Page 4 of Sunken Empire

I start to give the dress another go, but the shower in the room catches my eye. Its clear doors allow me to see that more than one person can fit inside the space. If I’m honest, Zale’s shower is bigger than my entire room. They must have paid a fortune for this kind of space.

I glance towards the door. He said to come out when I was dressed, not that I couldn’t shower first. I smirk to myself at the thought of making Zanthus wait. Just from what I can tell, he’s a beastling with very little patience.

My brows furrow as I notice the shower isn’t exactly the same as a normal one, though. There aren’t nobs to turn the water on and off, just buttons. Stepping in, I go to take a closer look and get sprayed right in the face as an automatic system kicks the water on. It’s the perfect temperature, but I still let out a little girly squeal from the surprise.

Two knocks and Zephyr’s sandy brown head pokes around the corner of the door. “All good in here?”

“I think so. Thanks,” I say, staring at the buttons. He disappears but leaves a crack in the door.

I give up trying to figure out which one does what and why. “Hey, Zephyr?”

He must not have gone very far because it takes half a second for him to appear again, with an oddly pleased look on his face. “Yes?”

I point at the wall. “What are all of these for?”

He smiles and points as he says, “The one far left changes the pressure, middle is for cleansing, umm what you call soap, and the far right is to fill up the area for a bath. Just make sure the door is closed tight before you press that one. I’ve made a mess or two that way.”

The last is said with a snicker and a shrug.

“Okaaaay,” I draw out.

“Anything else?” he asks, giving me a once over. He grins ear to ear as he finds me watching him.

I should feel violated, but I don’t. It sparks a small part of me that has been hiding in the corner for a while. The way that he looks at me makes me feel confident in more ways than one, but in true Rubi fashion I make a comment way out in left field, “Why do you guys have saltwater in your shower?”

He laughs and disappears behind the door again.

“What? It’s a legitimate question,” I announce to the empty shower.

I manage to not break anything and get myself clean all in the fifteen or so minutes that I spend in there. The saltwater proves to make me feel cleaner than I ever have, almost like a layer of myself has washed down the drain. As I move to leave, the shower the water turns off, and I startle again and put up an arm against the wall to catch my weight. When I pull away, I see that the tile is a different color with the imprint of my arm.

“What the?” I question out loud.

Color bleeds from the tile and slowly turns back to its original shade of dark-aqua. I place my hand against the wall in a different spot, and my curiosity is rewarded when the wall changes from the aqua color to a lighter blue-green and then back again.

Okay, now, that’s cool.

Of course, my brain automatically goes to what the imprint would look like after one of the Z’s pressed me up against it in a lust-fueled moment. I shake the image free of my head. I’ll never be able to get a handle on myself and make it all the way back to my room thinking things like that while they’re around.

Stepping out of the shower, I steal the big fluffy blue towel that’s hanging on the rack. It wraps around my body almost twice, and I take a second to just enjoy the feel of it against my skin. Then I remember the cup of steaming liquid on the counter. I’m surprised to find it still warm enough to sting my throat going down.

Between whatever is in the cup and my stolen shower, I feel the jackhammers in my skull downgrade to a manageable headache. I don’t know what Zale put in this, but he could make millions off it. Looking around the expensive room, I decide that maybe he already has. I am so out of my league here.

Without any distractions this time, I am able to fit the dress over my body just fine. The purple material is as soft as the towels. It starts with a Queen Anne neckline, cinches at my waist and flows the rest of the way to the floor. I back up in the room far enough to where I can see most of my body in the mirror in the sink.

“Wow,” I stammer out.

This dress is phenomenal and makes me look very much the royal that I am not. That’s when it hits me, and I begin to wonder whose dress it is that I’m wearing. The thought barely crosses my mind before I hear a soft knock at the door, and Zephyr is sticking his head through the crack again.

His eyes meet mine before he slowly works them all the way to my toes and back up again. I watch as several emotions pass over his face. Sadness, anger, curiosity, and lust are all there before it finally settles on what I am beginning to think of as his usual expressions of amusement. The smile he sends me makes a blush come to my cheeks, which, I must say, is a first. I’m not the girly type to flirt and bat my eyelashes around men, but there’s something about these three that has woken up something inside of me.

Of course, that doesn’t help the non-existent filter between my brain and mouth, “What are you looking at me like that for?”

He glances at the ceiling while shaking his head and chuckling. “No reason at all, ma petite sirène.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “What does that mean?”

Instead of answering me, he laughs again and holds out his hand to me. “Come on. Let’s go find the others.”

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