Page 41 of The Beast King's Bride

“Fine,” I mutter and am reminded of how the king had said “I’m fine,” when Jassin brought me to him to check his wound. Not a lie but a different truth.

Just like I’m fine now without being fine at all.

“Are you cold, my lady? Shall I bring you a mantle? Shall I throw more wood on the fire?”

After the frightful night I spent inside a closet—I managed to move from the gallery to find a better hiding place—and the indignity of being found by Jassin and led back to my room early the next morning, I can’t stop shaking. It’s as if the fear was added to the cold seeping into my bones until I can’t get warm, no matter what I do.

“If my lady would like a hot bath,” Zylphia says, her wrinkled face wrinkling even more, “the king has ordered that we bring you to the bathhouse. Usually, it’s reserved for him, but you are his esteemed guest.”

“Bathhouse? Are you serious?”

“There is a hot spring under the palace and the water warms the floors and forms a pool where bathing is very pleasant.”

I’d love to bathe. It’s a luxury I’m not accustomed to but even I will tell you I stink, of sweat and terror and frustration, but…

“Is the beast gone?” I’m sitting in the chair by the commode and can’t make myself get up or unwrap my arms from around myself. “For sure?”

“Yes, my lady.” Auria curtsies. “The monsters leave with the morning light.”

“How many…?” I have to swallow past the lump of fear in my throat. “How many beasts are out there at night?”

“We don’t know.” The two Fae women exchange a look. They always do that, as if they have a special eye language. Maybe they do. “The king hunts them, but either they cannot die or new ones appear every night, since they never end.”

“Gods… why don’t you leave this palace, then? Save yourselves?”

“So many have left already,” Zylphia says, shaking her head. “Who will aid the king if we all go?”

“He needs us by his side,” Auria says, nodding.

“Why? He’s an arrogant royal. What do you owe him?”

Again, that quick flicker of gazes, and they curtsy again. “He has been kind to us,” Auria says. “And he can’t leave the palace, so we stay.” She straightens. “If my lady doesn’t need us now…”

“Wait. I would like to bathe,” I say.

If the king says I can… why not? Maybe it will drive the chill from my bones.

They both brighten. “If you tell us which gown you would like to use today, my lady, then we’ll gather everything necessary and accompany you there.”

Well, at least I won’t be locked up in my room, I think as they buzz about like busy bees, gathering sheets and clothes and shoes and undergarments. Even if, after last night’s experience, I wouldn’t mind staying inside for a while longer… Nothing like meeting a nightmarish fiend to make you reevaluate your plans.

Still shaking, I follow the two Fae women through the palace. They’re carrying stacks of folded fabric and trays, and I offered once to help but was poo-pooed and am grateful to only have to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

In my mind, I keep seeing the beast gazing at me with eyes full of intelligence and fury, seeing its horns, its burnished talons scraping the floor, its glossy fur… the sharp, dagger-like teeth in its maw.

We descend a staircase and cross a few empty halls, passing outside storerooms and cellars. It’s much warmer down here, and my shivering eases.

“My lady.” Auria curtsies by a carved stone door, the lintel bearing an inscription I of course can’t read. “The bathhouse.”

The sound of water softly splashing comes from inside and I step inside carefully, not sure what to expect.

It’s a marvelous place, a vast cavernous hall with torches set in niches in the walls and oil lamps illuminating the edge of a pool in the rocky ground. The water is milky and smells of salt and rain, steam wafting gently from its surface. Benches line one wall and low tables carry dishes loaded with fruit and nuts. The flames from the torches and the lamps throw reflections in the pool and dancing lights on the ceiling. It’s magical.

“If my lady will allow me to help,” Zylphia says and comes to undo my belt and unbutton my dress. It occurs to me that neither Fae has commented on the fact that they found me sitting in my room, shivering, dressed in the woolen dress and cape and the sturdy boots. I wonder whether Jassin told them where he found me.

Distracted, I let her help me out of the clothes, then the long drawers and petticoat and the stockings, and I find myself naked by the pool. On the rare occasions when I took a bath back in my world, it was in a barrel the kitchen staff used for this purpose, and I had to jump in and out quickly not to freeze to death.

But this whole hall is warm from the steam. I step inside the pool and sigh as the warmth seeps into my chilled skin. Lower and lower I descent and then I sit in the water, gathering my knees to my chest, eyes closing.

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