Page 117 of With Wing And Claw

It was the tone, more than the words themselves, that made her accidentally obey.

She watched in numb silence as those little demon hands took care of her second boot as well, then of her stockings. Naxi’s face hadn’t brightened, nor had her voice lightened, by the time she finally rose to her feet and curtly informed her, ‘Your bath is almost ready.’

Without waiting for an answer, she marched into the bathroom.

Thysandra didn’t move – from anxiety more than exhaustion now, the sensation crawling into her limbs like an army of ants. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong, and she no longer had the faintest clue of how to solve it – because demons lived for fun and pleasure, didn’t they? For nothing but selfish desires?

So how in hell was she to placatethisparticular demon, if the little menace refused to selfishly desire anything?

And if she couldn’t figure that out …

Her pulse quickened to a sickening speed.

‘Oh, for fuck’ssake,’ Naxi grumbled from the bathroom, her voice echoing against the tiles. The sound of running water abruptly cut off. ‘What is it this time, Sashka?’

She shouldn’t answer that truthfully.

It would be pathetic to answer that truthfully.

But she was sore down to the marrow of her bones. Her brain felt like it might drip out of her skull at any moment. Shields had crumbled that she hadn’t even known she was wearing, and the world might crumble with them tomorrow.

And she was frightened.

Numbingly, sickeningly frightened.

‘I just don’t want you to leave,’ she choked out.

It felt wrong, saying the words out loud. It felt right. It felt like spitting out her own unguarded heart for all the world to see, waiting for the first blows to smash it to pieces.

No answer came from the bathroom.

Then the door creaked open a few more inches, and Naxi reappeared in a whirl of steam, the golden bathroom light clinging like dew to her delicate features. Her robe hung half-open. Smooth black silk against flushed skin – like night brushing over the pale blush of dusk.

Her eyes were darker than Thysandra had ever seen them before, as blue as the iciest depths of the ocean.

‘I know,’ she said, weary voice excessively patient, as if talking to a whiny toddler throwing a tantrum. ‘Which is why I’m not leaving. Now get into the bath, will you?’

‘You— What?’ What sort of response wasthat, to a confession that could have broken her? ‘But I didn’t even offer you any—’

‘Oh, for hell’s bloody sake, Sashka –stoptalking about the gods-damned bribes!’ A flash of fury flared in that melodious voice. Something that wasn’t in any shape or form sweet or bright or playful – something heated and hard as steel. ‘Isn’t it clear enough by now that I’m not going anywhere? I’ve never been going anywhere! If you stop trying to bribe me, I still won’t be going anywhere!’

Thysandra blinked at her.

‘Which you should have known, frankly,’ Naxi testily added before she could regain her good sense, turning to retreat into the bathroom. ‘Notice how I stuck around for a century and a half while you weren’t even around to offer me anything? Now—’

‘Then why did you accept it?’ Thysandra interrupted, voice too shrill, her words tripping over each other on the way out. Her thoughts were more jumbled still, struggling to keep up with every nonsensical twist of this night. ‘The deal we made – why did you even go along with it, if you say you didn’t need it in the first place?’

A scoff. ‘Because you clearly needed an excuse to get over yourself and fuck me. Which I didn’t mind, necessarily.’

Oh.

Oh, hell.

Had it beenthatobvious?

‘So stop dithering and get yourself into the bloody bath already,’ Naxi added with a crabby shrug, slipping back into that gold-lit room and adding from inside, ‘You feel like utter shit.’

That much, at least, was true.