Page 31 of Fae Champion

His eyes flared a brighter silver. “Good. Keep it that way.”

His statement stung, though I couldn’t decide why. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know he wasn’t on my side, as if he didn’t make sure I knew, over and over.

I resumed my search so he wouldn’t pick up on my reaction. Without looking his way, I asked, “What are you doing here now anyway? Why are you helping me? Actually,areyou helping me?”

I opened a door to a lavish bathing room with a tub spacious enough for several people and a faucet that must pour running water. I moaned and prowled toward the sink. It took me a few moments to discover I had to run my hand beneath the tap to get the water to come out, but once it flowed, I bent … and drank and drank and drank. It was glorious.

Once my thirst was eventually quenched, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and peered into the mirror. I was dirty, disheveled, and there was blood I’d forgotten on different parts of my armor.

Sighing, I turned, leaning against the sink. “So what’s going on? What’s the plan here? And do I have time for a bath and hopefully some food? I’m so hungry I could eat for a week.”

Rush’s arms were crossed over his chest. He wore his fighting armor; it was also speckled with blood. “Tell me they fed you while you were locked up…”

“I’d be happy to, trust me, really I would. But then I’d be lying, and I only lie when it’s absolutely necessary.”

His eyes hardened to slate. His nostrils flared, relaxed, then flared again. When he spoke, his words could have chiseled rock. “You were in the dungeon for four days. You’re telling me they didn’t feed you at all?”

“Nope. No water either. I didn’t see another person till Finnian.”

“I’m gonna kill someone,” Rush gritted out.

“Only if you let me join in on the fun.” I chuckled darkly, but my face fell when I realized how much I’d changed since my capture and subsequent arrival in Embermere. To stop reflecting on my new murderous instinct, I added, “Are you sure it wasfourdays? I counted three, but I had no window to the outside, so…”

“It was four,” he answered stiffly. “It took me all that time to find where they were holding you. The queen made me think you were in the fae dungeon and didn’t hold up to her torture.” He swallowed so thickly that his throat visibly bobbed. “I believed you were dead.”

“You were … looking for me?”

“Of course I was,” he snapped. “I had to fight. We all did. But when we weren’t forced to be at the arena, we were searching for you. It was Finnianwho finally found you. Now I owe him, and I don’t like owing anybody.”

“But you do, don’t you?” I asked without understanding all I meant by the question. “You do owe, and big?”

An entire world of secrets appeared to swirl across his eyes before he shut down his emotions. It was as if a curtain fell across those vibrant silver irises.

His hand already on the handle of the bathroom door, he said, “You have time for a bath if you make it quick. We still have a while to wait for the guys to do their part.”

“What’s their part? What’s going to happen?”

He hesitated as if he were going to leave me hanging once more. But then his shoulders relaxed with a visible breath of resignation. “Get going with the bath. I’ll get you some food and then come in to talk.”

My back straightened as if I’d been whipped. “You’re going to come in here … while I’m taking a bath?”

“Unless you have a problem with that.”

“No, no problem. I need answers.”

“Good. See you soon, then.”

He pulled the door closed behind him, and my entire body began to tingle with anticipation. Of what though, I wasn’t exactly sure.

10.GIMME WHAT I WANT ALREADY

Any concerns I’d had about Rush speaking with me while I was in the bath vanished as I sank into the water with a loud, prolonged moan. The bath was constructed of some sort of wood I’d never seen before, and it was deep and wide enough for me to entirely stretch out in the hot water. After the previous four days of frigid torment, the soak felt as good as an orgasm.

Every one of my worries about the wicked queen and her threats released, leaving my body limp as a wilting sunflower. I’d freed my hair of its many plaits, and now it floated along the surface of the water—my face the center, the dark strands thick petals.

The faucet continued to gush into the tub. With my ears beneath the surface, the crashing water was as loud as the waterfalls back in Nightguard. There, I’d never enjoyed a luxury as decadent as this. No one had,not even Grand Dragon Master Flint, or Malessa when she stood in his place during his absences.

Had Saturn recognized his good fortune? Or had he grown too accustomed to the fineries to recall that only the royal family of Embermere enjoyed these kinds of privileges? In my chambers at the palace, my bathtub had been plenty nice and sufficient for cleaning, but that was it.

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