Henri, our father. Firm but generous. Infuriatingly stubborn. Mater fought her feelings for so long, but in the end, she surrendered to them. Isn’t that romantic?” he asked with stars in his eyes.
“Parts of it.” Other aspects were extremely disturbing.
“Love is for fools and peasants,” our mother rasped. She hadn’t looked away since Lucian had begun his story. Her hair was now clean, and Lucian set to drying it lovingly.
“Come now, Mother,” he teased, “you were neither a fool nor a peasant, but you were very much in love with our father. And without him, you wouldn’t have birthed the most handsome of your three sons.” Lucian’s smile was blinding. “I’ve been waiting so long for a human to enchant me enough that I don’t wish to kill them.” Lucian shook his head sadly. “But they’ve all turned out to be disappointments.”
“You might want to lower your expectations,” I said.
“Maybe,” he said without much commitment. “But I have had a great many thrilling trysts.”
God help the man or woman who caught Lucian’s attention.
Mater, now pink-skinned, clear-eyed, and with her damp hair shining, looked much more like the woman from my dreams.
“You look beautiful,” I said to her shyly.
Her lips curved into a smile, and she clutched my hand between her bony fingers. “So are you, my son.”
I caught Lucian staring at me with a mixture of menace and longing.
“Must run in the family,” he said and licked his lips hungrily.
“You need a bath,” I said to you a little while later. I’d finished tending to Mater and found you preparing to bed down for the night.
“Is it that bad?” You sniffed your underarm discreetly.
“Yes,” I said but that wasn’t the only reason. I wanted you naked, not for me but for my fingers. They hadn’t touched your bare skin in a while, and you owed them that. “Come with me.”
I retrieved the basket of toiletries I’d cobbled together from your supply runs to Ashur’s lair, essentials for a relaxing day at the Shade Vale Spa. The warm mineral baths were the only luxury this miserable mine had to offer, and I made the most of them.
I led you to my favorite pool, a couple of chambers away and downstream from our drinking source, where the water collected in a natural hollow that reached the tops of my thighs. There was a ledge for sitting—the flowing water had weathered away the sharp edges and left it smooth and slick.
I undressed you and instructed you to soak while I washed our clothes, then wrung them out and laid them on some nearby rocks to dry. The lamp I’d brought with us lit the cave in a dim glow, but our eyes were sharp so that it was enough. I’d hoped the warm water would release some of the tension from your muscles, and as I started kneading your neck and shoulders, it seemed that it had.
“Why haven’t you shown me this before?” you asked.
“I tried, but you wouldn’t leave Ashur unsupervised. He’s fine though. And Maxwell is sleeping, and Lucian is watching over Mater. It’s just us here, and I want to take care of you.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
I took advantage of your mellow mood, running my hands across your battle-scarred skin and digging into your dense tissue with my fingers. I told you to submerge yourself, then lay your head on my lap, so I could wash your hair. I took my time shampooing your long, tawny locks, trying to work out the tangles where the hair had knotted with dirt and dried blood. You moaned when my fingers massaged your scalp.
“Glorious,” you said and gazed up at me with tenderness. “We should do this more often.”
“Whenever you want.” I traced the angle of your bearded jaw with my thumb.
I filled a small bucket with water and rinsed your hair, then moved onto your front to wash your chest and arms. I ran my hands over your physique. Arms that had comforted me when I was hurt and sheltered me when I was afraid. The same body you’d lost and then regained. I’d bargained my soul for it. Didn’t that also make it mine?
“I love this body.” I’d admired it as a child, and now I wanted it as a man.
“It’s yours,” you said easily and without argument.
I told you to sit on the ledge so I could run my soapy hands over the tops of your muscular thighs and around to your tight hamstrings. I lifted each of your legs and washed