Sapphire Bones

Scald

"I can adjust the-,"

"No," I hissed and sank back down, the water up to my chin. Besides the ever-growing burns across my flesh, the hot water was the only thing I felt in months. I couldn't begin to describe the feeling: the broken skin on my back slurped up the water and despite the heat and the painful blisters that would accompany it later, I allowed the warmth to remind me of the past – something I may never experience again:

Corvo's warmth. The heat that expelled from our touch, and the obvious message translated across skin contact. We were mates, destined for each other from the moment we came to earth. The sparks normally accompanied with the mate bond didn't affect us. Whatever spell Peter put on me forever marred my nervous system, and cast side effects to keep me from feeling what I should. Instead, the heat from our touch was the only reminder that we were meant to be together, and even then, I didn't truly believe it. He deserved something better - someone - not charged with the kind of crimes everyone associated with me. Even if in the morning the council decided to lift all charges and set me free, the Lycan world wouldn't forgive. They never forgive.

"Are you?" I broke the silence but refused to finish the question on the tip of my tongue. She knew what I meant.

"Do you think I am?" Mia responded with a question of her own. "Do you think I'm emotionless?"

"I'd like to believe you're not," I said and dipped further down into the water. It cooled slowly. Mia kept the hot water on a thin and steady stream into the tub, but outside forces cooled faster than the hot water entered the tub. I eased my way underneath the water until only my head and neck stuck out. My hands were preoccupied with scrubbing at my arms, legs, torso – anywhere I could reach. I didn't want Mia's help. If washing myself was the last real impact I had on the world - or at least my world - then so be it. But I needed to do it on my own.

"Whatever you have planned for tomorrow, L-," she started and took a breath, uneasy about the subject. I turned to where her voice came from and eased my shoulders from the pool. "I don't want you getting killed any faster than you already are," she let out a sigh with her words. Mia's voice rang like a bell, bright and charming. But the painful knowledge of what was to come in the next hours didn't do anything to disguise itself.

"I don't have any plans," I snapped back, but the words I had in my brain didn't match the ones that were said. "They're going to kill me anyway so why not make it easier on them and save their blade from being cleaned?" Margette reached through the wall between us, but she didn't completely take over. Only my voice.

"L please," she begged. "By pulling some stunt tomorrow you're only going to make it worse."

"I have nothing planned," I said, my voice back in my control, and I dipped back down. Margette snarled in the back of my head. Someone on the outside finding out about her ideas made Margette's assignment harder to complete. It was my job to cast off any suspicions, hoping Mia dropped the topic before she dug too deep. A gentle stream of water hit my toes the more I stretched. Scalding water in an invisible tube came down under the surface of the water. It enveloped my feet in a hug like Corvo's touch. I didn't beg to see him one last time. I didn't want to risk the chance of him moving on from me. Seeing me before the trial would only lengthen the pain he'd feel after the blade hit my neck. What little mate bond existed in both of us planned on severing the moment the blade hit my neck. I declined to intervene but Margette wanted otherwise.

"I know when people lie, L. It's why they hired me in the first place."

I turned my head, my skull slowly rotated on the hard porcelain in a way that felt like my skull had flat sides. With each pivot, another click of bone underneath my flesh set my nerves on fire.