I am very aware of how few clothes I’m wearing. I’m also very aware of the heat from his hands, burning into my skin. I wonder if there’ll be a mark there when he lets go.
I don’t know what to do next. I don’t want to be naked, bruised, vulnerable in front of him. I want to kiss him, and be his girlfriend, and maybe one day... but not today. Not when I feel like this.
I force myself to look at him, and I see the same questions, desire, uncertainty, in his eyes and it makes me smile.
He takes my hand. “Step into the water.”
I point out to him that I’m still in my knickers and bra, when I get what he means.
A warmth fills me, and my eyes fill with tears.
I step into the water, let the foam cover my underwear, and lay back. The warm water immediately makes me feel better. The heat, the scent of the bubbles, the relief that Fletcher hasn’t seen me naked and sad.
I know he’s left the room, and I let myself cry. I cry and cry and cry until my eyes are swollen. I sit up, and it doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I splash water over my face, pour shower gel onto my hands and lather it up.
I cry out; I can’t help it – lifting my arms to wash, hurts.
Fletcher steps into the room. “Okay?”
I shake my head, crying again. “I can’t wash.”
He kneels at the side of the bath and pushes my hair off my face. “Let me.”
I close my eyes; I can’t look at him. I feel his hands on me, full of soap, and he gently, carefully, and respectfully washes my skin.
I feel the battle wash off me. I feel the upset wash off me. I feel my embarrassment at being such a rubbish witch wash off me. I know there’s magic in his touch, and my entire body is tingling.
He washes my back, my arms, my shoulders. He stays away from anything that might be too sexy, and I feel like I love him even more.
I dare to open my eyes, and his eyes are dark with desire. They have changed colour, and I feel a thrill that I’ve made him feel like this. I know that he wants me, and I know that he cares so much about me he won’t act on his feelings.
And, unluckily, I’m feeling in too much pain to want to act on my desires.
He clears his throat, smiles at me, a smile that says so much, and then he washes my hair.
I relax a little; his touch is far less electrifying now and I let myself be looked after, let myself be pampered.
He leaves me alone, only for a few minutes, and then comes back with an enormous fluffy towel. He helps me out of the bath, holds the towel up, and carefully, matter-of-factly, and gentlemanly, pulls down my knickers, and unhooks my bra.
He wraps me up, steers me into his bedroom, and dries my hair with magic.
Then he passes me clean clothes. I hope he magicked them up – I don’t want to wear the twin’s clothes, but I don’t want to make a fuss, anyway.
Dry and dressed, he tucks me into bed and lets me fall asleep.
1
Fletcher wakes up next to Ellis. She’s under the covers and he’s on top of them, with a fleece pulled over himself. They aren’t even touching, but he feels so close to her, and such tenderness towards her, he kisses her forehead as she sleeps.
She stirs, and he sits up in the bed. “Good morning. How do you feel?”
“Better.” She sits up and hardly winces. “Your mum is clever. It hardly hurts at all. Do you think we’ll end up in another battle to the death today?”
He nods, laughing. “Possibly. Probably. I haven’t been in any battles my whole life long, and then you came along...”
“Coincidence.”
They laugh. “Let’s get ready. We have no idea what the day will bring.”
“Zeta and Efa. On the rampage.”
“With some demons to help them.”
Ellis groans and then feel tears spring in her eyes.
“Hey, don’t cry.”
“I can’t help it. I’m scared all the time; I feel sick all the time. Don’t you wish it was all over?”
“Of course I do. And it will be. There’s only the two of them left. And all the demons in the world can’t help her if we kill her.”
“Let’s do it.”
He smiles and takes her hand, leading her downstairs for breakfast.
Elodie, ever the hostess, has laid out the table full of delicious food; almost as though she is trying to outdo John’s breakfast spread.
“This is lovely, mum, thanks.”
“We’ll need our energy today. Today, we kill.”
Fletcher glances at Ellis, eyebrows raised, and she can’t help but smile. It isn’t funny; not in the slightest, but there’s something amusing about Elodie, with her flowery apron on, and the table laid with fresh muffins and hot bacon that doesn’t fit with her statement.
“We’re ready. A bit of fuel and then we’ll be even readier.”
“Even readier?” Thea shakes her head. Even in the middle of a war she can’t help her sarcastic judgments.
Ellis takes a bite of a muffin and a sip of hot chocolate. “What is the plan for today? Do we have any idea what Zeta might do next?”
Elodie shakes her head. “We’ll go mad if we try to understand Zeta. Besides, what she does is irrelevant – we have to make the first move. Today we attack, and we win. I’m sick to death of this palaver, and I’ve got a lot of stuff to catch up with on Netflix.”
This time it’s Fletcher who laughs, spitting out some orange juice. His mother glares at him.
“Sorry mum, but that is funny. The end of
