RAMHM Chapter 132

Bath Attendance

Rhodness's throat bobbed, thick and slow.

He followed me into the bathing room, exactly where I led him.

In the center of the vast bath, carved from mysteriously glittering stone, at its center a hot spring burbled up, bub-bub, and white steam packed the room full.

Rhodness shed his shirt without hesitation, and then everything below it.

The angry muscle that had been straining in combat only moments ago shifted and moved, and the huge, flawless body—like something carved—stepped down into the bath.

Through the white vapor, his beautiful red eyes fixed on me, watching, waiting.

They had the gleam of a predator sizing up prey just before the kill.

"I don't want you straining yourself. You don't have to smell the blood and wash me, Rienne."

His mouth—the good, well-behaved one—said the opposite of what his eyes were begging for.

I hesitated for a moment, then a stubborn streak rose in me and I quickly stripped off the dress I had on.

The light indoor dress was easy enough to take off alone, and it slid off me like shed skin, dropping at my feet.

I saw Rhodness open his mouth to add something, then press his lips firmly shut instead.

Having confirmed his throat working again, I stepped toward him wearing nothing but my white underdress.

"My lover talks too much."

"—!"

Rhodness flinched, hard, at the word lover.

I perched on the edge of the bath and dipped my hands into the hot water.

The water, steeped with herbs meant to clean the body, drew the monster's blood from Rhodness's skin and gave off a faint, thin scent of it.

The special bath had its own system for purifying contamination, so the water—tinted faintly pink for a moment—cleared back to plain water as time passed.

I rubbed gently at the blood still left on his broad, hard shoulders with wet hands, and Rhodness made a low, suffering sound deep in his throat.

"Rienne. Enough teasing."

"I'm helping you get clean. Don't I get a compliment?"

"..."

He let out a groan and shut his mouth again.

Once the water had gone fully clear, I worked the bath soap into a lather and smeared it generously over his shoulders.

When I stayed quiet and devoted myself entirely to the task, Rhodness, watching me with a face that had gone faintly sulky, flicked water at me.

"You're the one teasing, Rhoan!"

I figured he'd say sorry right away, like always.

Instead his gaze moved past my eyes, narrowed at the splashed water, to my cheek, and then slowly down to my throat.

His eyes had been tracking the path of the water drop as it ran—but the moment it dropped, low, onto the front of my dress, his gaze went dark.

The tension pulled instantly taut between us; I swallowed hard against a dry throat and forced myself to keep working.

He held out, jaw clenched, until I went to lather his shoulder again—and then his hand closed firmly over mine.

"Ah!"

My whole body fell, splashing, into the vast bath full of soap.

"Rhoan!"

There was no continuing past that.

Rhodness's mouth, hot and wet, went straight to the front of my dress, bared now to the air.

His breath traveled backward along the path the water drop had left—over my throat, up to my cheek—and when it reached my skin, a sharp jolt shot straight through my spine, and I had to shudder.

"I told you not to provoke me, last time."

His voice, sunk low, was the last thing he said before his mouth, greedy now with want, caught my lips and began to consume them whole.

He'd settled himself against the edge of the bath at some point, holding me against him.

Every time I touched his heaving chest, a low, suffering sound spread into my mouth from his.

Every time he ran his hands over me without restraint, claiming my mouth, the soap and hot water sloshed and rocked.

Between our bodies, pressed hot together, the heat had nearly reached its peak when I finally managed to push his bare chest back and gasp for breath.

His red eyes, gone dark, were fixed on my wet lips with a gaze dripping in unspent want.

"Rhoan."

"You don't need to do this for me, Adrienne."

A sudden indignation rose in me—all that careful attendance, undone for nothing—when I felt his hand, which had been bracing my back, catch the loose strap of my shoulder and pull it down.

I went rigid in surprise, and Rhodness's reddened eyes curved, soft.

It was a shape almost sly, as if meant to hide the gleam steadily building behind them.

"You said you wanted to bathe in a hot spring once we reached Ellaconia."

"What?"

"Your devoted attendant has no intention of letting his master bathe alone."

"What are you even talking about right now?"

"I'll be attending your bath. Not the other way around."

On the heels of that low, bitten-off voice, my body was suddenly lifted.

Rhodness set me on the edge of the bath, then cut through the water and came toward me, and without hesitation, bit down on my knee where my skirt had ridden up.

A sharp jolt of sensation shot through me, and a chill ran the length of my spine.

I grabbed his wet platinum hair in a sudden, desperate grip and twisted, tipping my head back toward the ceiling.

Through the great window left open for guests overhead, a beautiful night sky showed clear and bright, but I had no room left to enjoy the view.

Damp, hot flesh began to bite, almost devour, at the inside of my thigh, tasting its way up, and I shook my head, pushing at him with both hands to hold him back. It was a reaction born of sensation gone too far.

He laughed, low.

His breath spilled straight against the inside of my thigh, and goosebumps rose all the way to the edge of my ears.

Unlike in his office, when he hadn't understood his own want—this body, now schooled in it, caught fire fast.

The corner of the mouth that had bitten its way to the very inside of my thigh curved into a handsome arc, and his red eyes, fierce as a glare, bent toward me, sweet.

"I'll get you clean, Rienne."

"Rhoan..."

"With my mouth."

The intensity of want crashing over me like a tidal wave made me forget to breathe; I bit down hard on my lip.

Heat. A chill.

Two words that should never coexist stabbed into my skull without mercy, churning it all to mush.

Tears welled at the corners of my eyes, and by the time the jolt that had started at his lips had caught like wildfire from the crown of my head to the very tips of my toes, burning through everything—

I had the illusion that the stars glittering overhead were falling on me like rain.

I'd never spent that long in a bath in my entire life.

Just thinking back on last night with Rhodness—until my hands and feet went puffy and waterlogged, on the verge of bursting—made me dizzy.

By the time the dawn sun came up bright, Rhodness had thoroughly worked off however much pent-up longing he'd been carrying, and I had to eat a substantial breakfast just to survive the morning.

Rhodness, his face more radiant than it had been the entire time we'd stayed here, looked at me with a gaze dripping honey-sweet every time I put bread in my mouth.

His look was so blatant that even Canulla scolded him from across the table—'You're heading to the capital to do something important; drop that lunatic face already.'

Naturally, the embarrassment of my own flushed cheeks was mine alone to bear.

"You really should have slept a little. Her Highness the Crown Princess's maids were seen off all the way past the castle gates in a properly arranged carriage, so don't worry too much. That besot—I mean, His Highness's reputation comes in handy for things like this, so they won't dare run their mouths."

On the way to see Rhodness off, Neil muttered at me without pause.

His face shone with loyal devotion, utterly convinced I'd lost sleep over anxiety about Doris's fleeing maids.

Rhodness, apparently unable to stand the sight of Neil whispering at me like some toadying sycophant, finally finished putting on his armor, stepped out of the manor, and gave Neil's Achilles tendon a sharp tap, sending him scurrying off.

Neil, after shooting Rhodness a glare only I could see, scampered off toward Vincento.

"Rienne."

In front of his massive war-horse, Rhodness called me to a stop and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead.

His hand, stroking both my shoulders as if forcibly holding back the urge to pull me into an embrace, lingered with weight. It was restraint, for my sake—since I was always conscious of the eyes around us.

"I already miss you. What do I do about that."

A sweet breath scattered against my ear.

A sudden surge of feeling rose in me, and forgetting even to mind who was watching, I threw my arms around him.

The waist caught in my arms was thick; the chest pressed against my cheek was cold.

It was because of the hard, heavy armor he wore. The fact that the capital he was riding toward was no less a battlefield than this one settled into my skin, undeniable.

Rhodness, startled for a moment by my sudden embrace, laughed low. When I pressed my ear to his chest, faintly trembling, I could hear his heartbeat, a good, steady sound, thudding away.

My own heart, audible only to me, was racing just as fast.

"Be careful, Rhoan. Don't push yourself."

"Rather than that—I'd rather you told me you loved me."

The corner of his mouth, tipped rakishly up, expressed a small measure of regret.

I worked my lips, about to speak, but at the sound of Canulla slowly approaching us, I pulled back from him.

"I love you, Rienne."

No sooner had I stepped back than his voice came drifting out, light as wind.

My ear, where his low voice had brushed past, went burning red, and I covered it with my hand.

"Rhoan, don't worry about things on this end. The moment the Emperor fails to formally recognize you as Crown Prince, I'll be ready to rise up myself."

"That sounds like something a rebel army would say. Since you've come as an uninvited guest, the least you can do is not torment my lady."

"Well! Just listen to the nerve of him, would you!"

"I'll see you in the capital."

Rhodness gave a short, almost-laugh—the corner of his mouth turning, involuntary—and swung himself up onto his war-horse.

"Epero. I'm leaving my lady in your care."

"Brother. It's me who's supposed to be attended to by my lady, you know."

Rhodness lightly ignored Epero's grumbling, turned his horse's head toward the opposite side of the manor, and the assembled Second Knights' horses all turned with him as one.

"Just wait a little longer."

Rienne.

My name, shaped only by the movement of his lips, went unspoken. Rhodness, his face set hard and resolute, tapped his heel lightly against his horse's flank.

The flag bearing the symbol of Second Prince Rhodness fluttered at his sides.

He turned back once more, briefly, toward where I stood, then hid his reluctance and spurred his horse into a gallop.

The rest of us watched until they shrank to a single point in the distance and turned to go back inside the manor—

"That damned old man timed his arrival well."

Canulla's voice came, grinding her teeth, the ornate cane in her hand striking the ground hard, twice.

In the distance, a pure white carriage was racing toward us at speed.

Knights wrapped in matching white cloaks surrounded it in disciplined formation, drawing closer.

The white carriage skidded to a stop, kicking up dust, and the white-cloaked knights lined up on either side of its door, swords drawn skyward.

The carriage door flew open, and a man wearing a tall ceremonial hat all but spilled out of it.

The moment he spotted Canulla, the man froze stiff as stone, then hastily waved off all formal protocol and ran.

"Marquess!"

Grand Prelate Telrn had truly come, in person, all the way out to this remote, modest little territory.

Given the gravity of the matter, only Grand Prelate Telrn, Canulla, Epero, and I went into the separate sitting room set aside for the meeting.

Canulla must have received word early, because the table was already set with the astringent tea the temple was always so fond of giving out.

None of us so much as touched the tea, but Telrn, his face tight with nerves, drank it down again and again.

"I have heard some truly revolting news, Your Eminence. A rumor that you accepted a bribe to falsify a sacred oracle!"

Chink—!

The teacup hit its saucer like it had been dropped.

He clasped his hands together and forced an awkward smile.

"M—Marquess. I don't know where you've heard such things, but I would never! I swear before the gods, no such bribe ever—"

"I've already confirmed every detail of what I'm telling you! Do you know how much money I've poured into that temple over the years? For you to trample on the generosity of Canulla Winster, who carried you through your impoverished childhood, like this—there are limits!"

"This is a misunderstanding!"

"Your Eminence—then are you telling me, swearing before the gods, that you never received a donation from Nora Giusetta, and never granted Her Highness the Crown Princess an audience in exchange for it?"

I cut in abruptly, mid-conversation.

The instant I finished speaking, Telrn went mute, struck dumb. His chin trembled, finely, and that trembling told the truth on its own.

"If you don't want to vomit back every coin you've taken from me these past decades, you'd best speak plainly, Your Eminence."

Canulla bit the words off, vicious.

Every trace of color drained completely from Telrn's face.