Chapter Fifteen #7
Although Maxi wanted to start practicing right away, Ruth still had other matters to attend to, so they decided to begin their lessons the following morning.
He selected a few suitable books for her before leaving the library with his own armful of parchment.
Now all alone, Maxi dove into the yellowed pages of the thick tomes that detailed the complexities of advanced geometry.
The concepts were complicated, and soon Maxi’s head began to ache and her eyes stung.
After several long hours of intense study, she groaned in exhaustion.
The sky had begun to fade from brilliant orange to soft violet.
Rubbing her stiff shoulder, Maxi gazed at the burnt amber sun before closing the book and rising to her feet.
Her stomach growled as if on cue, and she realized she felt famished.
She had not eaten a proper meal since this afternoon’s meager bread and soup.
Pressing a hand to her rumbling stomach, she stepped out of the library. She greeted the servants who were lighting the corridor’s braziers before making her way down the stairs.
She had descended a few floors when four servants hauling something beneath the stairwell caught her attention. At first, she noted them without much thought, but she stilled when she realized that what they were carrying was blood-soaked armor.
“Wh-What happened? Has…someone been injured again?” She hurried down the remaining steps. The servants, struggling with the weight of the hefty armor, stopped in their tracks. Maxi pressed on before they could even answer. “Is it his lordship wh-who is…”
“No, my lady! This blood is from a monster. His lordship is unharmed.”
The breastplate, tassets, and vambraces—all clearly recognizable as Riftan’s—were coated in dark ichor. It was not his blood, thankfully, but she was still concerned that there had been another gory battle.
“Wh-Where is…he now? Has he returned to his chambers?”
“No, my lady. His lordship went to wash by the well after instructing us to clean his armor. He should still be there.”
Maxi gave them a baffled look. “Why…would he wash himself outside?”
“I’m afraid we also do not know…” the servants trailed off, embarrassed.
She shook her head and hurried to the yard, done with her questioning for now. As she scanned the spacious grounds, she saw laborers chopping firewood, stable hands pushing carts loaded with fodder, and maidservants drawing water from the well.
Riftan stood beside the well, shirtless and dousing himself with water.
Maxi narrowed her eyes at the scene. Two maidservants each drew pails of water and handed them to Riftan, who upended them over his head before roughly combing his fingers through his hair to wash away the blood.
Water trickled down his muscular neck and rock-hard shoulders, over his smooth back, and along his slim waist.
When Maxi saw the young maidservants stealing glances and exchanging gleeful looks with each other, she rushed over with an angry flush in her cheeks. Riftan, who had been scrubbing the back of his neck, looked surprised when he saw her approaching.
“Maxi?”
“Why a-are you…cleaning up out here?”
She had intended to chastise him for exposing himself in public, but the moment she stood in front of him, her voice caught in her throat.
She stared at his muscled body, gleaming like a golden statue of a god, unable to tear her eyes away.
His exquisite bone structure, carved muscles, and bronzed skin glowed in the reddish light of the setting sun.
Despite having seen his naked body many times, she suddenly felt parched, and her tongue darted out to wet her dry lips.
“I tracked down the monsters that attacked my scouts and killed every last one of them.” Maxi jerked her gaze away from the mesmerizing lines of his chest as he spoke, looking up into his eyes.
He ran his fingers through his black hair, which glistened darkly with water, and said somewhat self-consciously, “I got their blood all over me in the process. I was trying to get it off.”
“Y-You could do that in our chambers. I will h-have the servants prepare a bath—”
“I know I’m ghastly to look at right now,” Riftan murmured, eyes downcast. “I’m practically a monster myself.”
One of the maidservants held a pail out awkwardly and he snatched it, emptying it over himself once more. Maxi took a step back to avoid the splashing water. Riftan shook his head like a hound and sniffed his forearm.
“Damn it. I still reek of blood….”
“Wh-Why don’t we…return to our chambers instead? I’m sure a good soap…will wash away the smell.” Maxi gently dabbed his dripping face with the loose sleeves of her dress, but Riftan drew back as if he had been burned.
With a grimace, Riftan said, “Don’t soil your dress. Werewolf blood has a terrible stench.”
“I can just…change if I have to.”
Ignoring the hovering maidservants, Maxi began to wipe the water from his cheeks and neck.
Riftan flinched as if he wanted to jerk away from her before meekly lowering his head.
The motion reminded her of an animal nudging its head against its master’s hand, and she smiled faintly as she brushed his soaked hair away from his forehead.
Perhaps it was the glow of the sunset, but his ears looked flushed. Worried that he might have a fever, Maxi ran her hand over his forearm and frowned when she felt how cold it was.
“You are f-freezing. It is still too cold…for you to be bathing outside.”
“This is nothing. I once cracked the ice of a frozen lake in the middle of winter so I could ba—”
“S-Stop speaking nonsense. What if you were to f-fall ill?”
Riftan looked taken aback by her stern tone. Afraid that she had overstepped her bounds, Maxi was about to lower her eyes when he bent over and picked up his blood-soaked tunic. He wrung it out several times before tossing it to one of the maidservants.
“Try soaking it in lye before you wash it. Just burn it if that doesn’t get rid of the stench.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
When the maidservants rushed off to the laundry room, Riftan nodded to Maxi. “Come, let us head back.”
As they made their way to the castle, Maxi noticed dark puddles pooling with every step he took. How long had he been drenching himself? Frowning at the wet trail, Maxi said reprovingly, “Next time…don’t w-wash yourself outside. Come s-straight to our bedchamber.”
“So that I can make you faint again at the sight of me covered in blood?”
Maxi blushed when she realized that he was referring to the time they had been attacked by ogres on their way to Anatol.
“Th-That was only because…I had never seen a monster before.”
“I doubt that…” he muttered skeptically, as though convinced she had been terrified by him.
“I am no longer frightened by blood,” she said clearly and slowly, trying to stress the truth of her words. “S-So you need not worry so much.”
For some reason, Riftan’s face only grew darker.
“I have no intention of making you get used to such a sight.”
Unable to respond, Maxi pressed her lips together. A strange tension flowed between them. Riftan regarded her for a moment as if he had something to say, but then turned and walked into the castle instead. All Maxi could do was trail behind him.
“You there,” he called to a servant in the hall. “Prepare a bath in my chambers immediately, as well as a change of clothes.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I would like to eat, too. Prepare a meal to serve right after.”
After barking his orders, Riftan marched up the stairs. His strides were wide, and he made it up the two floors to their chambers in record time. Maxi had to clutch her skirt as she hurried after him.
The bedchamber was warm from the fire Ludis had lit earlier. Riftan gingerly stepped into the room to avoid the rug, muttering all the while, “Goddamned wolves…Ruined my good boots.”
Maxi closed the door behind them and watched as he continued to swear. A faint, rotten smell was indeed wafting from his dripping leather boots. Riftan wrinkled his nose and tossed them into the corner.
Maxi handed him a few towels from the shelf. “Y-You should dry yourself first.”
“There’s no need. I’ll be getting in the bath soon anyway.”
“We can’t have you wet wh-while you wait.”
He glanced down at the water pooling on the floor beneath him and accepted the towels with a sigh. Maxi began stoking the fire, and had just begun stepping on the bellows while carefully feeding more wood into the fireplace when she heard a splatter behind her.
Her breath hitched as she looked over her shoulder. Riftan was getting undressed. His carved buttocks tightened as he bent over to peel off his trousers, revealing long and muscled legs.
Maxi remained frozen. The thought that she should look away flashed briefly through her mind, but all she could do was stare at him, entranced.
The husband who had been so difficult to catch a glimpse of these past few weeks now stood naked before her.
When was the last time she had been pinned beneath that muscular body?
Her heart pounded at the thought, and a burning flush crept over her cheeks.
As if sensing her lascivious gaze, Riftan turned his head.
Maxi hastily whirled around and pretended that the fireplace required urgent attention. She poked at the burning wood, mortified she had been caught so blatantly ogling him. Even her ears were turning red.
For heaven’s sake, stop acting like a lovesick fool. You are a daughter of a noble house. Behave like one! You must act the part of a graceful and virtuous lady.
As Maxi berated herself, she heard a gravelly voice behind her.
“Hand me another towel.”