Page 26 of Shadow Throne King
“I must have misheard.” I blinked down at my food, shoving some of the steamed bun in my mouth to cover my confusion.
Conversation was limited, everyone all too aware of the thin walls and the chance of listening ears. When we were done, the servants returned to clear the tables and lead us to the baths.
“We have a servants’ bath, for the…” The serving girl trailed off, eyes on Topi before she dropped them. “There are no exits. It’s private.”
“Take her,” the Kennelmaster directed Coyome. Before Coyome could touch her shoulder, Topi stood, her chin raised. She strode out, past the whispering servants, following the serving girl down a long hall.
“This way?” Another servant gestured, her palm up. The Dogs surrounded Tallu, and I saw the servant glance backward,her eyes flicking from Tallu to his guards, then back to him. They weren’t wearing their swords—it would have been too obvious—but it was impossible for them to fully mask how lethal they were.
In the Mountainside Palace, the communal baths were inside a large bathhouse, the water from the lake heated and pumped into the building. Here, they had moved the stream that circled around the building, and based on the steam rising into the air, the large bathing areas were in the open. We passed through a high wall of wood with decorative knots and whorls moving through it.
Just beyond the first door, there were two smaller doors. The servant nervously gestured to one. “We have a private bath, if you’d prefer?”
Without speaking, Tallu put his hand on my lower back, nudging me toward the private room. Asahi and Sagam broke off, the former walking in before us. He examined the shower room, then went out to the bathing pool. When he was satisfied, he returned. “It’s safe.”
“Wait here while we bathe.” Tallu gestured to the doorway.
“Your—my lord, we must maintain your safety,” Sagam said. “What if someone attacks?”
“I’m sure we’re more likely to be attacked by mosquitoes here than any warrior,” I said. “Unless you have some unrevealed defense against biting insects? If you do, I demand an explanation for why I have all these welts on my back from forest mosquitoes.”
Sagam’s mouth went flat and unhappy, and he opened his mouth to protest, but Tallu cut him off. “You will wait. Here.”
I heard Asahi’s voice loud in my head, even though his mouth didn’t move. “Let him be. See if he can survive without us.”
“Of course, my lord,” Sagam said, nodding in a near bow. He didn’t react. He hadn’t heard Asahi because Asahihadn’tspoken. My head began to ache. The last thing I needed was to be going mad and assuming bad intentions from the man who’d risked himself multiple times to save my life. Asahi had kept my secrets when he had no reason to, and I was ungratefully imagining him spewing such hatred.
Because the other option was that I was suddenly hearing his innermost thoughts, and they were poison. I could not believe the man who had kept my secrets, who had saved my life, believed any of the toxic words I was hearing.
Sagam and Asahi stepped through the curtain, and I turned to Tallu, raising one eyebrow. “You know, theyhaveseen you naked before. They’ve seenmenaked before.”
Tallu shook his head, turning away from me to begin the complicated process of freeing himself from his clothes. As his fingers worked the buttons from their clasps, he spoke to his hands. “Is it not enough that I dislike it?”
After a moment’s hesitation, I followed him, undressing as I mulled over all the things he wasn’t saying. “Yes. That can be enough.”
When we were both naked, Tallu started the shower, and I stood back, watching as he scrubbed the grime of the road from himself. His long muscles still enticed me, and the gauntness I’d seen earlier must have been a trick of the light. I watched the twist of the dragon tattoo along his arm as he turned, the water finally running clear.
When it was my turn, I closed my eyes, enjoying the spray against my cheeks. I scratched my fingers through the stubble that had grown since I’d shaved the previous morning before taking a handful of the sand they used to wash and scrubbing it over my body. By the time I finished, the hot water pounding against my body had relaxed muscles in my back that long and uncomfortable rides in the wagon had knotted like an experienced sailor.
Tallu stood waiting, a towel pulled around his waist, and I admired the strength of his back and the darkness of his wet hair. When he turned back to me, I startled, jerking forward.
“Tallu,” I said, “you’re bleeding.”
Seven
Tallu’s eyes were wide, and a single stream of blood flowed down from his nose. He raised a hand, his fingertips catching it. I rushed forward, using my towel to stanch the bleeding.
He tilted his head backward, and I got a view of the long line of his neck, the delicate, dark copper skin that usually would have enticed me to kiss it. Now, I worried.
“Youareill,” I accused.
Tallu closed his eyes, his breaths slow and steady coming in through his mouth. Finally, he said, “This trip has been more taxing than I thought. I sleep, but it feels uncomfortable, as though I’m awake but unable to move, unable to even breathe, as though I can hear voices just beyond my ability to understand them.”
I startled, the guilt rising in my stomach immediately. Was it possible Tallu was somehow feeling the effects of Naî’s ice magic? Had her magic trapped himawake?
“Tallu—” I stroked a hand over his shoulder, down his arm, linking our fingers together. I squeezed his hand.
“It will pass,” Tallu said.