Chapter 63: Chapter Sixty-Three

I wait for Toshiro to take his leave so I can bathe in private, but he stares back at me with equal amounts of expectancy. It soon becomes clear to me that he has no intention of leaving and didn’t feel the need to explain himself. I raise my eyebrow, pausing in the doorway of the bathroom, seeing that he makes to stand up from the table to follow me. “What are you doing?” I demand, glancing nervously to the bath behind me. The last time a male with me in the bathroom while I was bathing, it was with my husband.

Seeing the look of alarm on my face, Toshiro stops a few paces away to give me a confused look, holding a hand up between us. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m making sure the bathwater isn’t toxic.”

Realizing what his intentions make me feel suddenly foolish and a blush furiously creeps up my face, heating my skin. I step aside to let him into the bathroom, wishing that he would stop looking at me. “Oh, right,” I say stupidly. I was the one who revealed that Aita may be worth being suspicious of, so his decision to check everything that she handled thoroughly should have been obvious to me. Of course, he isn’t interested in seeing my naked body.

Toshiro gives me another strange glance before he disappears into the bathroom, his ears and nostrils twitching as he paces the room. He dips a hand into the bubbles of the water inside of the crystal basin and lifts it to his nose, seeming to pass it off as safe as he continues making his way around the room, touching the clothes that are set out for me to change into and examining everything with an intelligent sight that I can’t perceive. It would seem that everything is deemed fit for me to touch because he turns back to the doorway where I wait. “What were you expecting?” His tone is teasing as he waves me through the doorway, clearing it of suspicion for me to take my bath.

I glower at him, hovering at the door before I slam it in his face. “Nothing,” I say with far too much vigor to actually be nothing. His face tells me that he already knows what crossed my mind, and is simply being an ass by trying to coax the confession out of me for his amusement. “Goodnight.” I tack on curtly, intending for it to end our conversation for the evening. Arcane pushes past his legs to join me in the bathroom, sniffing around at everything Aita had touched.

Toshiro remains planted just outside of the door, his brow raised as he folds his arms across his chest. “As if I would leave you alone after what happened today. Besides, it isn’t as though I have a bed to retire to, myself.”

I pause mid-slam to stare at him incredulously. “You aren’t staying here all night. I have to get some sleep.”

“Clearly I won’t be here all night,” He says as if it should have been obvious, the coolness of his expression making my cheeks grow even hotter than before in my fluster. “I still have to track down the corridor creeper. I will leave once you sleep and I know that you are safe.”

I turn to glance back at the silk nightgown that Aita has laid out for me to change into, the thought of Toshiro seeing me in something so revealing making my palms slick with sweat. I swallow nervously and close the door, leaving him standing just outside. “That’s a fitting name for it,” I mutter, pulling my corset top off and wriggling out of my jeans. “You still haven’t figured out who or what it is?”

I hear Toshiro sigh from outside of the door, which draws Arcane over to sniff at the space between the floor in curiosity. It sounds like he remains standing where I left him, though his footsteps pace back and forth as he talks, covering up the sound of me lowering myself into the bathwater as I melt into the warmth. This magic tub is something that I didn’t know I needed, but now that I have it it’s necessary to live comfortably. “I have a few ideas. It seems to only reveal itself at night and it is difficult to locate by scent alone. Either way, it would be wise to avoid wandering in the night, especially unaccompanied.”

I sink into the bubbles, pulling them around my body self-consciously. The thought of some unknown creature stalking the hallways in the middle of the night is unsettling, especially since it has only appeared since Ascian departed for his journey. “Do you think it’s acting independently?”

“Perhaps, depending on if my hunch is correct,” It sounds like Toshiro has dragged a chair by the door, the wood creaking in protest of his body weight as he settles into it, apparently set on staying where he is until I’ve finished bathing and gotten ready for bed. Either way, it seems that he is going to glimpse me in the nightgown. The thought makes me sink deeper into the water, listening to it lap around my ears.

Compared to the cold outside, the warmth of the water seems to seem into my bones, providing a sense of calm. It gives me enough clarity to go over everything in my mind again, considering everything that has happened in the past few hours. I know that I should feel more anxious about being hunted by the High Fae and this unknown creature lurking in the shadows of the corridors, but the sounds of Toshiro simply being outside of the door reminds me that I have nothing to fear. He is here with me for a reason, and I know that he will fulfill his duty no matter what adversaries may come out of the woodwork. Besides, if I am to be the new Queen of the Unseelie Court, I will have to get used to feeling like everyone is out to get me. They will be, from now on.

“And what is your hunch saying, this time?” I ask, scrubbing my hands over my arms to work the fragrance of the soap into my skin. As long as I have someone like Toshiro beside me to keep me safe from the world, I think I’ll manage to remain sane. But he won’t always be here, will he? That’s right, he’s going to return to his shrine in the mountains as soon as Ascian returns. The thought makes me feel unusually uneasy, so I dunk my head beneath the water in an attempt to drown it. It doesn’t work, so I come back up for air.

“It is saying that your skin will prune if you stay in the bath for much longer,”

I smile bitterly into the bubbles, lifting my hand to examine the skin. Surely he knows that the water in the Palace is not even wet. It can hardly absorb into my fingertips. “So, you won’t tell me?”

Toshiro sighs, hardly audible above the sound of hundreds of bubbles bursting against my skin. “I don’t want you to be scared. You do not have to worry yourself with anything else, for now.”

I tilt my head back to stare at the ceiling, seeing Arcane slide into a laying position beside the tub from the corner of my eye. I’m still amazed by the progress she has made in such a short time before Toshiro showed up to mold her mind into something more restrained and calm. Even Ascian would be proud to see the improvement. I swallow, my tongue feeling suddenly leaden inside of my mouth. I tried to convince myself that what Ascian has done to keep my identity a secret from me was simply because of his nature, and therefore, can hardly be counted as a betrayal. Something inside of my gut remains uneasy, though, no matter how my brain attempts to justify his actions.

Could it truly be that he has been keeping me in the dark for all of these years? Is he just using me for his own benefit? I am the perfect excuse to overthrow the Kingdom that he so resented for casting him out into the forest. I had always assumed that he could have easily taken back his title as a Prince of the Court if he so desired, but maybe that was never true. If I am supposedly a strong weapon as Toshiro said, and everyone else is aware of my potential, then it would be the greatest power move of all time. He needed to make sure that I trusted him before taking the next step to overthrow his brother. He needed me compliant, so I would not only remain controllable as he took over the Kingdom, but remain oblivious to his true intentions until it was too late to retaliate. Marrying me was probably just an attempt to keep me happy, then too.

“Are you alright?” Toshiro’s voice drags me from my thoughts, the edge to his tone making me wonder how many times he called me.

“I’m fine,” I respond, pulling myself from the warmth of the scented water. “I’m coming out now, so don't look.”