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A laugh bubbles out of me. After that mystifying experience, I feel proud and light inside. I look up, searching through the steam for Mak. He’s the first person I want to share this with.
He’s the only person I want to share everything with.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
FRANKIE
Familiar hands grasp me, pulling me close.
“Francesca,” Mak rasps, leading me toward the edge of the pool. He combs my wet hair out of my face and looms over me. “Are you alright?”
I nod, thankful for his steadiness as my legs fight the wet fabric. The skirt is the only part of my gown that’s been untouched by burning.
“Yes, I’m good,” I tell him. “It was… wonderful, actually.”
He looks dazed, and I’m dying to hear what he thought and felt when he was below the surface. Did he have a spiritual experience? Is that why he’s thunderstruck.
With Mak’s help, I make it out of the pool gracefully enough. We’re a bit too far from the opposite end of the pool to see the onlookers, but it sounds like a mix of cheering and whispered tones now that the two of us have disappeared under the surface and come up again unburnt.
“It’s over,” Mak says with a sigh.
Kaye and Raina are waiting for me on this side of the pool, hovering steps away from Mak and me. Raina clutches a towel and robe against her chest, still wearing an expression of awe as I exit the roped off area.
Kaye reaches for my shoulder to pat me, but when her fingers brush my skin, she jerks back.
“Jesus, you’re hot,” she murmurs.
“No shit, Kaye!” Raina says.
Mak stands behind me, gathering my wet hair in his hands and wringing it out. He radiates heat onto me, his body as perfectly unmarred as it was when he entered the pool. The Proving Ceremony has proven itself to uphold a very real phenomenon, even if its meaning is still unclear. I hope what we did here today will silence even the worst critics of having a human queen reign over a Kar’Kali house.
“Let’s get you out of that dress,” Kaye says. She holds up the towel to cover me while I step out of what’s left of my dress. Tiny curls of steam rise from my body as flesh is exposed to the air.
“Dear God, I still have eyebrows, right?” I reach for my own face. “Tell me I have eyebrows.”
“All eyebrows present and accounted for,” Raina says as she hands me the robe she brought. I quickly throw it on, flexing my fingers as the tingling sensation fades away. Once I’m no longer indecent, Mak bends down to pick up the lump of fabric.
“Thanks guys,” I sigh. “Do you mind if I ask for a moment with Mak alone? I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Of course!” Kaye agrees, smiling brightly while Raina shrugs with indifference. “Call us if you need anything, okay?”
They hustle away quickly, waving as they go, and breathe a deep sigh of relief now that I feel all the agonizing has been worth it.
“Not so bad after all?” I say, passing my palm over his upper arm. I’m trying to gauge what’s going on in that pretty head of his. “Was it difficult to watch me?”
“It was a sight I won’t soon forget,” he says.
I’m beaming. It might not be the end of our troubles when it comes to the fact that I’m human, but it’s a good start.
“I want to talk about it,” I tell him, tugging the robe tighter around me. “Let’s have dinner, just the two of us. I know there was meant to be a group banquet, but I don’t think anyone would question the newlyweds spending an evening alone, right?”
He blinks, hesitating before he shakes his head.
“I’ll hear all about it soon, but I’m suddenly exhausted. I think I’d rather take advantage of the springs and then go to bed early.”
My heart pangs with disappointment.
“I see,” I manage to murmur. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say ‘I understand,’ but I don’t understand, and I don’t want to wait until later to discuss the strange experience I had within the pool. I have so many questions. Did he see or feel anything? Was it the same for him?
