Page 44 of A Bargain with the Fae King

“I’m all right,” I say, not bothering to turn.

Something ruffles then hits the ground.

“What—” My words die as I turn to find Riven standing shirtless and barefoot within the room. Already his hands work on the buttons and ties of his pants.

I cough, nearly choking on air. My arms squeeze tight over my chest as I slide down in the water. Its heat is nothing compared to that sinking down into my gut and between my legs.

“Y-you can’t,” I protest when I finally find my voice.

“There’s space for two, and I’m filthier than you.” The hint of a grin pulls at one corner of his mouth.

I turn, sloshing water near the sides of the tub as his thumbs hook into the waistband of his pants. “Surely there is somewhere else you can bathe.”

“Of course, but I’d rather be here.”

Skin enters my periphery, and I turn further away.

Naked. Naked. Naked.The word flashes like a neon sign in my head, consuming my every thought.

Water sloshes and the level in the tub rises to my shoulders.

“Oh, my God.” Fire races up my back as I visualize him behind me, reclining in the water in all of his glory. “You just, you—”

His low chuckle does things to me that I can’t even fathom. “Let me wash your back. Your hair.”

I gasp as one finger traces a path along my shoulder and curls down my back into the water. “I can wash myself. Get out.”

“Pity.” He grabs my braid. “It’s hard to clean hair when it gets like this. I would know.”

The water nearly touches my nose as I hunch further over. “I’m quite capable.”

“Oh, I have no doubt of that.” He sighs and drops my hair back into the water. “You want me to leave?”

The way he phrases it…it feels like a trick, a test of some sort, but I can’t puzzle it out. Maybe he truly isn’t used to people who can lie.

“I want…” Damn him, I really don’t want to be alone, not trapped here with my misery. “You can stay but—”

A gasp leaps from my lips as his arm hooks around my middle.

“Riven!” Impossibly, more heat settles between my legs, which I keep firmly closed.

His lips settle on my shoulder, planting little kisses down an arm that can’t be entirely clean yet. “So shy.”

Ridiculous man. Great distraction but— “Isn’t there someone else you should be flirting with? Solona? Evelyn?”

He stiffens and not in a good way. Silence hangs thick and heavy in the air.

“You’re mistaken.” The chill in his voice cools even the bathwater. “Solona is my advisor, almost like a mother to me.” His voice dips low, almost a whisper. “And Evelyn…she was my mother.”

Shit. I haven’t just stepped in it—I’ve jumped in headfirst.

His mother. Shewashis mother. I don’t have to ask to know she’s dead. I couldn’t have screwed that up harder if I’d tried. Now would be a great time to vanish through the floor.

I half turn in the tub, just enough to see the pain etched on Riven’s face. My chest constricts. I know the impact of an absent mother on a person’s life, that emptiness the rest of life struggles to fill. For the first time, I pity him, though I don’t know how long it’s been or how exactly that loss affects him.

“I’m so sorry.” I turn further, stretching until my fingertips trace wet lines in the dirt and blood on his face. “I had no idea.”

“I know. It was a long time ago.” But shadows still linger in his eyes, even as his hand traces a pattern on my side in return. His arm unwinds from around me.

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