suffered significant losses, and the lower district is in rough shape,” he reported. “However, I am told that most of the civilians survived the afternoon. The people will rebuild, given time.”
“That’s…that’s good.” The knot of tension in my chest loosened. “Then I can let them go. It will be okay…”
I fell silent as my focus shifted. Thanatos had transitioned to massaging the oil into my neck, and now the caresses of his fingers over my pulse had turned undeniably sensual. He gazed up at me with burning adoration, and the world beyond him ceased to exist. This god, who had glimpsed the beauty and ugliness of every departed soul, somehow still preferred to love mine. A lazy smile crept across my face, and I leaned forward to stroke his wet hair.
“Hi,” I said, nuzzling closer. Light scents of rose and cinnamon wafted through the air around us.
“My love,” he murmured. “Everything is alright now.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and a happy shiver ran down my spine. It was true. My sisters were safe. The city would rebuild. And…
“No one can keep me from you,” I whispered. “You’re mine.”
“Yes. I am yours.”
I found his lips with my own, tasting him. Feeling his fear and love and longing. “Well, then. Carry me?”
Thanatos kissed his way to my ear. The whisper of his voice stood the hairs on my neck on end. “To the bed that’s right over there?”
“Yeah,” I giggled.
“Always.”
He scooped me into his arms and lifted me up, flapping his wings for balance as he stood. He carried me back to his bedroom this way, cradling me tenderly, kissing softly across my sensitive skin.
His bed was far too luxurious to be owned by someone who rarely ever slept. Within the short window of our absence, the palace staff had replaced its dirty covers, removing yet another proof of our ordeal. When Thanatos set me down, I arranged myself cozily beneath the fresh ones. He stripped bare, then followed after me, and I pulled him into my embrace. We lay together at last in the skyless realm below.
“Mywoman,” he marveled, tracing the curve of my jaw. “Inmybed.”
I wrapped my leg around him, tangling our bodies even closer together. “Did you ever imagine it?”
