My Husband Thinks I Forgot I Was a Demon novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Rain Bath

Ji-han did not wake the Leader.

He read the Lord's will standing at the window in the dark, by the light of a single candle stub.

It was one page, in the Lord's cramped red ink.

It said: To the Left Hand, my sword, who never once asked me why. The Lotus is yours. Do not be soft with it.

There was no thanks and no goodbye.

There was not even Ji-han's name.

He folded the page small and tucked it inside the lining of his boot, where he hid things he planned to burn.

Behind him the bed creaked.

"Can't sleep?" the Leader said, thick with sleep.

"Bad dream."

"Come back."

Ji-han went back.

He didn't have the strength to argue with a warm bed.

The next morning, the Alliance gave them a bath.

It was tradition, said Soo-bin, who was wild with excitement.

The new couple was to spend a morning in the Rain Bath, a house of black stone at the foot of the Cedar Court.

Steam rose from three pools, and a bamboo roof let in a gentle fall of hot spring rain.

"It's very romantic," Soo-bin said. "The Vice-Leader arranged it himself."

The Leader and Ji-han looked at each other.

"So it's a trap," Ji-han said.

"Or a peace offering," said the Leader.

"It's the Vice-Leader."

"So it's a trap."

They went anyway.

Ji-han would admit he wanted to.

The bath house was empty when they got there.

There were no sentries and no spies behind the screens, and Ji-han checked every beam.

Rain pattered on the bamboo roof, soft and warm.

Steam curled over the pools and hung in the lamplight.

Ji-han took off his robe at the edge of the biggest pool, and he felt the Leader's eyes slide over him.

The Leader had never seen him entirely naked.

Ji-han was lean and pale and long, with an old whip scar across his back and a black lotus on his wrist.

He stood there and let the Leader look.

"You're beautiful," the Leader said.

His voice cracked on the last word.

"You say that to everyone."

"I've never said it before."

Ji-han stepped down into the water.

It came to his waist, hot and silky, and he sank to his chin and watched the Leader undress.

The Leader took off his robe slowly, folded it, and set it on a stone bench.

He was big all over.

The water lapped at his thighs when he stepped in, and then at his stomach.

Then he was beside Ji-han, and his arm came around Ji-han's shoulders and drew him against his chest.

Ji-han turned to face him and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Sit," Ji-han said.

The Leader sat on the submerged ledge.

Ji-han straddled his lap, knees on either side of his hips, and felt the Leader hard between his thighs.

"Ji-han."

"Hush."

Ji-han kissed him.

It was a long, wet kiss in the rain, and the Leader's hands slid down Ji-han's back to his hips and gripped hard.

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