Steam still hovered over the enormous marble bathtub when Eliza slowly emerged from the water. The tiny droplets slid down her skin with an almost cruel unhurriedness, as if even time had decided to move more slowly since her heart began to break.
She remained still for a few moments.
With her eyes closed.
Letting the warmth envelop her body while she imagined, just for a second, that the water could carry away the weight that had been pressing against her chest for weeks.
It didn't.
Because there were pains that didn't wash off the skin.
They settled between the ribs.
In the exact place where the bond lived.
Corina had insisted on the bath. She said that hot water cleared the mind, relaxed the muscles, and breathed a little life back into the body. Maybe she was right. At the very least, Eliza no longer felt that thick fog that had kept her trapped in her room for days, unable to tell morning from night.
She had come back to herself.
Or at least... it seemed that way.
