Chapter 70: Best Bath Ever

It was Serena.

Neither of us said anything for a while. Steam drifted between us, water lapped at the rocks, and a cricket was chirping outside. I stood there naked with a washcloth in my hand, she sat there naked with her arms crossed under the surface, and we looked at each other.

[So, that’s not Odette.]

She recovered first.

"Close the door!"

"Right." I slid it shut behind me. "Sorry, I was expecting somebody a lot smaller and a lot less murderous."

"Why are you here?"

"It’s a bath. I’m dirty. I feel like the math on that one is pretty simple."

"This is the ninth bell." Her voice came out low and flat. "Nobody uses the ninth bell, which is exactly why I use it, and you would know that if you’d read the posted schedule instead of wandering through life like a drunk goat."

Serena’s eyes narrowed. She sank lower until the water touched her chin, and her arms stayed crossed the whole way down.

[Ah, she’s covering. Of course she is. This is the whole problem, isn’t it? She’s got a secret between her legs and a fox standing three feet away from it.]

"Relax, princess," I said. "You’ve got nothing I haven’t seen before."

"Do you want to get strangled again? Because I remember how it went the first time, and I remember enjoying it."

"I’d prefer not to, honestly. But I’m also not taking it back."

She stared at me. I stared back, because what was she going to do? Get out and chase me? That would defeat the entire purpose of the crossed arms and the whole sinking into the water thing.

I dropped the washcloth on the rocks and stepped into the water.

It was hot! Really hot, in the way that makes your toes complain before the rest of you catches up. I hissed and eased down one inch at a time until it reached my ribs, then my shoulders, and then I let out a long breath and sank onto the stone bench across from her.

She hadn’t moved. She had, however, watched me the entire way in.

[Don’t say it, you dumbass. Do not say "enjoying the view."]

... I couldn’t help it.

"Enjoying the view?"

"I will hold you under this water until the bubbles stop, and I’ll tell the headmaster you slipped."

"You keep threatening and never delivering. At this point it’s starting to feel like foreplay, and I’m not sure that’s what you’re going for."

"Don’t speak such filth, you mutt."

"Sure." I made a zipping gesture over my lips.

The cricket kept going. I tipped my head back against the rock and closed my eyes. The water was doing its job, the day was finally sliding off me, and for about four seconds I forgot about hallways entirely.

"Everdawn," Serena said.

"Mm?"

"She stays away from here. That was the arrangement. You told me the forecast and you told me you’d prevent it, so I want to hear you say that you remember."

"Good grief. Yes, I remember." I cracked one eye open. "Lily is going to spend the next two weeks so far from your naked body she’ll need a map to find you at breakfast. Marisol’s on rotation. I’ve got the schedule. Nobody’s opening any wrong doors."

"Vantecca? What does she know?"

"I just told her we needed to keep Lily from seeing you naked. That’s all."

"... And you didn’t think this would imply to Vantecca that perhaps there’s a reason you don’t want her seeing me?"

"Yes, but what the fuck else could I say? She want to know what ’the plan’ was because she thinks I’m some criminal mastermind."

"Fine."

She stood up.

The water ran off her in sheets. She turned her back to me before she was fully upright and reached for the towel on the ledge, and I got the whole show. Her ass came up out of the water first, round, pale, and dripping. When she bent for the towel it tipped right at me. Her tits swung under her arm as she twisted, and for one glorious second, as she stepped up onto the rocks, I got a clean look between her legs.

I didn’t look away once, and I wasn’t subtle about it either.

She wrapped the towel around herself and turned her head just enough to see me over her shoulder.

Her cheeks were red, and it wasn’t from the heat.

"Stop looking."

"No."

"You are the worst creature alive."

I smiled.

"Same time tomorrow~?"

The door slammed hard enough to rattle the paper.

I sank down until the water touched my nose, and I sighed.

[Best bath of my life.]

---

I woke up before the bell.

That never happens. I’m a professional sleeper. I’ve trained for it my whole life, and yet there I was, up on my own and humming while I got dressed. By the time I made it out to the training field the sun was barely over the hills, and I felt like I could run a mile just for the fun of it.

Lily was already stretching by the fence. She looked me over as I walked up, then she did it a second time.

"You look... really good?"

"Flattery will get you everywhere, sweetheart."

"N-No, I mean it. You’re glowing. What happened?"

"Meh, I don’t know. I slept like a baby. A big, happy baby that got everything it wanted." I stretched my arms over my head until my back popped.

[That bath was absolutely medicinal.]

She squinted at me for a second, then she gave up and went back to her hamstrings. I put my hands on my hips and breathed in the morning air, and that’s when I felt it.

Someone was staring at me.

I turned my head. Across the field, standing apart from everyone else with her arms folded, Serena was glaring at me. There was a real chance she’d been at it since sunrise and had no plans to stop. She didn’t look away when I caught her, either.

I gave her a little wave.

Her glare got worse. That was all I got out of her.

[Worth it.]

Sabine strolled onto the field with a clipboard under one arm. She clapped twice, and two hundred ducklings dragged themselves into something resembling lines.

"Good morning. I trust you all slept well in your rooms. Together. With your assigned partners." She said it to the crowd, but her eyes landed on me for exactly one second before they moved on. "Today’s activity is a sanctioned hunt. The shrine has a pest problem in the western forest, and we have a surplus of students who like hitting things. Combat-oriented students will be dispatched in their groups of three. Non-combat students will remain here with me and, uh... I dunno. Learn something."

I looked around. Knights, mages, saints, the whole lot, all shifting their weight and cracking knuckles.

[Combat-oriented? That’s everyone, isn’t it? Who in this school is NOT combat-oriented? Odette, obviously. Marisol, because heaven forbid she sweat. That’s what lackeys are for. That’s the entire list. We’re a school for making tiny soldiers.]

Then something clicked in my head. A hunt in a forest, in groups of three, during the second week of the excursion.

[Oh, I know this one.]

I stepped behind a taller student, opened the Manuscript, and paid five MP to be sure.

The trees closed in around them like a dark green tunnel. Lily gripped her practice sword tightly. On her left, Prince Aldric walked with the easy confidence of a born leader. On her right, Cassian said nothing, but his hand never left the hilt of his blade.

"Stay close to me, Lily," Aldric said. "I’ll protect you."

"I can protect her myself," Cassian muttered.

"Nobody asked you, Holloway."

Lily felt her cheeks heat. Two of the most powerful young men in the kingdom, and they were fighting over who got to protect her. She had never felt so safe. Or so confused.

I closed it.

[Yeah, that’s the one. The hunt where the boys bicker and Lily gets protected from a bear. Riveting stuff, seventeen-year-old me. Really cooking.]

The important part was the structure. Three people went into the woods, something big came out, two strong people killed it, and the third person stood in the middle being impressed. That was the scene. The names were decoration.

"Group eleven," Sabine called. "Everdawn, Frostfall, Sakana. Western trail, third marker."

Lily bounced up beside me. Serena walked over from the far side of the field, stopped a good six feet away from me, and now refused to look at me at all.

[Okay, let me think about this.]

Aldric was out, for now. Cassian was out as well. Instead, the heroine of the novel and the final boss of the novel were about to walk into a forest together, and I was the third person.

I was the decoration.

[Wait, hold on. That’s... great?]

Lily was a walking miracle with a divine core in her chest. Serena was rank SSS at eighteen and could end a duel with most people in two seconds. Whatever lived in these woods was going to have a very short, very confusing day. My job was to stand in the middle, keep my hands in my pockets, and enjoy the light show.

[I’m not even going to draw my sword. I’ll bring a snack.]

"Are you ready?" Lily asked. Her sword was already out, and she was smiling with her whole face.

"Born ready."

Serena said nothing. She turned and started walking toward the trail. Lily jogged to catch up with her, and I followed the two of them at a lazy pace with my hands behind my head, whistling.