Page 73 of Of Steel and Scale

“Yes. Thank you.”

She fetched the soapweed, then gathered my clothes and silently left. I quickly scrubbed the grime from my skin and hair, then tossed the soapweed into the refuse bin and climbed out. As I toweled myself dry, she reappeared, several robes held over her arms. After a moment, I chose the one that was all but sheer aside from a few discreetly placed panels. I did have to walk back to my room, after all, and while as a soldier I might be well used to walking around naked, there were the sensibilities of the palace guards to consider.

After retrieving the bow and quiver, I headed out. The corridors remained empty of traffic aside from the few discreetly placed guards who studiously looked the other way as I passed. Once inside my room, I tucked the bow and quiver into the storage cabinet to the right of the door, then swept my gaze across the room. Shamoke steamed lightly on a heating pad sitting in the middle of the table, and there were also breads, cheeses, and a covered tray of what smelled like roasted meat. The bed platform was empty, so I headed toward the bathing facilities, discovering Damon lounging in steaming water, his arms resting on the sides of the bath and his eyes closed.

“Whoever approaches,” he murmured, “you smell too good to be my wife.”

“I do love the way compliments simply drip from your lips.” I walked past the bath over to the shelving to grab the soapweed. “Did you really tell Maree that you intended to seduce me in the bath?”

His eyes cracked open. “She told you that?”

“There are no secrets when it comes to Maree.”

“Huh.” Though his gaze remained thin slits of blue, I had the distinct impression I was being very thoroughly examined. “I like that gown, by the way, but it hides entirely too much for my liking.”

“The gown is almost sheer,” I said dryly.

“It’s the ‘almost’ that disappoints.”

I laughed. “Would you like me to wash your back?”

“I would rather you join me in this bath.”

“I will. In time.”

He closed his eyes again. “Rest assured I will hold you to that promise.”

I smiled and knelt behind him. After dipping the soapweed into the steaming water, I started washing him, slowly brushing the balled netting across his right shoulder and then down the muscular length of his arm. “What did your father want?”

“Are we really going to discuss our parents at such an important moment in our relationship?”

“Indeed we are, because the consummation celebrations have been canceled and we have the entire night ahead of us. Is it not better to get words out of the way, so our mouths can be put to better use?”

He chuckled softly, a sound that reverberated deliciously through me. “Put like that, I have no option but to agree.”

“Wise man.” I swept the matting across to his other shoulder and then down, keeping my movements slow and rhythmic. “Why didn’t your father leave?”

I already knew, but there was a tiny part of me wanting to know if he’d answer honestly. A part stirred to life by my mom’s comments.

“He wanted a report, as the guard said.”

Tension rippled briefly through him, telling me that wasn’t all his father had wanted. “And?”

“And he ordered me to keep him updated on events. He even handed me a scribe tablet linked directly to one in his private chambers.”

I frowned at the deeper edge in his reply and swept the matting across his right shoulder again, then down to his chest and the sculpted magnificence of his abdomen. A soft sound escaped his lips, but he didn’t move, and he certainly didn’t open his eyes.

“That suggests he doesn’t trust my father.”

“He doesn’t trust anyone.”

“Even his sons?”

“Particularly his sons. Or, at least, this son.”

“But you’re his heir.”

He shifted fractionally, resting his head between my breasts. “I’m both his greatest asset and his greatest bane. Something he needs but does not want.”

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