Blood of the Mage (Twyst Academy Book 2) by D.D. Chance

Author:D.D. Chance [Chance, D.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781943768608
Published: 2020-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

14

I tried reaching out for Luke again, unsuccessfully. He was there—but muted. I suspected the magical Wi-Fi in the queen’s chambers was on a totally different network. It looked like I was on my own for the bathing part of this quest. Yippee.

Ordinarily, I would take exception to the idea of being bathed by complete strangers, but it had been hot and clammy beneath that cloak, and between that and the flop sweat I’d drummed up in the hall of the mountain king, I was feeling pretty rank. Plus, I had no illusions about my body. I appreciated what it did for me, getting me from bed to coffee and back again, but I wasn’t self-conscious about it.

Much.

“What are these scars?” The whisper was hesitant, scandalized, and I glanced back and down as I kicked off my jeans. It said something about my upbringing that I didn’t know the specific ones that had caught Nyla’s attention.

“Belt,” I confirmed as I bent down to retrieve my jeans, laying them on top of my boots. I also stripped off my sports bra, but I kept my underwear on. “I had a foster mother with a bit of a heavy hand when it came to punishment, and I was her first foster girl. She needed to break me in.”

“You were fostered to a…a…” Words seemed to fail the woman, and when Maude interrupted, I was glad.

“The water’s getting cold,” she informed me, and I looked from her to the bucket. It was marginally large enough for me to get inside it, but I hadn’t thought…

“You don’t just have a rag I could use to sponge off?”

Maude drew herself up as if I’d affronted her. “I don’t know what the traditions are in your realm, but here, you will be treated with respect and honor. Please.”

I didn’t know exactly what to do with that, but I decided not to fight it. I hadn’t had an actual bath since…I honestly couldn’t remember, and that experience didn’t bring positive associations. I held on to my mild freak-out long enough to strip off my underwear and step into the tub. It was deeper than I realized, and warmer too, I sank down into the fragrant water with an audible sigh.

The women sprang into action. As I sat chin-deep in the water, Ellen moved to my side with a large ladle, which she carefully dipped into the water and then streamed it over my hair, crooning comforting words the whole time, as if she were the mother I should’ve had all those years ago. Some sort of goop was added to my wet hair after that, and Ellen’s hands started working against my scalp. I nearly groaned aloud. I might have groaned aloud, actually, because she froze briefly, then commenced again, her hands a little surer.

After that, Nyla provided me not with a rag but a luxurious washcloth of sorts, heavier and thicker than necessary, but nice all the same. I accepted it from her and went about scrubbing my body down.

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