Page 69 of Exquisite Monster

“No time at all.”

The bath was one level down, and it already swirled with heat. “It stays like this?”

“With magic. Hot and clean.” Sirrus lifted my necklace over my head and set it on a small table. Then he helped me out of my clothes, piece by piece. Slowly. Reverently.

Until he was helping me into the water. I shuddered in the glorious heat. “Where are they?”

Endre and Zovai felt calm in my chest, but they weren’t here, and I needed them here.

“They’re showing the others where they can stay and the best places to keep watch. They’ll be here soon.”

He settled me against him, and I laid my head where I could hear his heart. “The first night I could feel you again. You felt…” Like he’d been sick and hurting. Exhausted and drained. “What did he do to you?”

Sirrus lifted a hand and cradled my head against his chest. “We will tell you, I promise. And we need to hear your story. But I think all of us need to be a little less raw.”

“They didn’t tell you?”

“Only what happened after your rescue. The rest is yours to tell.”

He was right. They needed to know everything that happened underground. But raw was the right word for what this felt like. We could wait a while longer. “All right.”

“I just have to know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Were you hurt?” His voice was low. “We all imagined the worst, but wondering if you were in pain and we weren’t there?—”

“No.” I lifted my face and kissed the corner of his mouth. “I was not hurt. Not in that way. Just here.” I pressed a hand to my chest.

Endre and Zovai entered the bathing chamber, already stripping out of their clothes. This felt like a scrap of the brief normalcy we’d had. So fucking brief.

Zovai caught me and pulled me through the water to him. “I hope you know we’re not letting you out of our sight for the next few days.”

“Or ever,” Endre said.

I didn’t need to say anything, because they could feel how much I wanted that. Justtime.

“I’m glad we bonded,” I said. “If I hadn’t known you were alive, I wouldn’t have made it.”

“Us either.”

Slowly, as we relaxed into the comfortable silence, I began to feel their guard fall. Began to feel the leftover pain and exhaustion from what they’d gone through. They were so relieved and sotired.

“I know it’s the middle of the day,” I whispered. “But let’s go to sleep.”

The fact that they said nothing but helped me out of the water and dry off was a testament to how much they needed it. We went back up to the bedroom on the top floor, and I didn’t bother to dress before I climbed on top of the soft blankets there. They smelled fresh, like they’d been cleaned and were simply waiting here for us.

“Where’sVarí?”

“He’s with Mesene and Belleo. They were exploring things when I left,” Zovai said. He stretched beside me, sinking into the pillows with a groan.

Endre took my other side and tucked my back to his chest, breathing deep. A brief, all-consuming terror rolled through me. All four of us asleep made us vulnerable. Even with our friends on this island, I found it hard to trust.

“We are safe here, right?”

“The only dragons who could get through the protections here are the Elders themselves,” Sirrus whispered. “And trust me, they’re not going to come here. If we’re lucky, they don’t even know we’ve escaped.”

“We haven’t been lucky so far.”