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"You're chilled to the bone,mo chroí!"
But Conall didn't drag his feet as I led him to the large tub Laszlo had waiting for us by the fire, and when I tugged on our joined hands, he refused to release me for a moment.
"I'll join you. Once I'm done with you," I said, shrugging. "Now be good for me, undress, and get in the bath."
I held Conall's stare but the words were meant for Laszlo behind us too, and I glanced over my shoulder to share a bright smile with my gryphon as he approached, already untying the waist of his shirt.
"Last time I bathed with Conall, he made such a mess," Laszlo murmured, eyes on his hands as he undressed.
Conall's gaze darkened. "Ofyou, you mean."
Laszlo's smile was shy. "I do, yes."
Conall's cheeks flushed and he glanced at me, eyebrows lifting slightly.
"I'll undress too, if it will make you behave," I teased.
Conall barked out a laugh and released my hand, head shaking. "That's the last thing it'll do. All right. You'll have your way now, but I'll give you hell for it later."
In spite of Conall's claim and my determination to tend them both, I did actually want to get out of the clothes I was wearing, so I left them to undressing and stepped behind a screen to do the same. There was a warm robe—Hywel's, I thought—hanging from a hook, and I wrapped it tightly around my body before stepping out again.
Conall was already in the bath, leaning against the sloped back, gazing appreciatively up at Laszlo with a seductive smirk. I paused, hanging back, a shameless observer of their interaction now that I understood the history. Laszlo had offered Conall sanctuary when the werewolf was at his most vulnerable. There were feelings between the pair of them, but I suspected some explanations were also due. The tension and flirtation between them created intriguing possibilities and complications in relationships that had barely started to form.
"I did miss the view," Laszlo murmured, standing bold and beautiful and majestic, all gilded by firelight.
Conall's eyes widened, and he wet his lips. "I…always meant to return. To visit."
Laszlo hummed, sighing as he stepped into the water, groaning as he crouched down and let it soak into his sore body. His head turned and he smiled, catching me spying. "You had somewhere else to be. And look, the fates brought you back after all."
Conall followed his gaze, and I crossed the room slowly. "So they did."
I grabbed a pillow from the bed and set it down next to the tub. Conall's hand was damp, reaching out from the water to skim over my hip as I knelt on the cushion, trailing around my waist and up to tweak my nipple through the robe. I huffed and batted him away, flicking water up to splash at his nose, which twitched in what struck me as an adorably canine manner.
"Help me with Laszlo's feathers," I instructed, nodding to the gryphon to turn his back to us.
Conall watched me trim and pluck, massage and oil, quickly picking up the skill. With Laszlo's back to us, I nudged Conall's elbow, showing him the downy spots around Laszlo's wing roots, digging my knuckles into sore muscles. Laszlo moaned and arched into the touch, and Conall grinned, fangs glinting, copying the movement.
"Where's Hywel?" Conall asked, his eyes glancing warily at the door.
Laszlo turned, his gaze catching mine over the joint of one wing. "He'll be fussing over the sword for a while before he's ready to join us."
"I should go," Conall whispered.
"No, you shouldn't. And you won't," I said.
"Are you scared of dragons?" Laszlo asked, intentionally goading.
Conall growled under his breath, but he combed his clawed fingers gently through the ruffled down under Laszlo's wing, making the gryphon shiver and blush.
"This is my nest, Conall," Laszlo murmured. "I issue the invitations."
Hierarchy, I thought with a roll of my eyes. Monsters were all bluster about their power and superiority, but the second the species intermingled, it became the most convoluted organization of who was bowing to whom—reluctantly or otherwise. Add sexual and emotional ties into the mix, and it was a wonder the entire monster community hadn't already come to blows before now.
I combed oil through the primary feathers at the tip of Laszlo's wing as the two hedged delicately around the topic until I realized Conall was genuinely trying to talk his way out of the bath, hands bracing on the ledge.
"Conall,sit."
Water sloshed as Conall thumped down in the tub. I didn't look at him.
