Page 9 of A Court of Ash and Midnight
Chapter Five
Iblink up intothose familiar eyes. We’re still standing inches from each other, and I can feel the heat of his body mixed with mine. I want to ask him a million questions.
But none of the right ones.
Because what’s distracting me, in this moment, is an unshakeable feeling that I’ve known him for a very long time. Not just some stranger who saved me the night before. It’s the oddest feeling, and my cheeks flush and my blood seems to pulse too hot, too quickly in my veins, and then I realize we’re staring at each other and everything only intensifies.
Noise and movement crash back in around us like a wave hitting a shore. The green-eyed man shoots me an indifferent look as if he has no clue who I am, steps around me, and strides off down the hall, black cloak swirling behind him.
“Are you quite alright?” Professor Julian asks. “Some people are completely oblivious… no common sense whatsoever.”
I look up at him, still stunned, my eyes blinking rapidly as I try to center myself back in my surroundings. “Who was that?”
“Daemon of House Aeternas. Someone you would do best to avoid while you’re here,” the Professor says, a warning in his tone. “Not all of our residents are so fond of humans…” He trails off, his gaze traveling down the hallway a moment before he draws it back to me. “Let us continue. Your room.”
We travel to the end of the hall and then up another set of spiraling steps that ascends to the third floor. Professor Julian leads us past five doors on the right and stops at the sixth. “I believe this one is vacant.”
He turns the knob, opening the thick wooden door to reveal a small room with a single window on the far wall. It’s sparsely decorated, a bed and small table on the left, a wardrobe straight back, and a small porcelain sink in the back right corner. The cobwebs glittering at the corners of the window tell me he’s right.
“I suppose you’ll need clean linens and some clothes… and one of the trainees can show you to the community bath for a more thorough cleansing than you can get in the sink.”
He gives me an encouraging smile. I can only imagine what I must look like. Soot from my work the day before not entirely washed off. Probably dirt on my face from falling on the ground last night. Scrapes from the branches in the forest. The stink of smoke in my hair.
We step back out into the hallway, and Professor Julian gestures to a trainee down the hall a ways. It’s a young fae woman, roughly my age. She approaches with a demure smile on her face, her steps lithe and graceful. She’s stunningly pretty, as nearly all the fae are. Hair long and thick and golden, large eyes the color of an autumn sky.
“Gielle, you’re exactly who I need right now,” the Professor says. “We have a guest, Embyr, who will be staying with us awhile. I want you to show her to the bathing room. I’ll let your other professors know you won’t be in classes the rest of the morning.”
She smiles and nods. “Happy to help, Professor.”
“Very good. Well, I have some things I must attend to, but Embyr, I’ll be around in a couple of hours to collect you.”
“Much appreciated,” I manage, though I’m feeling very much like I’ve been abandoned by the one person who’s on my side here.
Professor Julian departs, leaving me alone with the beautiful fae woman—whose smile drops as soon as the Professor is out of sight.
“Well, come along, then,” Gielle says, her honeyed tones turning sour. “You definitely need a visit to the bathing room.”
Her abrupt shift in demeanor isn’t exactly surprising. My few encounters with fae have left a similar unpleasant taste in my mouth. But I’ve survived far worse in my years, and it seems here, in Shadow’s Keep, I’m just going to be playing a different game of survival.
“How kind,” I murmur. “Sograteful for your help.”
I layer in just enough of a tone of mockery that she can hear it, but my sweet smile belies my words. Gielle’s eyes widen, making them even more blue. She clearly hadn’t expected any resistance. Turning on her heel, she stalks off, not looking to see if I’m following.
About halfway down the long hallway, she turns left into a large room. Steam billows out through the doors, and inside there are several large pools of water set in the floor. Fluted stone columns rise between the pools, flaring out into a design along the ceiling that looks like flames or ocean waves or maybe both. The air smells of minerals and herbs.
She waves her arm around once and then says in a frigid tone opposite the warm mist hanging around us, “I’ll wait outside.”
Does she really expect me to strip down in a room with a huge open door to the hallway outside? Is this how fae usually do things?
I don’t recall ever taking a proper bath in my life. Not in a place like this. Usually, it’s in rivers or a splash from a bucket of water in a barn. If I’m lucky, maybe a bucket of lukewarm water at an inn, on the rare occasion I’ve stayed in one.
Looking around, I spot shelving cut into the stone walls on the far side of the room, and what appears to be folded towels. I walk over to confirm, and seeing I’m right, I suck in a breath, quickly undress, and toss my dirty clothes on the floor. It feels especially strange to unravel the tight cloth binding my chest. I don’t have to pretend I’m a man inside these walls, which is both liberating and unnerving. I’ve carried that identity for so long, it feels strange to leave it behind.
When I step down into the closest pool, the hot water feels incredible. My aching muscles relax instantly, and the pain melts out of me. I close my eyes for a moment, basking in the moment, but then I remember I’m in a strange place with a woman who seems to hate me standing right outside. I open my eyes again and dispense some soap from one of the glazed jars sitting alongside the pool, washing my skin and hair thoroughly.
I’ve just finished when I hear voices echoing down the hallway coming in my direction. I freeze as I hear them call to Gielle. Her voice comes from a ways off, she’s not outside as she’d said she would be. I debate getting up and dashing for a towel, as opposed to staying semi-hidden in the steamy water, but before I can decide which option is best, three men stride right into the room.
By the way they stop dead in their tracks, it’s clear Gielle hadn’t bothered to mention I was in here.
