Page 127 of Till Death

“It’ll take me a little while to work out the logistics, but we could let Quill help with the artwork, and we’d need to figure out the water, but…”

“A bathhouse,” I breathed, peeking through the large arched windows to the sunken craters in her imagined floor. “Could you really manage it?”

“That’s a big project, Althea.”

But Orin plucked the metal box from her hands, spinning it to take in the details. “We could pump water from the river if we dig a trench at an angle, and if we used the forge and the right piping, the fire could double as a heating element for the water.”

“I can handle design and all the pipework. We’d just need glass for windows and stone for the floor. Everything else can be metal.” Thea bounced on her toes, so excited it was contagious.

“Imagine,” Elowen said. “Our own bathhouse.”

“We could even run a pipe to the kitchen for hot water,” Orin added. “You’d have to pump a lever to get it here, though, but I bet Thea could figure it out.”

Orin’s mother sighed. “Keep the pan, Thea. It’ll be a worthy loss.”

Althea was a genius. At breakfast the next day, she’d introduced the idea to Quill and convinced her she was going to need a lot of help with the design. The kid took it very seriously, stealing all the paper she could find in the house to jot down her ideas until they’d settled on a plan together. Paesha joined the plan-making, and by the time Orin and I slipped away a few days later, they were already thoroughly distracted from the loss of Hollis. Quill had cried a few times before bed, but I’d diligently climbed in with her and Boo, staying well beyond the rhythmic snoring. Lying beneath the silver moon shining into Quill’s bedroom, for the first time in a long time, I felt like we were all going to be okay. And somehow, life was going to become simpler, though the lingering threat of Drexel still sat upon our minds.

“Look at this one.” Orin slid a book across the long wooden desk at the library, leaving a streak in the dust. “It talks about the final battle.”

Upon entering the library for the first time, he’d stumbled backward, out the door, and all the way to the street to stare up at the old building again, just to make sure it was in fact the library and not an abandoned temple. We figured it had been at least a decade since anyone had been here. And while it smelled of old wax and leather binding, the decay had started creeping in, eating at the wooden floors, vines breaking through the windows to creep up the walls. Thea decided once they finished the bathhouse, this would be her next adventure. And there was a promise in that. A way to help the world we could all be a part of, even if we never found the Life Maiden. But still, we tried to make sense of it all.

I thumbed through the ancient pages, relying on the dim light of several candles as I turned each page tenderly, reading of bloodshed and loss while Orin stared at me intently. His heated gaze was more distracting than he’d likely planned for it to be.

“It’s weird because the way this is written, it seems like the gods were still involved in these battles. And the world, so much larger than just Perth and Silbath.”

“I thought so, too,” Orin said, shoving another book at me. “But look at this.”

“I’ve seen this before.” I ran my fingers over the map. “It’s the same one from Drexel’s office.”

“Right. Two cities.”

“But the temples are all named here. As if the gods were still around.” Closing the book, I set it in the pile of things we’d found useful. “My father always told me when we were at war, the gods had abandoned us, and Death came and gifted everyone a hundred years of immortality in order to save us from each other.”

“According to these books, the gods hadn’t abandoned us at the end of the war. That happened later.”

“But why?”

Orin sighed, stretching, leaning so far back in the chair that the hem of his shirt lifted, showing a glimpse of his muscled body and dark veins. “I guess that’s a question for another day. Let’s go see how the others are doing. I’m exhausted.”

Rubbing my eyes, I nodded. “Me, too. And honestly, I’m starting to wonder if this is a lost cause.”

“Of course, it is. If she could have been found, I think Paesha would have done it by now.”

“You don’t have to come, Orin. I don’t mind doing this by myself.”

He circled the table, closing the distance to rub my shoulders. “It’s important to you that we exhaust all our options. So that’s what we’ll do. If you told me you wanted to find a way to reach the moon, I’d be here for that, as well. Your desires are mine because you are mine, Wife. And then, when all else fails, we’ll find something else to occupy our time.”

Standing, I spun to wrap my arms around him. “What did you have in mind?”

Something dark crossed his face as his dangerous gaze raked over my body. “Nothing decent. I can promise you that.”

“Thank the gods. I hate decency.”

He stroked a finger over my bottom lip, heating me thoroughly. “I was hoping you’d say that.” Brushing a gentle kiss on my lips, he grabbed my thighs and lifted me onto the desk, deepening the kiss until every part of my body answered to his touch.

When he gripped my throat, before sliding his hands back, holding the dark waves of my hair to bring me closer, I moaned against his mouth. We’d been alone here before. We’d taken these moments for stolen kisses, but he always stopped. Always pulled away.

This time, when he broke the connection, I snagged his shirt and brought him forward again. Maybe he wasn’t ready to cross that line with me. Maybe he was still trying to work through it all, but I was so ready for him. Desperate for him, even. Each night, I ached for him. Dreamed of him opening the door to my room and crawling into my bed. But he never did.