Page 103 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
“Fine,” she said, marching on ahead of him. “I better not regret this!”
∞∞∞
She slipped down into the underground cavern and was immediately hit with a blissful wall of steam. Several deep pools of water glimmered behind it. Crystals were set into the rocky sides, making everything glisten with a golden hue.
She did a quick check to ensure there were no other entrances, and started to undress, dropping her layers onto a bench cut out of the stone.
Sliding into the water was divine, like wrapping herself in liquid sunlight. She let out a slight moan as it washed over her leg, and swam forward, deeper into the pool.
“I take it you’re in now?” said Cole from above.
“I’m in,” she said.
“I’ll head down. No peeking, Princess!”
She groaned. “I’ll try to contain myself.”
She fixed her gaze on the wall ahead, and the gleaming, dappled light on the surface of the water, and tried not to think about him shuffling off his clothes behind her.
“All right, I’m in.”
Eirwen pivoted round. Cole was standing waist high in the water, his sculpted chest slick in the steam. She’d barely noticed before when she was doctoring his shoulder how perfect the panes of his stomach were, a fact of which he was evidently aware.
“You– that isnot‘in’!”
“I’m covered! I can’t help being so tall–”
“Sit down!”
“Why?”
“You know perfectly well, why!”
“And spoil this view for you?”
“I swear to the gods, Cole, I will drown you.”
Cole sighed, sliding under the water, the golden liquid sloshing against his shoulder blades. He swam forward in a couple of easy breaststrokes, drifting past her.
“Traditionally, women swoon at the sight of my bare chest. You wound me.”
“I really will in a minute.”
He turned his back to her, the skin still marbled with black and blue. She almost reached out to touch it. Maybe he did need this, after all, but he hadn’t once truly complained.
“Shall we play a game?” he said, staring up at the ceiling.
“Will I like it?”
“Possibly,” he said. “How about we trade questions? The only rule is we answer honestly, or not all. But we can’t ask a question of our own until we’ve answered one.”
“That sounds simple enough,” Eirwen said, still searching the words for some kind of trap.
“Fantastic,” he said, swimming a wide circle around her. “I’ll go first. Name one thing you love about the capital.”
“The view from the palace,” she said swiftly.
Cole smiled. “Me too.”
