Page 35 of Between Salt and Serenades
I walked into the bathing chamber and headed straight for the clawfoot tub sitting smack dab in the center of the room. I yanked on the brass faucet, letting the tub fill with steamy water. There was a small table next to it full of glass jars, and I begged for one of them to be sea salt. If the sea in small doses could fix the burn on my palm, there was a good chance it would help Breena with her skin dryness.
As I waited for the large tub to fill, I tinkered with each one until I found exactly what I needed. I dumped the entire jar into the tub, knowing even then that it wouldn’t compare to the salinity of the sea.
While the water filled the tub, I cracked open the bottom half of the window, allowing a cool breeze to meet my skin. The fresh air blew through the wispy white curtains, sending the scent of the sea with it. From the bathing chamber window, I couldn’t see the water, but I could certainly hear it if I closed my eyes and listened carefully for its familiar lullaby.
I loved how crisp the nights in Barthoah were. After a long, warm day, nighttime was an escape from my beloved light. Night felt like swimming in the depths of the Dreslee after lounging in the Kilkov, a cold cleanse from the warmth. The break only made the return that much more pleasurable.
When the tub was three quarters full, I shut off the water. I heard Breena call after me again as I removed my clothing piece by piece—first the white dress, then the underlayers beneath it. I climbed into the water and relaxed into the belly of the giant tub.
I let myself sink down, my head slipping below the surface. My eyes fell shut, and the immediate silence of being surrounded by water filled my heart with longing for my home.
A muffled sound pulled me from the water, so I sat up and wiped the salty droplets out of my eyes. The warm bathwater had a slight zing like the sea did, but it was so faint, I had to close my eyes and focus to feel it.
“Sid?” Breena called again, and I realized now what the muffled sound had been.
“Oh, stop calling after me and just get in here,” I said. My hands moved through the water, the warm liquid swimming through my fingers. The sensation was odd without webbing between them. There was less friction, less force. No wonder humans always seemed so pathetic once they hit the water. I always found their flailing hilariously entertaining.
After hearing a scramble in the other room, I waited expectantly for Breena’s cute little face to appear in the doorway.
“What are you up to, siren?” she asked as she peered behind the door. Her gaze flicked to the surface of the water. When she met my stare, I made sure she knew I was aware of what those beautiful eyes of hers were doing. Her chin dipped, and the shy smile that spread across her lips lit a fire deep in my belly.
“You did say you wanted to be fully submerged, so I thought I’d join you.” I splashed the water with my foot. Breena tilted her head before coming out from behind the door and shutting it behind her.
“You’re taking this ‘letting go’ suggestion a little far, don’t you think?” Breena asked with an amused smirk. She slowly made her way to the edge of the tub. Trailing her finger down the pristine porcelain, she met my eye with a mischievous grin.
“I don’t think I’ve taken it far enough,” I said, grabbing her hand before her finger could get another inch closer to me. She let out a surprised yelp as my bath-warmed skin met hers. I dipped her fingertips into the water to tease her in. She bit her lip, her eyes peering through the water to what remained hidden below.
“Well, it does seem like a pretty good solution to my problem. I can’t keep scratching my arm.”
“No,” I whispered. “You really can’t.”
Breena lifted one foot and sank it right into the tub before doing the same with her other. She stood in the tub, her wet gown plastered to her legs, before she sank onto my lap. The remaining fabric of her dress puffed up with air, hitting me in the face. The water then consumed the fabric, and the entire dress clung to her like a second skin.
“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to wear your dresses in the tub.” I peered down at the deep pink fabric that wrapped around her breasts in the way my hands ached to.
“And I’m pretty sure you didn’t ask me to remove it,” she said with a cheeky smile.
“Fair enough.”
Breena shifted off me to investigate the jars sitting on top of the small wooden table next to the tub. She picked up the empty jar with salt residue dusting the bottom. She motioned to it, and I explained to her how I'd put a bit of salt in the tub to help with her skin.
The glass jars clattered and clacked against each other as she continued to use her wet hands to sort through each one.
“What are you looking for?” I asked, playing with the hem of her soaked dress.
“Mmm, I don’t know. Something fun.” Her eyes didn’t leave the labels, and she mumbled quietly to herself as she read them all. Finally, she picked one up and examined its contents. When she opened it, the jar slipped out of her hands, and the entire thing plopped right into the water, mysterious goo and all.
Breena gasped, and my hand shot out to catch the thing before it smashed against the bottom of the porcelain tub. I secured the jar in my hand, but when I pulled it out of the water, the only thing left inside was a bit of bath water and sudsy residue from whatever had been inside of it.
“Oops,” Breena said with a guilty giggle. She took the jar from me and sniffed what was left of the mystery substancebefore setting it back on the table. “I have no idea what it was, but at least it smells good.”
She laughed and leaned back into the water, submerging herself. She stayed under for a few minutes, her dress swirling in the water as it progressively grew more and more sudsy with her movement. Relaxing into the water with her, I attempted to keep my eyes off where her dress rose a little too high and where her skin met mine.
When she came up for a breath I knew she didn’t need, she moved her flattened palm over the surface of the water and the many bubbles collecting on top of it.
“Have you ever seen so many bubbles?” she asked in amazement, the amount of fragile, iridescent spheres growing by the second. Breena couldn't contain her laughter, and I couldn’t remember a time I had seen her so full of joy, or the last time I had been so infected by someone else’s emotions. She wore her happiness with no shame or reservation, and the glow it gifted her highlighted her beauty more than I could have ever imagined.
For the love of all things salty, why this woman? Why this selkie?
