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“Were there hot springs near where you lived, before?”
“Yes.” He must speak. Hemust. “My mother used to tell me they were a place for the mountain spirits. She said they’d snatch my heart away and replace it with a burning ember if I played too close—but that was just to keep me from drowning.”
“Hmm,” Kadou said again, but Evemer could hear the smile in it. “There’s a therma here, if you’re feeling nostalgic. I think I would like to swim today. Shall I rinse out your hair now?”
It felt nice to have someone else washing his hair, Evemer had to admit. It felt . . . warm. Safe. Quiet in his head. The steady gentle motion of Kadou’s hands through his hair was so soothing, in fact, that he sank into the sensation rather deeply and didn’t come back to himself until Kadou had finished and said he wished to move on to the next stage of the baths. Between the steam room and the therma, they passed by Derya again, who was tidying up and refolding the towels on the shelf in the hall. Evemer realized with a cold shock that his guard had lapsed entirely. Assassins. No weapons anywhere. And he’d let his focus drift—he’d let himself be distracted.
Kadou stepped down into the steaming hot therma, a large bath set into the floor that could have held twenty people easily, and sank chin-deep. His hair flowed around his shoulders, a spreading cloud of black ink, and the thin white fabric of the robe floated over his skin, showing flashes here and there of his wrists, his collarbones, the planes of his chest, the arresting curve of neck and shoulder.
Evemer looked away and counted tiles. In this room, the mosaics were primarily white and silver, bordered with delicate, lacy vinework in shining chips of hematite.
“You’re not getting in?” Kadou asked.
“I should be alert and on guard, my lord.”
Kadou pulled himself a little ways out of the water, just enough for him to rest his elbows on the edge of the therma near where Evemer stood. “You won’t get in trouble. You can say I bullied you into it, if anyone scolds you for it.”
“Someone could come in.” Traitorous kahyalar, or Siranos, or . . .
Kadou nodded slowly and sank back down into the water until it lapped around his cheekbones, and pushed himself back—the movement of his hair through the water was hypnotic, and it was only by great force of will that Evemer looked away again.
Perhaps there had been something to his mother’s warnings after all—the mountain spirits were said to be creatures of surpassing loveliness, all bright eyes and dark hair, who lured men to their deaths in the springs or, as Evemer’s mother had warned, snatched their hearts and replaced them with burning embers.
He wondered if this was what that felt like.
Fine,” Evemer muttered as they were getting dressed again.
Kadou looked up at him, surprised. “What?”
He watched as Evemer found words to put with his thoughts—watched the clench of his jaw and slight pursing of his lips and the frown between his eyebrows that once would have read only as disapproval.
At last, Evemer said, “I would hate to be shut away so I couldn’t serve. I would hate to be told there was nothing I could do to help.” He let out a long breath. “I will take your side if you speak to the commander, but I have conditions.”
“I wouldn’t be doing anything differently than I have been, except that I won’t get as drunk and I’ll be bringing two kahyalar.”
“Good. Will one of them be me?”
“Well, I imagine so.”
“Every time?”
Kadou wavered. “You’ll probably want a night off now and again, won’t you?”
“No, I won’t. Will it be me every time?” Evemer asked again, more firmly.
“If you want, then—”
“I do. Will it be meevery time?”
“Yes, it will be you every time,” Kadou said, feeling rather bowled-over. “Isthata condition?”
“Yes,” Evemer said flatly.
“All right.” Kadou shook his head and finished knotting his sash—he never could get it as neat as the kahyalar did, but he was feeling . . . shy, a little, of letting Evemer dress him. “You could have been a lawyer, you know.”
“I wouldn’t be any good at that.”
Kadou glanced at him again, curious. “You don’t think so? You’re not interested in law?”
