Chapter Twenty-Six
Nina
Corruption had left me rattled, my cheeks flushed and my pulse racing. I had let myself surrender, allowed the fantasy to take hold, and fell recklessly into the seduction of Leander.
I still felt his imagined touch. Though I told myself it was just another twisted game in Hell, I couldn’t shake his hold on me or deny the bliss he offered.
That was the worst part: the wanting. It remained long after Cressida’s illusion had passed, leaving me shaking and painfully aware of every inch of myself.
In my delirious and somewhat hungover stupor, I stumbled through the corridors. The Palace of Temptation was unnervingly vibrant: crimson silk drapes blowing in the light breeze, obsidian walls softly gleaming with gold veins, and the smell of spice and cherries. It all reminded me of him.
When I reached the kitchen, I’d convinced myself that a training session in the courtyard might clear my head.
But, instead, I found Kob perched on a stool, as usual, chewing something that squirmed unpleasantly between his teeth.
I sank onto the stool opposite him, grateful for this chance to sit still.
“Ah, you look like a delight for sore eyes,” he teased. “Did Cressida put you in an oven?”
“What? No.” I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. My reflection in a silver bowl caught my eye, hair clinging to my temples, pupils still too wide. I looked like a panting mess.
“Tea?” he offered, already reaching for the pot.
“Of course.”
He poured, and the steam curled up between us, honey and something earthy filling the air. I held the mug, but my hands wouldn’t stop twitching. My mind was elsewhere, still half caught in the phantom warmth of Leander’s spell.
“I don’t think tea’s adequate for whatever you’ve got going on.”
I arched my brow. “Meaning?”
“Meaning,” he said, pointing a claw at the doorway, “to the bathhouse with you.”
“The what?”
“Through the gardens, through the glass doors, then down the staircase. Steam and silence ought to do the job.”
I stared at him. “Since when do sprites care about hygiene?”
He waved me off with a grunt. “Shoo.”
I considered arguing. Then I caught a whiff of myself, and the sweat, salt and trace of incense was enough to agree with him.
“Try not to drown in there.”
“Noted,” I called over my shoulder, and slipped out of the kitchen.
I headed down the hallway to the double doors.
The gardens were lush, filled with wildflowers and evergreens that I suspected were Hell’s creations and did not exist anyplace else.
Unlike Corruption, I sensed that this beauty remained true.
It wouldn’t fester because the sin in this case was pleasure.
But like Leander, there was danger in beautiful things.
I hurried to the wooden building at the far end and slipped through the doors.
The bathhouse was windowless and quiet as a tomb. Five gigantic bath pools were carved into the floor, with steam rolling up in thick, slow plumes. Each could have held a dozen souls. I was relieved to find them all empty.
I stripped quickly, tossing my leathers beside the edge.
The heat pressed against my skin the moment I stepped into the furthest pool.
The air kissed goosebumps along my arms before the water swallowed me whole.
I sank under with a quiet sigh. My braid came undone in the water, my hair spreading out around me.
The world became distant as I floated in the water, and my aches unwound. I felt both weighty and weightless. I relished the way exhaustion drained from my body, leaving every muscle slack with relief. I forgot Leander’s phantom lips and Cressida’s coaxing words.
For a few blissful minutes, I let myself simply exist.
The steam thickened. A few souls drifted in and out of the bathhouse, the hushed voices low, but it didn’t bother me. For once, my body wasn’t screaming in defiance. Even my hip had gone quiet.
Why did Kob only mention this place now? I could’ve used this bath the day I’d crashed into this infernal realm.
I sensed movement at the edge of my bath. Without giving them eye contact, I turned away, not eager to see another half-naked soul bathing beside me. A ripple disturbed the water as they slipped into it. I tensed. I couldn’t climb out, not unless I wanted to give them a show.
I risked a glance over my shoulder. The figure had his back to me. Broad shoulders, skin glistening under the haze. Steam hung low, concealing most of him.
I let my eyes close again until a low voice cut through the fog.
“I was wondering when you’d find this place.”
My eyes snapped open.
Fucking, of course.
“Leander,” I groaned.
The man in the water turned, water rippling around his chest. His damp hair clung to his temples, his grin wide. I could see his snake tattoo curling up his forearm, and wondered if it had been there before he’d entered Hell or he got it after.
Is that why they call you Serpent?
I sank a little deeper into the pool. “Do you have any sense of boundaries?” If it wasn’t for the heat of the bath, I’d be flushed for an entirely different reason.
Images flooded my mind. The taste of him, the press of his tongue against mine, fierce and hungry. His hand sliding lower, claiming. I shoved every corrupting thought away.
Leander tilted his head. “Yes, I do. Much more than Cressida, in fact. I’m glad you made it out of her garden in one piece.”
“Barely.” My voice was tighter than I wanted it to be. Did he know what had happened in my sinful trial?
The water hid me to the shoulders, but I still felt exposed, as though his gaze could cut through the surface and into the memory of the illusion I’d just escaped.
“Relax,” he murmured, his tone softening. “You’ve earned it.”
He reached for a small jar on the pool’s edge, dipping his fingers into the oil before letting it spill between us. The delicate sweet scent bloomed instantly.
“You’ll ache less by morning,” he said. “The Thorns use it after training.”
He moved a little closer. Not enough to touch, but sufficient for the air between us to tighten.
“Thank you,” I said quietly, though I wasn’t sure which ache I wanted gone.
He studied me through the haze. “Do you trust me?”
“No.” It hung in the air, cold and final.
Leander laughed, entirely joyful. “I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything else.”
We fell silent. Only the gentle movement of water, the slow rhythm of breath, filled the space. My pulse echoed faintly in my ears.
Then he said under his breath, soft but certain, “You still want me, even if you don’t trust me.”
I turned sharply to face him, ready to argue. But his mouth curved, and my words dissolved. He wasn’t wrong.
The silence that followed was thicker than steam. My heartbeat was a drum, and the warmth around us felt heavier.
He lifted a hand from the water, brushing a strand of hair from my cheek. A simple touch. Barely there
“Careful, little Champion,” he murmured. “You wear your emotions too clearly.”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. The bathhouse seemed to pulse around us, candlelight flickering in time with my pulse.
I stood abruptly, water streaming off my skin. “I think I’ve relaxed enough.”
Leander leaned back against the marble, watching me with quiet amusement.
“If you say so. But remember—Temptation only offers what’s already inside you.”
I snatched the nearest towel and wrapped it tight, not trusting myself to look at him again. But when I did, just once, the water around him shimmered faintly—alive, enchanted, as though it wanted to keep him.
“I don’t play your games,” I said.
“Keep telling yourself that. I know you like to lie to others, and yourself.”
A few male Hell-dwellers walked past, and entered a door. I imagined it was another room of pools, or something else, where souls got more privacy. Leander goggled at them like a youth, not the demon he was.
He caught me staring and grinned.
“I take pleasure in many things, little Champion.”
“That doesn’t surprise me one bit.”
He was the Demon of Temptation. Probably fed on every kind of person before noon every day. I stared down at my hands, and away from his body. And there on my hand was the emerald ring I’d earned from Corruption. I’d won it because I’d surrendered to Leander.
I was willing to be corrupted.
I heard a shuffle of water, and opened my eyes to catch Leander wrapping his lower half of his body with a towel.
“I hope we can do this again soon, little Champion.”
“Don’t count yourself so lucky,” I mumbled under my breath as Leander vanished away.