18. And it all comes crashing down
AND IT ALL COMES CRASHING DOWN
Enora
“Would you like me to run a hot bath for you, princess?” Those were the exact words I needed to hear after my day, even if Eilir was spouting them as they flew behind me into my room, completely uninvited.
Even though they’d shown me plenty of times how to properly use the contraption that was the bath, I still had a hard time getting much more than a lukewarm experience on my own.
I turned back a bit stiffly against the protest of my spine and gave the sprite a nod. “I’d like that.”
Eilir flashed their sharp teeth at me in a grin and zipped by so fast, my loose hairs fluttered in the breeze caused by their wings. As soon as the last glimmer of irradiance vanished into the bathroom, followed by the sound of running water, I sat on the end of my bed and huffed out a laugh.
It was still hard to believe I wasn’t locked in the depths of a wild fever dream.
A sprite.
In Grimmoria.
Drawing me a bath.
That I’d ever get used to that would be a feat, but it was a welcome distraction from the dangerous line my spiraling thoughts toed as I walked most of the way back from garrison alone.
They’d get their chance to come charging back at the pyre, but I wouldn’t give them an ounce of acknowledgement until then.
So while Eilir hummed something that sounded a little off-tune in the bathroom, I fought my way out of my boots and the bracers I’d need to return. I also gave Eilir the decency of pulling on a robe after I peeled off the rest of my damp layers before trailing into the bathroom.
I hadn’t expected bubbles.
But much to my rather pleasant surprise, a thick layer of suds covered the surface of the gently steaming water, nearly full to the brim, while Eilir fussed over the faucets at one end of the spacious tub.
I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly, having little control over the smile that tugged at my mouth.
“It smells like—”
“Perfection, right?” Eilir squeaked. “Exactly like you would want it to?”
When I opened my eyes, they had their tiny hands clasped in front of their body, still bearing a wide grin.
It was true, though. The room smelled exactly how I’d want it to after a day of nothing but sweat, heat, and dirt.
In all the potions lining the bath, I hadn’t found a single thing that smelled so refreshing and frosty earlier, and I would not question how the sprite went about their ways.
“Are you going to join me finally?” I chuckled. “That tub is plenty big for the both of—wait. Do sprites bathe? Is that a thing?”
Eilir scoffed, and tsked, and made a whole host of other disgruntled noises as they turned around, slapping one hand over their eyes while they waved a hand back toward me.
“Of course we bathe!” they squeaked. “Now get in, princess. We’ve got much to discuss, and I don’t feel like being here forever. ”
“Oh, we do, do we?” I shook my head as I slipped out of my robe and climbed into the bath.
At first, I hadn’t noticed the sprite had left a rolled towel at one end, but as I slid into the sudsy warmth, stifling a mewl, my neck came to rest on it with unnerving precision.
Utter fucking bliss that was only interrupted when Eilir fluttered over and perched themselves on the wide ledge of the tub, sending a scatter of bubbly foam in all directions.
“Of course we do!” They dipped their tiny feet into the suds, sweeping them back and forth.
An awfully indignant noise clawed out of me before I shut my eyes and tried to focus on the subversive warmth warring with the budding tension in my muscles.
“Go on then, oh great sprite. What do we have to discuss?”
Another tsk. A swish of their feet in the water. “Your day with Jasper, of course.”
“Oh, you mean my incredibly exceptional assessment with Jasper?” I cracked an eye open. “I’d be glad to regale you with tales of my prowess.”
I barely managed to cover my face as the sprite flung a glob of bubbles at me, sending them splattering into my hair and the tile behind me.
“What?” I chuckled.
“It’s bad enough I have to deal with the size of Max and Jasper’s egos!” Eilir’s head leaves stood on end with their exasperated exclamation. “Not yours too!”
“My sweet keeper, it’s too late for that. Maybe you should’ve thought twice before you decided you wanted me to stay. I come by my own ego honestly, and it’s a rather fickle beast.” With how the warmth had liquefied my body, I sighed and sank deeper into the sudsy water, closing my eyes again.
“Mina, help me,” Eilir mewled, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
And maybe it was the doing of the bath’s warmth, or just my fatigue, but after a moment of comfortable silence, I slipped out, “I enjoyed spending time with the mage. He’s much more agreeable than Maksym.”
“Oh?”
“Mhm. There’s something about him that’s…easygoing, I guess?” I sighed and stretched my neck back over the rolled towel. “I don’t know. Whatever it is, I feel very comfortable with him, which is weird to say, because I don’t even know what he looks like.”
Leave it up to me to feel wildly at ease with a man who was nothing but polite manners, broad shoulders, and half a face with a sometimes arrogant smile. It was more than most men back in Odessa had going for them, unfortunately.
“Oh, don’t be silly,” Eilir scolded. “Of course you still know what he looks like. Sure, it’s been a long time, but—” The sprite slapped a hand over their mouth, their beady eyes wide.
My entire body tensed, and I sat up, staring at them. “Say that again.”
There was no fucking way I’d heard that correctly. I was just exhausted, spent from a day full of training, and clearly mishearing Eilir’s words. Of course, I still didn’t know what he looked like. That had to be what they said.
But the sprite shook its head furiously.
Unease crept farther up my spine.
“Eilir,” my voice came as a low rumble. “What. Do. You. Mean?”
“Oh, Mother. I-I don’t mean anything!” they squeaked. “Nothing at all! You misunderstood me, a-and—”
I shot across the bath and grabbed Eilir by their midsection, fighting against the pull of their wings. “Do I know the mage, Eilir? And goddess help us both, if you fucking lie to me, sprite, I will drown you in this bathtub.”
Their head bobbed once in sickening agreement, and I eased my grip on their body but didn’t let them go.
“And here I was, thinking you were on my side all this time.” I scoffed as a sickening knot twisted in my stomach. “Who is he?”
Eilir’s wooden lips trembled. “I am on your side, princess. I-I promise you that. It’s my duty to—”
“Who is he, Eilir?”
The sprite shook their head and squirmed from my hold, zipping across the bathroom.
Water went sluicing in all directions as I hauled myself out of the tub behind them. “Well, I guess we’re going to go together and find out, aren’t we?”
No answer to that, of course, other than the sounds Eilir made that sounded an awful lot like slowly dying livestock as they flew back and forth across my room, gripping their head in their hands.
“Where are Maksym and that fucking mage right now?”
“Enora, please.” The sprite was fluttering all around me as I fought my way back into the first clean skirt and blouse I could find. “I-I didn’t mean it! Just a mistake! I promise! Just a…a…slip of the tongue? You don’t—”
“Where. Are. They?”
Eilir made a flurry of protesting noises before they sighed. “The barracks still.”
“Well, we have a bit of a walk then, don’t we?” I fixed the sprite with a pointed stare. “And don’t you dare go ahead and warn them. I will be so unfathomably pissed if you give those two fuckers a chance to collude against me anymore than they already have.”
Eilir pleaded with me every step I burned through the Keep and back across the grounds, buzzing around my head with a mixture of backpedaling and desperate begging that only left me more furious with each step.
“…you still know what he looks like. Sure, it’s been a long time, but…”
It was all I could hear in my head, reaffirming I was a bigger fool than I thought.
Of course, these people were holding more secrets than I took breaths in a day.
Of course, I’d spent an entire day with this man, flabbergasted by how at ease I felt with him, when I was just fucking oblivious.
I wasn’t sure if I was more pissed that the king and his mage thought they could pull the wool over my eyes forever, or at myself for letting my guard slip with such ease after everything that had transpired in such a short time.
A prisoner. In Grimmoria. Bargain-bound and indebted to their king. Forced to fight for my life and marry a man who was going to crush my soul. All the while, someone I knew watched on.
Those were the last thoughts to swirl viciously in my mind before I nearly took the training gate right off its hinges, drawing startled curses from the two sparring men within.
“Enora?” Maksym got out with a pant, his brows raised. “What an unexpected—”
“Shut up.” I charged right past the bewildered-looking king to his mage and slammed my hands into his chest. “Who. Are. You?”
Jasper stumbled back a step, clearly caught off guard, but he grabbed my wrists as I went to shove him again.
I fought against his hold as I bit out, “Who the fuck are you, mage?”
In one disorienting motion, I was flat on my ass, and Jasper was backing away from me. Wrong. Move.
My roiling ember of anger fully ignited, and I was up in an instant, charging towards him again, but I collided with a wall of dark mist instead. It held me back as I pounded against its ephemeral surface, separating me from the mage just feet away, who still hadn’t uttered a fucking word.
Good thing I had a slew of profanities to hurl at them while I fought against the mist that kept shifting—holding me back and slipping around my wrists, trying to pull them to my sides.
The audacity of this fucking man, to treat me like I was in the wrong, when he was the one who’d spent days pretending like he wasn’t harboring secrets.