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The maid gives a nod and leaves, taking my robes and boots with her.
eighteen
Scrubbingtherottenfoodfrom my hair takes longer than I expect. Zephyr tries to help, but his talons only jab my scalp. When I let out a yelp of pain, he stops and tries to nudge my locks with his muzzle, but it accomplishes little. In the end, he gives up and perches on the pool’s tiled wall while I wrestle with my hair.
By the time all the dirt is out, I’m sure I’ve left half a head’s worth of hair in the pool. I dry myself with the towel the maid gave me and drape it over the side of a ledge. Once I’ve changed into fresh silk robes, I stride out of the baths and head for my room.
I find Natharius sitting in the corner of my room, his arms folded across his chest and his crimson eyes burning into the wall opposite him. Food is already laid out on the small table in front of him, though none of it has been touched. The maids have brought enough for two people, though Caya mentioned to the priestesses Natharius neither needed to bathe or eat. There’s also a colorful bowl full of water, which must be for Zephyr.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, slipping onto the chair across from him. Zephyr perches on its wooden arm. I push the bowl of water toward him, and he crawls to the edge of the arm and leans forth to drink, his forked tongue lapping up the water.
Natharius tears his gaze from the wall and looks at me. “What?” he growls. “Am Iforbiddenfrom coming here as well as being unable to leave this damned temple?”
My question wasn’t at all accusatory, but the Void Prince must still be sour about the command I shouted down the corridor. I don’t have any regrets about doing so. If I hadn’t ordered him to stay put in the temple, Natharius could be anywhere in the city, and we’re already behind schedule for reaching Gerazad. We can’t afford to waste any more time. As soon as Taria wakes, I must speak with her and discover what the Mother Goddess revealed to her. And though I loathe to admit it, the Void Prince has a millennium’s worth of knowledge and his insight is nothing to scoff at. Even as insufferable as he is. That’s why I’d prefer him to be present when I talk to Taria.
“No,” I reply, lifting the goblet of wine poured for me. While it’s far from as exquisite as moon blossom wine, I have drunk nothing all day except for a few sips of water while in the dungeons, and it tastes like honey as it slips down my throat. I place the goblet back on the table. “I just didn’t expect you to willingly seek my company when you have an entire temple’s worth of places to choose from.”
“This is the only place in the entire temple free from light worshipping fools. You are slightly more tolerable than them.”
“That sounds like a compliment coming from you,” I say, in between biting into my food.
“The reason you are more tolerable is because I merely remind myself of all the ways I shall torture you upon your demise.”
“Ah. That’s more like it. But your reason for choosing to come here doesn’t stand.”
“Why not?”
“I can think of one place in the temple with neither me nor priestesses.”
“Where?”
“The dungeons.”
“I have spent long enough in that vile place.”
“I thought such a dark and morbid place would be right up your alley.”
He glares at me.
I take another mouthful of food and ask, “Anyway, how many days was I unconscious?”
He doesn’t reply.
I lower my fork and draw out a sigh. Surely he isn’t that worked up over my comment about him preferring dark and morbid places? Or perhaps he holds a grudge over the command I gave him to not venture out of the temple’s walls. But when he acts as stubborn as this, what choice does he give me than to assert my power over him?
“That was an order,” I say.
“What was an order?” he grinds out.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Natharius, if you were more co-operative then I wouldn’t have to keep doing this.”
He stares at me, his unnatural crimson eyes pinning me in place.
“I don’t actually enjoy stripping you of your free will all the time.” Maybe that’s a slight lie. But if I do enjoy it, it’s only because he deserves it for being so obstinate.
“You seemed to enjoy yourself before.”
“I only ordered you to stay put inside the temple because I knew you’d vanish from here at the first opportunity you got and then I’d have to order you to return via a mind-link, anyway.”
