Captive of Wolves (Bound to the Fae #1) - Eva Chase Page 0,62
on the slick tiles enough times to appreciate the security of the measure too. But when my thoughts take a darker turn, his presence only reminds me of how much I am still a prisoner, as much as we might like to pretend otherwise.
Inside the sauna room, August dips his head to me and takes his spot behind the folding screen. I sit on a stool to take off the wooden foot brace and then peel off the rest of my clothes. Steam floats through the small room, condensing on my bare skin. I drag it into my lungs, some of the tension I’ve been holding in easing in the humidity’s embrace.
Gripping the edge of the pool, I limp down the steps. Now that I’ve gotten used to the brace, I can’t ignore how uneven my gait is without it. Sylas has aided my escape without even realizing it. I just hope someone in the human world will be able to look at it and figure out how to construct something similar for when my current one wears out or breaks.
The water closes around me all the way up to my chin, hot enough to melt even more of my uneasiness. It holds a slight salty scent, but not enough that it stings if I rub my eye with a wet hand. I tip my head back, my hair floating around my shoulders like pink seaweed. The currents propelled by the jets beneath the surface of the water tickle across my waist.
For a few minutes, I drift in pure indulgence. Then I grab the soap from its dish near the steps and get to work on the actual washing. The bar gives off a welcoming smell like a summer forest with all the vegetation at its most vibrant, and it lathers quickly between my hands.
I massage the bubbles into my hair down to the roots, dunk my head several times to rinse it out, and then rub every other inch of my skin. I’m never again giving anyone the opening to claim that I stink if I can help it.
I’m business-like about it, my awareness of August’s presence never fading, but when my fingers brush over my breasts, a quiver of giddy sensation runs through my chest. Closing my eyes against it doesn’t help one bit. The memory rises up of seeing August in the basement gym this morning—of the sculpted muscles flexing beneath his sweat-damp skin, the power with which he wielded them, his rhythmic breaths in time with his movements. The look in his eyes when he caught me watching him, their golden gleam turning molten.
More heat than I can blame on the water courses through me now, leaving me dizzy. I suck in the steamy air.
“Are you all right?” August calls from behind the screen. The genuineness of his concern only puts me more off-balance.
“Yes,” I say, and grope for something to steer my wayward mind in a less provocative direction. “I— Sylas told me your mother was human.”
There’s a momentary silence and then a startled but not offended chuckle. “He did, did he? Did that surprise you?”
I consider. “I don’t think I know enough about fae to have any idea whether that’s a surprising thing.”
“It’s not—not really.” His chair squeaks, and I picture him leaning back in it. “Pure fae are essentially immortal when it comes to old age, but the trade-off is they struggle to have kids. So ages ago, when one or another got a hankering for an heir, sometimes they’d steal away a pretty lady or handsome gentleman to help with that process. At this point, I doubt there’s any of us that haven’t got at least a bit of human blood in there somewhere, even if some turn up their noses at the thought.”
“But that’s not the only way fae have kids,” I say. “Sylas and Whitt and Kellan—they didn’t have a human parent, did they?” I’m assuming Sylas would have mentioned as much instead of just August’s if they had.
“It isn’t the only way,” August agrees. “Now that there’s been so much intermingling, it’s not even all that common. The faded fae—which is most of us, with blood that’s already quite mixed—don’t have as much trouble producing children. And now and then those pure enough to be called true-blooded manage it despite the odds. That’s why Sylas is a lord and Whitt and I aren’t. Our father had him with his soul-twined mate, both of them true-blooded, so Sylas is as