Page 68 of Fae Champion

“Okay, wow. I had no idea. What was he like?”

“We don’t have time for this now. We have to hurry, or it’ll be?—”

“Pru, knock it off with all that. It’s not gonna distract me. Tell me what has you so upset.”

“Pru isnotupset.”

“Oh yes, Pru is. Pru was crying.”

The goblin sucked in an offended breath that wheezed between those sharp teeth of hers. “Pru did no such thing. Pru doesn’t cry. Pru’s tough.”

My heart squeezed at her ferocity and all she was forced to endure. “Yes, you are tough, I know that. But you shouldn’t have to go through everything alone. Let me help.”

Though how I could help was a mystery. I couldn’t even help myself all that much as of late.

No response for several beats while Pru ran the cloth up and down my leg, rubbing at my skin as if I’d spent the night kneeling in mud instead of in a luxurious bed that was at odds with the viciousness of court life. The aristos seemed more wild beasts than suited to refined, silky thread counts.

“Are you certain there are no ears listening to us?” she eventually asked.

Though I’d gotten into the habit of always searching for them, I looked again anyway. “Nope. Nothing here. They must think I’m still sleeping since you got here early.”

Her hand reached up my thigh, and I snatched the washcloth from her. “I can take it from here.”

She surrendered it. “Make sure you wipe off all the signs of sex.”

Though I sat buck naked in the water, I blushed. “It’s really that obvious?” I was bleeding so lightly it didn’t even tinge the water.

“Veryobvious. I knew the moment I entered the room. You don’t want the queen knowing.”

“What’s it matter to the queen if I’m not a virgin anymore? It’s not like any of that matters to her. She just wants me gone.”

Pru, who’d been slumped on her perch on the lip of the tub, sat up ramrod straight. “Mistress was a virgin?”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, cleaning myself far more gently than she had. “Yeah, but so what? It’s notlike Rush was. Why’s everyone make such a big deal about a female losing their maidenhood but not the guy? It doesn’t have to be such a ‘thing’ for either of us.”

“Oh, it’s a thing, all right, Mistress, Elowyn. It’s a very big thing.”

I groaned. “Not you too.”

“How do you feel about Drake Rush Vega now?” she asked, seemingly unable to decide on how to address me in her general fluster.

“Um, well, I dunno.” I did know.

She simply waited, pinning those huge dark eyes on me.

“Fine,” I relented, handing her the cloth again before dipping underwater. When I emerged, “I feel him. Like, a lot. But I’m sure that’s how it always is. I mean, I hadn’t had sex before, so I’m sure it’s completely normal that I feel … connected to him … somehow.”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“What? What’s that mean?”

“It means you’d better hurry up and get dressed. You’ve been doing too much chatting this morning, and you’ve got a fight to win, the most important one of your entire life.”

The water sluiced down my body as I stood. “I’vebeen doing all the chatting? You’re the one who had something on her mind, which, by the way, you still haven’t ‘fessed up to. And what happened to your assumption that I’d lose today?”

“You have more to fight for than I realized.”

I stepped into the embrace of the towel she held open for me.

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