Get out.”
Her hair was a tangled mess and needed to be washed, so she closed her eyes and slid down, dunking her head. But the moment the water closed over her, a snarling golden dragon appeared before her eyes, Lucius’s laughter echoing in her ears.
I can’t breathe!
Lunging up, Lydia gasped and spluttered, clinging to the edge of the tub. “It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.”
The words did nothing to steady her racing heart.
Retrieving the soap, she washed her skin with shaking hands, digging grime out from under her nails. The wood in the stove snapped and popped as the fire consumed it, each sound causing Lydia to twitch like a skittish horse. Every time she blinked, she saw the baths in Celendrial. The sconces on the wall. That damned table with its decanter of Atlian wine.
Her breath came in ragged little gasps, her hands shaking as she rubbed the soap in her hair, building a lather. Get out, instinct told her even as logic reasoned that she was being ridiculous.
“Lucius is on the far side of the world,” she muttered. “And so is Marcus. They can’t touch you. And when you do get back, it will be them who pay. You’ll make them pay. You’ll save your father and Teriana, and all of this will be over.”
A bang sounded behind her, and Lydia screamed, spinning in the tub, certain she’d see Lucius. Certain she’d see the legatus, eyes full of resignation, reaching for her throat.
But it was only Gwen, her eyes wide, arms full of clothing. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I knocked, but you didn’t answer.”
“It’s fine.” Lydia could barely get the words out, her breath coming in great heaving gasps.
Setting the clothing down on a stool and a pair of boots on the floor, the other girl walked to the door to the courtyard and opened it, the steam rushing out even as cold air rushed in. “Sorry, I know better than to startle a girl in her bath. It’s my fault. But try to breathe.”
Lydia couldn’t find the air in her lungs to answer, her chest so tight it hurt, her body shivering despite being immersed in warm water.
Gwen crouched next to the tub, resting her hand overtop Lydia’s. It was warm. Comforting. A choking sob tore from Lydia’s chest, tears flooding down her face, and then the other girl had her arms around her. Holding her tight.
“It’s all right,” she said. “You’re safe here, understand?”
“Nowhere is safe.”
Gwen chuckled soundlessly, but Lydia felt it against her cheek. “Maybe not. But here you’re as safe as you can be. You see, we don’t just guard Malahi’s back; we guard each other’s. What you’ve joined here is a sisterhood who protect their own. You’re not alone.”
Fresh tears flowed down Lydia’s face, but the aching pain in her chest eased. When her breathing steadied, Gwen reached down for a bucket of water, which she warmed with some from the kettle, saying nothing as she rinsed the soap from Lydia’s hair, then picked up a comb and went to work on the tangles.
A sisterhood. Part of her yearned to belong to such a thing, to be surrounded by girls who were her friends in truth, not spies set to achieve the ends of men. There was a strange sort of autonomy in that, something she might never have appreciated if fate hadn’t put her in this place.
This time you are the liar, she reminded herself. Nothing Gwen or the other girls thought about her was true. Not who she was, where she came from, or even the skills that she possessed.
Yet as she rose from the tub, Gwen handing her a piece of toweling, Lydia found her heart aching to be friends with these girls in truth.
29
KILLIAN
Killian hadn’t believed the day could possibly get worse.
He’d been wrong.
Grand Master Quindor was waiting for Malahi when she and Killian had finally made it back through the palace gates, both of them sodden from washing the horse off in the warm waters of the spring and dusk heavy in the sky.
“Take him to the council chambers,” Malahi told the servant who met them at the palace entrance, the woman giving her mistress a wide-eyed once-over of her ruined guardswoman ensemble. “Tell him that I’ll be there in a few moments.”
Now, freshly attired, she and Killian strode through the palace corridors, flanked by her bodyguards. “Do you know what this is about?” he asked under his breath.
Malahi only shook her head, waiting for