Immari remained silent with lips puckered and brow tight, washing Aida with cruel efficiency. With no leniency to the injuries, she went over every inch to buff Aida’s skin smooth. Ignoring the little grunts and breathy huffs, the strained lines of Aida’s neck and shoulders as she dragged the sturdy wooden comb through tangles and snarled knots as if she were intent on ripping the whole lot free.
It was on Aida’s quiet whimper as one knot pulled free with a vicious ripping sound to dangle in a clumped and dingy mess from the comb that the man returned. Amber eyes alight, he came into the bathing chamber with little regard to Aida’s plight. He didn’t descend upon her as she worried he might. Instead he went to Immari, snatching the torture device from her and shoving her back to the door with a wide palm upon her chest. Growling something in that foreign language, the lilting swirl of it at odds with the grinding savageness pouring from his chest. Features going slack in something far too close to fear, Immari did not protest when that other woman guided her from the doorway and well away from the chamber.
Leaving Aida all alone with the monster who stood with legs spread, chest heaving with rumbling breaths before he turned to face her.
“She already did that,” Aida mumbled through frozen lips while scooting to the other side of the tub, as far away as she could get from the man as he hefted the rose laden soap. Watching his every move through the clumped fringe of her lashes, Aida cringed as he tossed the heavy bottle away. Waiting for the crash of pottery against the wall, she gave a slow blink when it never came. Leaning sideways to peek, she saw no evidence of it at all.
While so distracted, she didn’t see him coming closer. Missed his hand reaching for her until it closed over her crown and pushed her under the water. Holding her there despite her panicked thrashing. A new fear spiking in her veins, adrenaline surging through her heart, Aida screamed frothy protests into the murky water and clawed at the arm above her.
Dragged up from the shallow depths to choke on the sudden rush of air heaved into her lungs, his face was inches away when her eyes cleared. Heedless of the water and saliva spattering his cheeks as Aida continued to sputter, lips a slash of bitter amusement, he held her upper body above the water when she tried to sink back down.
“Again.”
The dark sweep of her brows knit together as she twitched her head side to side, comprehension eluding her as he slapped an unfamiliar brick of some waxy substance into her palm. Not until it became wet, her fingers slipping over the block with the known texture of soap did she understand what it was.
“You sent Immari away,” Aida whispered to hide the plaintive whine of her voice. Refusing to meet that disturbing gaze as he remained far too close, she willed her skin to stop growing so warm where he continued to touch her, to cease the thrilling heat slipping down the center of her body.
“You’ve gotten me all wet,” the beast said with a narrowing of his eyes. Sucking his teeth, he withdrew, a sidelong sneer given to the drenched state of his clothing before he worked the odd buttons at wrist and neck free. Nothing at all like the ribbon tied shirts Otaso wore, no billowing fabric or embroidery edged slits to show a glimpse of puffy cloth beneath. A close fit from neck to waist, it seemed to accentuate his bulk, giving more than a mere hint at the rippling muscle beneath.
Aida exhaled hard as he pulled the whole garment over his head, baring so much flesh she did not know where to look. Found herself drawn back to the firm planes of his chest, the deep valleys and hills of his stomach no matter how many times she tried to look away. Glancing at the cruel twist of his lips as he muttered under his breath, the bright gleam of his gaze shimmering with his anger.
Now hers filled with tears, uncertainty driving her back. She’d angered him, again. Not her fault she’d splashed so when he shoved her under the water. What person in their right mind wouldn’t struggle against being drowned in a tub? Arms snaking around her middle, she curled around the sudden ache centered in the pit of her stomach.
He’d punish her now, blaming her for it all. Just like Otaso.
His low mutterings became louder, a thunderous rumble as he yanked the soaked trousers free. Peeling the wet fabric away from his skin with brisk annoyance. Boots flung across the room, the leather splotched and maybe ruined.
Her first tears slipped free despite her struggle to hold them back. Otaso hated it when she cried, and he might be no different. Loathe to bring more pain down upon her head, she scrubbed the back of one hand over her cheek, smearing bitter despair over her skin.
Aida fell back with a mewling cry when he snatched that same hand, silencing the words if not the sounds begging for mercy. Turning most of her body away, she gave him the far sturdier line of her back rather than the painful edge of her cheek to strike. Mouth opening on a silent scream as liquid fire seared over her fingers, across her hand to the inside of the wrist where the sharp edge of his teeth scraped at the fluttering pulse.
He nipped the delicate flesh hard before the tub erupted in buffeting waves, the crash of water following him into the bath.
Whine shrill and somehow breathless as her lungs seized and her heart ceased its hammering, Aida sluiced through the water by his grip, dragged
