Now it was my turn to glare at her. “Only the High Priestess has access, and if she catches us, she will cast us out for defiling the waters.”
Edith squeezed my hand. “I wasn’t asking. Wehave cause to be in that place. If I had known it was this bad, I wouldn’t have suggested that we wait.”
I swallowed hard while Edith turned to Titus.
“I’m Edith. I hear you can help us get rid of the vampires.”
Titus straightened, pressing a hand to his ribs, and when he spoke, his voice was firm, “I will lead the knights there myself.”
“Good.” Edith dusted her hands as though the matter was settled. “We will take you to the healing waters, and I will talk with the captain of the guards.”
“Lean against me if you need to,” I told Titus, wondering if I should offer more of my blood.
He’d taken me by surprise in the pit, but now I understood. He was a man in despair, teetering on the edges of a cliff until I’d come, and he’d leaped in one desperate grasp for salvation.
The sacred waters were on the main level of the abbey, where a staircase led down to the pool. High windows were set at ground level even though the pool was recessed in the ground. I’d rarely come here, for there were many pools to bathe in throughout the region, and I preferred being in nature instead of the dark waters of the sacred pool.
Perhaps it was a childhood fear of the water.Some of the older priestesses had teased me, saying the water would find all impurities and burn them away, or if one with sin entered the waters, the monster of the deep would swallow them whole.
Those old fears resurfaced as Edith picked the lock and led us down. My heart throbbed in my throat, half expecting someone to be down there, waiting to pounce on us. But the pool was just an uncanny black pool.
Edith wasted no time in lighting the flickering torches and placing a bundle of towels and clothes near the pool’s edge. “I’ll leave you two,” she said, clutching at her necklace. “I’m going to speak to Captain Elroy, and I have faith we will be able to resolve this peaceably. Bar the door, Lucia. If the knights come looking for you, the first place they’ll go is your room and then the garden.”
I followed Edith to the door. “Are you going to be okay?” I asked.
Edith grimaced. “I’m furious with the knights and the High Priestess. We know better than to act out of grief and try to resolve problems with violence. I’m angry with Captain Elroy for keeping secrets from me, of all people, and I’m sorry, so sorry, Lucia.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezedit. “I keep thinking of the words you spoke about love and about our vows. Love is many things, but it is also the tool you’ll use to set things right. I have faith.”
Edith’s eyes narrowed. “I’m beginning to think this is a punishment for going against my vows and having my head in the clouds. I didn’t see what was happening around me because I was focused on him.”
“Forgive yourself,” I encouraged. “If you stoop to the same level of violence and anger, then you are no better than them.”
“Wise words, my friend, now bolt the door and don’t open it unless it’s me.”
She left, and I was alone with Titus.
At least he’d had the decency to wait until she was gone before he started struggling out of his clothes. Grunting as he moved wounded limbs. I went to his side as he shrugged off his shirt, his skin dark and mottled from bruising. I wanted to touch him, but I was afraid of hurting him.
“Do you need more blood?” I offered instead.
His eyes were no longer luminous when he looked at me. “No,” he answered shortly, sliding into the pool.
“What can I do to help?”
He waded further into the water until it came upto his waist. Letting out a deep sigh, he faced me and held out a hand. “Join me, my moon goddess.”
A glimmer of his old self was back, and his lips lifted, almost in teasing.
“Don’t watch me undress,” I scolded.
He paused, and I guessed what his retort would be, but all the same, he turned his back. I glanced at the waters, then dipped a bare toe into the warmth. Nothing snatched at my ankle. No monster came up to grab me. Ironic how I was frightened of the water but not of him.
Tossing off my dress, I slipped into the pool, walking deeper into the water until it surged around my shoulders. Only then did I dare to face Titus. He floated on his back, eyes closed, which only made me braver.
Still, the unsettling blackness of the water unnerved me despite the torches Edith had lit. Letting my arms sink into the water, I watched my runes, and ever so slowly, they began to glow. Silver light pulsed through the waters, scattering the darkness and showing me the smooth bottom of the pool. Tiny fish swam in it, darting away from the light until it was impossible to hide.
A warmth filled me, and I smiled, striding deeper in, moving toward Titus. Relief rolled off my shouldersin waves of heat, warming the pool. Another long sigh left Titus’s parted lips.