Page 76

“She’s had a long morning,” Adeline called after me. “I’d let her be.”

I needed her where I could see her, almost as much as I needed my own pulse steady again.

I knocked once before pushing the door open.

Lily lounged in the tub, damp red hair slick against pale skin. The water was murky with dirt, but not enough to obscure the shape of her—the curve of her breasts, the slope of her waist, skin pale beneath the clouded surface.

Heat crawled up my neck. I dragged my attention higher, to where the bandage should have been at her throat.

The bruises were gone. Completely gone.

She didn't flinch when I entered. Just lifted her chin, daring me to speak, blue eyes hovering between exhaustion and defiance—as if she knew exactly what I'd seen and refused to be ashamed of it.

My grip tightened around the doorframe. “What happened? How is your bruising gone already?”

She didn’t answer right away.

Behind me, Adeline sighed. “August, really. . .”

“I wasn’t speaking to you.” I cut her off without looking at her.

Lily’s fingers curled around the edge of the tub. Her eyes flickered—just for a second—before she lifted her chin. “Quick healer.”

I stepped closer. “That’s bullshit, you look like hell.”

Her jaw tightened. “Gee, thanks. You sure know how to flatter a naked girl.”

I didn’t react. Didn’t move. “Did something happen?”

She hesitated. A fraction too long.

Then, she exhaled and sank lower into the water. “No.”

Lie.

A muscle ticked in my jaw.

Adeline stepped into the doorway, arms crossed. “She just needed a bath, August. Surely you can let a woman have that much.”

She was covering for her. That much was clear.

I glanced back at Lily. “You didn’t leave the house?”

She blinked, slow, deliberate. “No.”

Another lie.

I opened my mouth to press her further, but before I could, she exhaled loudly, rolling her eyes.

“Saints, you’re insufferable,” she muttered. Then, with all the irritation of someone discussing the weather, she deadpanned, “If you must know, I’m bleeding and unless you intend to ask me about the details of my courses, I’d appreciate some damn privacy.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. I went rigid, my entire body locking up in an instant.

Adeline coughed, poorly disguising a laugh.

Heat crept up my neck. I had been raised in a household of men—this wasn’t a subject that was ever spoken about, much less thrown at me in the middle of an interrogation by a naked woman in a bath.

The words rose to my lips. . . then faded before they found breath.