Chapter 27 #2
“I already set water heating just in case,” Lyla bit out, elbowing her sister as she hurried for the door.
“I can show you to the bathing chamber,” Kaminah offered, but Cassius stepped between us firmly.
“That will not be necessary, I will show him the way.” He took hold of my arm and practically dragged me from the room.
“What exactly do you think is going to happen if I am left with them for more than thirty seconds?” I asked him curiously as we began up a set of stairs which wound through the house, turning to follow the wall which lined the courtyard.
“Do you think I will somehow start an orgy with all seven at once? I may be good, Cassius, but that would be an impressive fete even for me in such a short period of time. After a week then perhaps-”
Cassius whirled me around and slammed my back into the wall, his face in mine in an instant and his fist driving into my gut, winding me.
“Fuck,” I laughed, pitching forward and clasping my stomach before he shoved me back again.
I probably should have been fighting back but the fury on his face just had me laughing louder, unable to stop myself.
“There are precious few things which are important enough for me to kill in cold blood for in this world,” Cassius growled low, his brown gaze locking with mine. “But almost all of them reside beneath this roof. Do you understand me, arsehole?”
“I get it,” I said, still laughing, but willing to give in on this point for the sake of keeping up appearances.
I wondered if he would be interested in hearing how threats usually spurred me into taking the opposite kind of action, but I imagined that really would turn this into a fight, so I kept my lips sealed.
The sound of footsteps approaching the top of the stairs forced him to release me and we both turned in time to find Fatima arriving there, an empty pail swinging from her hand. She dipped into a soft curtsey as we approached, and I couldn’t help but grin at how easily I was playing a count.
“I think I have this well in hand, don’t you, Cass?” I questioned once we’d made it past her and his jaw ticked a little at the use of the nickname.
“I was named after a warrior of legend,” he grunted. “A man who fought and won in over four hundred battles in the time before the Fallen.”
“Yeah? Well, my name rhymes with snake. What’s your point?”
Cassius stared at me for several seconds before finally cracking a laugh. “Sometimes I don’t know whether I like you or despise you,” he said, shaking his head as he led the way on.
“Both,” I suggested. “Best to stick with both, mate. Don’t forget, I’ll turn on you in a heartbeat and stab you in the back if ever it suits my needs.”
He blinked at me and I smiled broadly, giving his cheek a couple of little slaps and striding away before he could bat me aside, following the sounds of water pouring into a tub so that I could find my destination.
I took another set of stairs which turned yet another corner, following the edge of the courtyard once more and allowing the scent of the wisteria to float in through the open windows.
It must have been nice growing up in a place like this.
Surrounded by siblings and parents who actually gave a shit if you lived or died.
Cassius had had it all kinds of easy. If the size of the house and glimpses I caught into the various rooms I passed was anything to go by, none of them even had to share a room. Lucky, lucky.
I glanced around as I made it to the bathing chamber, finding Cassius hot on my heels but noticing that Kyra hadn’t followed us up here.
I swallowed down the slight panic I felt at losing sight of my priceless treasure, but my fingers curled around the amulet at my neck and I relaxed a little.
Unless she had been bullshitting me from the moment we met, she was bound to the coin which meant she couldn’t have gone far.
I had to imagine that being locked up in that thing for fuck knew how long had left her feet itching for movement, so she was likely just exploring while she had the opportunity to do so.
I forced myself not to worry about where she’d gotten to and stepped into the bathing chamber just as Cassius caught up to me.
Marla squeaked something unintelligible as she looked up from where she had been pouring a pail of steaming water into the copper tub which sat in the centre of the chamber before a set of double doors which were wide open and looked out towards the courtyard below.
We were on the third floor here and the roof on the other side of the building was a little lower, offering a view over the top of the red tiles which showed the gold domed rooftops of the palace itself and I drew in a slow breath as I looked at it.
“I don’t know why Ma-mar and Papa ever decided to place the bathing chamber at the top of the damn house,” a girl complained from somewhere out in the corridor and the corner of my lips twitched as Marla gasped in alarm, slapping her hands over her mouth.
“I’d imagine hauling all of this water up here was a bit of a bitch,” I commented in agreement just as Zaria stepped around the corner and the poor girl shrieked as she spotted me and her brother already inside, damn near sloshing the entire pail of water all down herself in her surprise.
“Do not curse in front of ladies,” Cassius hissed while I fought a laugh and his sisters hurried to try and salvage the situation with murmured apologies and dipped heads.
They’d clearly been using another staircase, several of them hauling the pails of heated water up here so quickly that the tub was already near full.
I waved them off. “You don’t have to apologise for speaking your mind,” I said dismissively, turning back towards the open doors on the far side of the room which led to a tiny balcony and leaning my shoulder against the door jamb.
“I can only imagine the inconvenience was thought worth it in light of that view.”
The girls both agreed with me, hurrying around to finish up with the tub, telling me that they had brought goats milk, oats and fresh blooms for my bath to ease the ache of travel from my limbs.
I thanked them, unable to turn my eyes from the view and finding Cassius at my side as he came to look out at it too.
“The jewel of The Twelve Kingdoms,” he murmured as we both watched the way the setting sun cast a blaze across the domed rooftops of the imposingly beautiful home to the royal family.
“The greatest prize in all the lands,” I replied, my heart thumping faster and faster the longer I looked.
This plan of ours had seemed insane from the very first moment that Cassius had voiced it and yet somehow, tomorrow we would be walking through the gates which surrounded the palace, welcomed into the heart of the kingdom and I’d be given an opportunity to capture the hand of the princess.
There was an entire empire right there, ready for the taking and I was standing here looking back at it, a street thug without a thing to my name besides grit and ambition.
Cassius seemed inclined to say something else, but he held his tongue, sighing as his own plots and concerns ate at him, his lack of trust in me clearly staying his words. He was clever to keep his secrets. I wasn’t the one to be trusted with them.
“I’ll leave you to bathe and ask Kyra to bring you something clean to wear for dinner,” he said finally, stepping away from the view and heading to the door.
I looked down at the spotless silk garments I wore, a frown pinching my brow, but he had already gone, the door clicking shut and the sound of him chasing several of his sisters away from it calling to me.
I pulled my attention from the view too, turning and tugging my tunic over my head, draping it on a stool in the corner of the room before removing my boots and britches as well.
Once fully naked, I strode back across the room towards the tub, pausing for a moment as I felt the kiss of the sun shining in through the open balcony doors, a sigh escaping me as I took in the silence of this place.
The tattoo on my upper right thigh warmed more than the rest at the feeling of the sunlight brushing against it as always and I scored my hand across the skin there absently as I focused on the lack of noise.
Yes, I could hear the distant hustle of the city which surrounded us, but above that I could hear the wind and birdsong. I couldn’t make out individual voices much less the grunts and farts of a hundred violent men and women lingering close by.
I really hadn’t ever known much peace like this.
“Oh my gods!” a shocked whisper reached me followed by a series of excitable giggles and violent hushing and the corner of my lips twisted as I realised I had an audience peeking out from the window on the far side of the courtyard.
The slightly lower angle and the balcony between us meant they likely weren’t getting a look at my manhood, probably just my bare, inked chest, but the desire to rile Cassius almost made me take a few steps forward to give them the full show.
Then again, Cassius would probably try to castrate me if he found out that his sisters had taken a look at my cock, no matter how innocently I might have claimed to have stepped out onto the balcony, so I decided against it.
I looked at the tub of milky white water with interest, noting the roses, carnations and cut blood orange slices which floated on the surface with a soft snort of surprise.
This certainly beat bathing in the river – especially a river full of dead kids with their hearts carved out. Even the bathhouses local to The Den had nothing like this, just pools of lukewarm water occupied by far too many bodies to ever truly be able to relax in.
I stepped into the water, letting myself sink all the way down beneath the surface before emerging once more, swiping the strands of ebony hair out of my eyes. I exhaled softly as I leaned my head back against the edge of the tub, my eyes finding that view of the palace once more and fixing on it.