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Valerie then took that dagger to her own chest and cut through her dress, like she couldn’t be bothered with the ties. She was stripping, pulling it from herself without a care for her sister in front of her or the fact that she knew Geryon was watching.

“Valerie! What are you doing? If you wished to bathe, you should have come inside. You know Mother often has odd guests.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, not seeming to find an issue with stripping.

“She will not permit me to enter the cottage, and I do not care. If someone wishes to stare at me in a lecherous manner, while I want nothing more than to remove the blood of men I sincerely no longer wish to have upon me, that is their prerogative.”

So brash!There was a possibility Geryon was looking at her naked form in such a manner.I knew she was not shy, but this just makes me realise how much so.

She knelt next to the bucket of water to wipe down her skin, washing the blood, dirt, and grime away.

“My heavens!” Geryon’s brows raised in shock.Only my kind says this.Carwyn knelt next to her, shaking her head in disbelief. “You are bleeding.”

The back of her ankles and sides of her toes were covered in blisters and cuts, along with cuts on the soles.

Valerie paused to note her feet before shrugging. “It does not matter.”

He’d seen her throw her shoes to the side this day, but she’d never grimaced, or even limped – even when she’d been carrying Kaeylyn on her back.She is injured.

Why did knowing she was injured and in a tired state make his stomach knot?I am sure we could have found something to heal her.He and Valerie wouldn’t have been able to do so, but he was sure Valerie could have showed Kaeylyn how.

“You must be in so much pain. Please, let me heal them.”

Valerie paused in wiping herself down. She eventually sighed. “As long as you promise not to touch me directly, you may do what you wish.”

Carwyn ran inside and came back moments later with an ointment. Valerie rubbed it on her feet for her, then Carwyn lifted her hands above her feet and began to chant.

Once she was done, she knelt while Valerie resumed her bathing.

“What you did, Valerie–”

“Leave me be. I know what I have done.”

“I am surprised Eldaeric is not with you. He told us he scried for Kaeylyn and saw she was at the northern king’s palace. Did you not see him?”

She eyed her sister before she scrubbed her arm downwards. “Eldaeric is dead.”

Carwyn’s eyes crinkled. “I am so sorry, Valerie. I know he was your friend.”

Geryon’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought she may have known the Witch he’d killed.Is that why he grabbed her?

“I hardly counted that dark Witch a friend. He was an idiot, always had been. He should not have come for me, should not have tried to save Kaeylyn when he knew his magic was weak.” She shook her head before she knelt to wipe her midsection, rubbing her stomach and breasts without care. “For his stupidity alone, he deserved what happened to him.”

Such a cold-hearted response to a friend being killed.

“How did you do it when he could not? Who killed him?”

“He tried to take on King Bradwick during a ball and was overcome by human soldiers.” She paused for a moment. “He almost uncovered my identity. He could have gotten us both killed and Kaeylyn would still be imprisoned.”

Once her body was clean enough, she dunked her head into the bucket of water so she could wash the blood from her hair. She wiped at her face quickly, rubbed her neck to clean it, and then stopped to finger the ribbon around her throat.

It seemed she’d forgotten about it. Geryon had barely stopped staring at it. The ends were so frayed, when she tried to untie it with her wet hands, she was unable to. She reached for the dagger, and Carwyn shot forward.

“Stop, you will cut yourself. Let me help you.” She stood behind her, only to pause. Her voice turned into a breathless whisper as she said, “Is... Is that the Witch’s curse mark on your back?”

“Yes.”

Instead of untying the ribbon, the woman pressed her gloved fingers into her back to inspect it. “How did you manage to get pixies to come to you for this?”