Chapter 4 A Baptism of Ice

Linus Kerr's private bathroom was as massive and sterile as a cathedral's morgue.

The walls were clad in polished obsidian tiles that, to my overloaded senses, radiated a deep, grounding chill. There were no useless decorations-only stark, silver pipes and glass partitions polished so fiercely they were practically invisible. The air was heavy with the scent of high-end soap and the underlying, perennial frost of the Tower.

"Clean yourself up."

Linus dropped me at the threshold like a piece of discarded contraband, his hand still anchored to the Cold-Iron chain. With a casual, humiliating flick of his wrist, he looped the end of the leash around the heavy brass door handle. The metallic clink was a sharp, final knell: I was no longer a citizen of Pyre City; I was a pet on a short tether.

"You have twenty minutes," he stated, his voice devoid of warmth. "Don't try anything clever-there are anti-magic runes buried beneath every tile. They'll detect a spark before you can even think it."

With that, he turned on his heel. The heavy oak door groaned shut, sealing me in a silence so thick it felt physical.

I slumped against the wood, sliding down until I hit the floor. Only now, in the absolute quiet, did I witness my own wreckage. The woman in the mirror was a ghost. My once-exquisite linen dress was a ruined rag of mud and acid-burned holes, clinging to my feverish curves. My silver-grey hair was plastered to my cheeks like dead seaweed.

But the most glaring thing was the brand at my throat. The copper button nestled in the hollow of my collarbone, threaded by that biting Cold-Iron chain.

My hand trembled as I reached up, fingernails clawing at the edge of the collar, desperate to find a seam, a weakness.

Sizzle-

"Ah!"

The moment I applied force, a bolt of agony-as if my very bone marrow were being shattered by ice-exploded through my skull. It was the Cold-Iron's automated punishment for defiance. It was a dead knot. Unless Linus chose to release me, I was marked for life.

"Bastard..." I hissed through gritted teeth, tears of physiological pain pricking my eyes.

I had to bathe. The filth and the skyrocketing internal heat were driving me toward a psychotic break. I struggled out of the sodden dress, peeling the fabric away until my skin felt raw and exposed. When the dress finally fell to the tiles, the unrestrained magic heat surged through me like a solar flare.

Naked and shivering, I stumbled into the walk-in shower and fumbled with the controls.

Whoosh-

The water erupted.

"Ngh-!" I shrieked, recoiling into the corner.

Hot. To my hyper-sensitive skin, water that would have been pleasant for a normal person felt like boiling oil. A terrifying crimson rash broke out across my shoulders instantly. I reached out to adjust the valve, but between the blurring black spots in my vision and the spasms in my fingers, I couldn't budge the heavy brass handle.

The scalding water continued to punish me. Steam rose in thick, suffocating clouds, turning the shower into a Victorian pressure cooker. Asphyxiation clawed at my throat. I slipped on the wet tile, my legs giving out. The chain at my neck snapped taut as I fell, choking the very air from my lungs.

Just as the darkness began to swallow me-

BANG.

The bathroom door was thrown open.

Linus Kerr marched in. He had shed his trench coat, but he didn't stop at the threshold. He strode straight into the shower, his black boots crunching on the wet tile, fully clothed.

"Get out!" I tried to scream, curling into a ball in the corner, my arms trembling as I attempted to shield my nakedness.

He ignored me. His eyes swept over my body-not with lust, but with the cold calculation of an appraiser checking for structural damage.

"Pathetic," he scoffed. "Can't even handle a faucet?"

He didn't reach around me. He stepped into my space.

Suddenly, I was trapped.

Linus kicked my legs apart to make room for his boots and loomed over me, pressing me flat against the cold obsidian tile wall. He leaned in, his massive, heat-radiating body boxing me in completely.

I froze. My naked breasts were inches from his soaking wet shirt. I could feel the hard, unforgiving outline of his belt buckle pressing against my bare hip. The scent of him-cedarwood, rain, and raw power-filled my nose, drowning out the steam.

He reached past my face, his arm brushing my cheek, and wrenched the valve.

The scalding heat died.

WHOOSH.

Ice-cold water hammered down on us.

I gasped, my body going limp with relief. The shock was intense, but it was the antidote I craved. I would have slid to the floor if Linus hadn't caught me. His hand-large, rough, and freezing-gripped my wet hip to hold me up, his fingers digging into my flesh.

For a second, we just stood there under the freezing spray.

Him, fully dressed in a white shirt that was rapidly becoming transparent, clinging to the cords of muscle on his chest and arms. Me, naked, vulnerable, and trembling in his grip.

Water dripped from his dark hair onto my face. He looked down at me, his gaze dropping to my parted lips, then lower, tracing the path of the water down my throat to the copper button glinting against my wet skin.

"Clean yourself," he growled, his voice rougher than before, darker. He released me abruptly, stepping back as if I had burned him. "And do it fast. I don't want the stench of the slums in my bed."

Ten minutes later, I drifted into the bedroom like a ghost, clutching a massive white towel like a shield.

The room was dimly lit by a single amber lamp. Linus was seated in an armchair by the mahogany bed, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He had changed into a black silk robe, leaving his chest partially exposed. His damp hair made the sharp lines of his face look dangerously elegant.

"Clothes," Linus said, not looking up from his drink. He pointed a long finger toward the bed.

A single white dress shirt lay there, neatly folded.

"I don't keep women here," he took a slow sip, the ice clinking in his glass. "Wear that. Or stay naked. The choice is yours."

I bit my lip. I snatched the shirt and turned my back to him, my fingers fumbling with the buttons in my haste.

It was huge. The fabric swallowed me. The sleeves hung past my hands, and the hem fell just to my mid-thigh, leaving my legs completely bare.

It smelled of him-cedar, ice, and danger. Wrapping myself in it felt like letting him hug me from behind. It was a suffocating, intoxicating sensation.

"Come here," Linus commanded.

I hesitated, tugging the hem down self-consciously, trying to cover as much skin as possible. I walked over slowly, the thick carpet muffling my steps, until I stood right in front of him.

Linus set his glass down on the side table. He didn't look at my face. His eyes traveled slowly up my bare legs, lingering on the shadow between my thighs where the shirt ended, before finally meeting my eyes.

The look in his eyes made my breath hitch. It was the look of a man unwrapping a gift he hadn't decided whether to keep or destroy.

He reached out, his hand circling my slender wrist, and pulled me forward until I was standing between his spread knees.

The position was breathlessly intimate. I could feel the heat radiating from his thighs.

"Good," he murmured. He unbuttoned his cuff, exposing the frost-chilled skin of his inner wrist, and pressed it firmly against my forehead to check my temperature.

"It looks better on you than it ever did on me."

He leaned back, his hand sliding from my forehead down to the collar of the shirt-his shirt-fingering the material. He looked at me-his prisoner, wearing his brand, wrapped in his clothes.

"The bed is yours tonight, Lillian," he said softly, a dark promise in his tone. "But remember..."

He tapped the Cold-Iron chain at my neck with a single finger.

"The leash is short. You don't leave this room."