Page 54 of A Reign of Storm and Madness

This is exactly why you shouldn’t let people do nice things for you, a little voice in the back of my head chides. You get too used to it.

That voice isn’t wrong.

Regardless, I quickly move through the motions, dunking my head beneath the water and then rising back from the large open bath meant to hold dozens of Terra at once with a gasp. As I’m wiping the shadows from my eyes, a shadow streaks past the far wall and I freeze.

Without moving my head, my eyes go from one side of the wall to the other, picking over each and every piece of furniture there—from the benches to the stacks of bathing sheets to the extra soap cakes placed on a wooden tray—searching for another sign of the shadow. There’s nothing, but that only makes me even more suspicious.

Restarting my movements with slower, more methodical motions, I duck my head, peering out through the curtain of my hair as I lift a leg out of the water, soaping it again and then picking up a nearby bucket to wash it clean. My heart slows to a steady beat as I breathe evenly, watching and waiting.

I perform the cleaning ritual on my second leg and then my arms and shoulders—still no more from the shadow. Something is here, though, I can sense them in the room—a quiet sort of presence. Curious, perhaps.

Once there’s no more for me to clean and I’m sure I’ve taken far longer than I wanted to, I climb out of the bath and walk naked over to the stack of towels towards the back of the large room.

“Ssssssssss.”

I don’t stop this time. I don’t show any reaction at all as that hissing noise reaches me, just quiet enough that I’m sure it wouldn’t have reached a human’s ears nearly as quickly or as clearly. I pick up a bath sheet and whip the long strands of my pale silver hair over one shoulder, squeezing the water out with strong fingers before patting the locks with the sheet.

“Sssssssss.”

My fingers continue their ministrations, moving over my hair and then the rest of my body. It isn’t until the distinct sound of a rattle hits my ears—like the small child’s toys I’d seen in marketplaces—that a true bolt of alarm slams into me. I glance over my shoulder, noting that I’d locked the inside of the door to the bathing chambers on the off chance that one of the other Terra had thought to come up during dinner and wonder how fast I can reach it and get out of the room before he attacks.

I take a step towards the doors, the bath sheet clutched in my fist, but not wrapped around me. Nudity means nothing in the face of knowing whether or not you can outrun a very specific sort of monster. My second step follows as I prepare to take off. That distinctive rattle echoes off the walls, closer than before, and just like that, I dive forward.

My bare feet slap the wet tiled floors. I only distantly worry about tripping on the slick surface as I focus the whole of my attention on the doors within my line of sight. I make it to within five feet of the damn lock when the hissing and rattling grows louder and then abruptly stops a split second before wide, strong arms with tell-tale markings from his earlier sparring come around my middle and pluck me off my feet.

Not fast enough is the answer apparently.

I bite down on the instinct to scream, throwing my elbow back into his face so fast that he grunts and his hold loosens. Just like breaking the hold of someone’s hand—always go for the weak point. I jam my nails into the still healing wound in his forearm and throw myself forward, forcing him to break his grip on me.

“Shit!”

My lips curve up as he hisses in pain, but I haven’t won yet. Not by a long shot. Those doors are still locked and I’m not on the other side. Even though he hasn’t spoken a single word, I have the sense that he’s playing a game with me. If I make it to where there are other eyes present, he might just let me go.

My feet hit the ground running. So close that I fling my arm out, hand reaching for the handle. It turns under my grip, but the door doesn’t open. My other hand reaches for the lock but before my thumb and forefinger can grapple with it, Kalix’s arms are back around my middle, hefting me up and turning me over one solid shoulder, ripping me from the literal door to my freedom. The bath sheet I’d had in my hands when I started running is on the tiles beneath us and he strides right over it and back into the warm water.

I bounce, cursing as I shove still wet hair out of my face. I can’t kill him because then it reveals everything I’ve worked so damn hard to keep hidden, but that doesn’t mean I won’t put up a fight.

Curling my fingers into a fist, I bring it down hard against his lower back and relish in the grunt of pain he emits as soon as I strike his kidneys. For anyone else, that blow might’ve sent them down. For Kalix, however, all it does is make him chuckle darkly right before he sends me soaring into the center of the pool.

I bite down on my tongue, tasting blood, and squeeze my eyes shut as water closes over my head. The feeling of weightlessness overwhelms me in an instant and my eyes reopen to see murky depths all around. I turn, my hair floating near my face. I shove it out of the way as I spot the Mortal God cutting through the water towards me. With gritted teeth, I stroke backwards, arms pushing up and legs kicking as I resurface, gasping for air right before a hand locks on to my ankle, yanking me back under.

A mouthful of water invades. Kicking against Kalix’s hold, I grit my teeth and slam my heel into his face. Cartilage crunches and his grip releases me. I spot the tendrils of dark red blood lifting up from his nostrils. Even under water, Kalix looks like a cruel king when he smiles.

My heart pounds unnecessarily in my ears. So loud that I swear he can hear it even through the water surrounding us. I bare my teeth at him as he waves his fingers at me, taunting me. Asshole. But I need air, so I tear away from him and race for the surface once more.

Lungs burning, I shove my head above water and gulp down the air for several long beats, waiting for Kalix to surface near me or to grab ahold of my legs once again. I turn in a circle, realizing just how far he’d managed to throw me. Unlike some public baths I’d been to before, the Terra bath is a big and deep circle with steps that start at the edge and go down the further you get to the middle—which is right where we are. As far from the lips of the bath as possible.

Is he trying to drown me?

Something touches my foot and I jerk my head down, peering into the somewhat clouded water. I don’t see a hand on my ankle, though, but a tail. A black, scaly tail. It tugs, not hard, but insistent enough to tell me that it wants something.

What the fuck?

I try to kick the thing again, but it doesn’t release me and then another finds my other ankle. Two scaly tails wrapping around my legs moving up. Bubbles rise from beneath the surface of the water a few feet away before Kalix comes up, slicking his hair back with both hands.

I gape at him. More blood leaks down the front of his face from both nostrils, and his nose is completely crooked. Without flinching, he takes it in a solid grip and snaps it back into place with a sickening squelch. Then with his thumb, he swipes at the blood from under his nostrils and lifts water from below to clean his face with.

“Done running, little liar?” he asks, arching a brow as he treads the deep water.

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