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“After we return from the Abyss with an army, save Elias, shove a metaphorical middle finger up Hadeon’s ass, and save Shadowbank?” Jessamine shrugged. “Who the fuck knows. No enchantress has been allowed to dream outside our duties. I suppose I’d like to live long enough to figure it out.”

Arabella squeezed Jessamine’s hand again before releasing it and sitting upright. “I promise to do everything in my power to give you and everyone in Shadowbank a time of peace.” A sudden thought occurred to her, and she asked, “How many days do you think passed in our realm?”

Jessamine sighed. “If five hundred years passed for us and one thousand in the Abyss… And we’ve been in here for about three weeks… Maybe forty days? Though it’s hard to be certain how many days passed without the sun to tell the time.”

Fuck.

Arabella had suspected as much.

“We don’t have any more time to waste,” Arabella said, knowing she’d spared all the time she dared to help her learn about her magic. “We need to ask them for help. Now.”

“I think you’re right,” Jessamine said with a sigh. “And who knows how long it’ll take to find a way out of the Abyss.”

Resolve settled in Arabella’s chest. “I’ll speak to Arden tonight.”

“Have you told Prince Arden about your… ties to him?” Jessamine asked carefully.

“Not yet.”

Some part of Arabella still wondered whether she shared lineage with Arden. Outside of some shared features like their long limbs or the shape of their eyes, there wasn’t a way to truly know if she was related to the shadow fae prince. Their physical traits could just be commonplace among the shadow fae. It might be nothing at all.

But if I don’t say anything now, I may not have a chance to speak to my mother.

In the weeks that had passed, a curiosity had settled in her heart about the woman who’d birthed her—and if she was here. It was possible she wasn’t with Arden’s army or had been killed.

Even still, to be this close to her birth mother and not taking the chance to meet her weighed on her thoughts.

With a groan, she rose on sore muscles and extended a hand to Jessamine. “Let’s get cleaned up.”

There were several hot springs in the mountain, one of which was used for bathing. The one in the cavern where they trained apparently served another purpose. So, they strode up the tunnels to a smaller cave where the bathing springs were.

The light from Jessamine’s torch illuminated the way her lips thinned as they walked.

Arabella tilted her head to the side. “What is it?”

“Hadeon stopped by not long ago,” Jessamine said. “He and Breckett were headed to the bathing pool.”

For a moment, Arabella hesitated.

There weren’t enough resources, especially sources of water, for the shadow fae to be prudish about nakedness. As such, it meant anyone could bathe at the same time.

Up until now, they hadn’t bathed at the same time as Hadeon or Breckett.

Arabella squeezed Jessamine’s shoulder. “Come on. It’s no big deal. I’m sure Hadeon’s got a small cock.”

They turned the corner and passed from the dark tunnel into the mouth of another cave. She knew from the dampness in the air that they’d arrived at the bathing springs.

The tunnel opened up to a cave three or four times the size of their sleeping quarters. A large pool was at the center of the room with steam pluming from its surface. The rippling surface of the water did nothing to obscure what was beneath its surface. There was also nothing in the way of furniture, and at several spots around the pool, there were odorless soaps.

Lounging at the opposite end of the pool with arms outstretched was Hadeon. His eyes followed them as they entered, a wicked curve to his lips. Utterly naked, he sat on what appeared to be a lip in the rock that acted as a seat, his legs spread wide.

As it turned out, his cock was… impressive.

“Fuck,” Jessamine muttered under her breath as she stormed across the room toward a sort of alcove where bathers stashed their clothing.

In another corner of the pool, Breckett rinsed soap from his hair but looked up as they entered. Two other fae males were drying off at the far enough of the room.

Arabella followed Jessamine, offering the males a brief nod.