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He used a pitcher to dampen her head, then began to wash her hair with her rose soap. She didn’t protest his attentions, as she once might have. At last, he had accustomed her to letting him take care of her. As he scrubbed her scalp in deep, slow strokes, she sank a little further into the water and closed her eyes.
But a furrow appeared between her brows. There it was again, the frown he had glimpsed on her face throughout the night.
He rubbed her neck with his soapy fingers. “What is it, Cassia?”
“I doubt it’s anything.”
He trailed suds over her shoulders as he began to knead knots of tension out of her. “You’ve had something on your mind ever since we got home.”
“I still suspect it’s wishful thinking.” She tilted her head, nuzzling his leg, and placed a slow bite on the inside of his knee.
“Patience, Your Majesty,” he chided. He slid his hands downward to soap her breasts, teasing his slippery palms over her nipples.
She bit him again, harder. His fangs lengthened.
“I will not be swayed from my quest.” He cupped warm water in his hands and let it trail over her breasts to rinse them. “You know I will tease out your each and every thought.”
“I have my pride. When I’m trying to avoid a topic, I cannot simply wilt at the first touch of your magic. I must mount resistance.”
“You have never in your life wilted, my rose. But I can coax you to bloom for me.” He let his thelemancy prowl the edges of her mind ward. The spell she had allowed him to fuse to her thoughts was for her protection. But having his magic forever bound to her mind offered intimate benefits as well.
At his arcane caress, she moaned. “Oh—oh, perhaps it isn’t wishful thinking at all.”
“You know I specialize in making your wishes come true.” He poured another pitcher of water over her hair to rinse it, letting his magic flow deeper into the ward.
She let her head fall back. “I—I think I can feel the magic better since we came home. Especially yours.”
“You can? That’s an excellent sign! Your brief experience with your power seems to have permanently heightened your senses. Is the effect getting stronger over time, do you think?”
“It’s difficult to tell. All of Orthros feels like a bright blur to me, as if I’m surrounded by countless spell lights that are too close together to tell apart. I’m not sure if my senses are stronger, or if there’s simply so much magic here that it’s more obvious.”
Lathering a soft cloth on the soap bar, he levitated down to join her in the water. “Well, we can do some experiments to determine the acuity of your new awareness.”
Her laugh turned into a gasp as he trailed the cloth up the inside of her thigh. “Only you could be so academic while…while…”
“Stimulation of the physical senses can sometimes cause a correlating increase in magical sensitivity.”
“It can? Well…” She trailed off for a moment while he massaged her between her legs. “…I begin to understand what you meant when you said something about spells and…pleasure rituals…”
Her brow knit in concentration while he washed every edge and curve of her. He stoked her desire, luring out all her senses. The steam rose around them, heady with the fragrance of roses. Splashes echoed from the fountainhead in the center of the bath as it carried away the suds on gentle currents.
“Close your eyes,” he murmured, dipping the cloth between each of her toes.
Her eyes slid shut. He conjured a faint spell light in her blind spot, where no glow would shine through her eyelids.
Her brows rose. “Did you just cast a spell?”
“Can you tell where it is?”
“It’s hard to say with so much magic everywhere.”
“Keep your eyes closed.” He pulled her off the bench to float in the water before him. “Stop thinking. Just feel.”
He slipped the cloth between her buttocks, and she drew in a breath. “The spell…it’s behind my left ear.”
“Very good,” he said. “That’s impressive precision, Cassia.”
“Clearly, I have an excellent teacher.”
