“What’s over there?” he asked, pointing across the river.
A series of pools and waterfalls bubbled softly in the night, glowing in shades of blue and lavender under the Moon.
“Hot springs,” Astra mumbled, her bones aching for the soothing waters. “Actually, I could go for that right now.”
“You’re certain it’s safe for you here?”
Astra rolled her eyes. “Yes. Well, no. I’m uncertain of anything these days, Commander.”
He closed his eyes, wrestling with himself for a moment before sighing and gesturing to the door.
“I’m coming with you.”
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Astra set the moonshine bottle and two cotton blankets on the edge of the smooth rocks bordering the water, warm ripples and steam pouring from stacks of pools above their heads.
She wasted no time in pulling off her dress and leaving it in a heap next to the blankets, peeling off layers of linen and a thin chemise before slipping under the warm water.
She let it wash the tension in her body away, sending her hair into a ruby halo.
When she resurfaced, Luxuros still stood on the edge, debating.
She laughed, leaning over the rock ledge and watching the surrounding water slip over the smooth surface and into the pool below.
“Surely you’ve encountered scarier things than a body, Commander?”
His eyes landed everywhere but on her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, nervously pulling at the leather ties in his vest. “In Mercury, this would be inappropriate, to say the least.”
“Lucky for you, you’re not in Mercury, and we’re both exhausted and sore. I won’t watch.”
Astra winked at him, which he did not find amusing, unsurprisingly. The whoosh of leather and linen dropping to the ground cut through the gurgling springs, followed by several falling blades—two more than she’d counted on him earlier—heavy boots, and a soft splash as his body slid into the water. The heat ticked up a few degrees in response to his skin.
She perched on a worn rock at the edge of the pool, pulling her hair over her breasts to ease his discomfort. He sat across from her, leaning against the crystalline rocks with his eyes closed. If Luxuros was anything, it was exhausted. She saw it then, the weight of his station in life.
His body was marked by tough decisions. Lost sleep left its evidence in ravines beneath his eyes.
She told herself to stop staring, but her eyes remained fixed on his broad frame. His shoulders rose above the springs, golden swirls inked along the tops of them. They ran down his back, the skin on his left shoulder still pink and marred by her reckless reaction in the Midwood.
“They’re from a Jovian artist in Mercury. Most Nova Rebels have them. I thought you weren’t watching,” Luxuros said, his voice dropping into a soft Summer storm, the harsh edge she usually earned dissolving into the steam.
His eyes hadn’t been closed, then. A faint rose washed over her face, embarrassed at how long she’d been staring.
“May I?” Luxuros asked, circling his finger in a gesture to turn around. She stood from her seat, pulling her hair to one side and revealing the ribbon of sparkling Moon phases inked along her spine. He stood, the water rippling around her hips as he moved forward. The warmth of his fingertip hovered over the curve of the first crescent Moon at the base of her neck, refusing to actually make contact. “It’s beautiful work,” he breathed, moving back a step.
“I had it done at a silent retreat. There’s an artist here who makes ink from the Somnia and the dust from altars to the Mother. It took two full days.”
The commander smirked—she felt it in the silence. “No way you stayed quiet for that long.”
She rolled her eyes. “Ha, ha. Let me see yours up close.” She reached out and spun him by his shoulders, his back tightening under her touch. Where she’d once seen chains in a dream sat a gilded phoenix rising out of the water and across his shoulders. Beneath the tattoos ran dark purple scars, faded with time, but there nonetheless.
The same burn scars she knew lay under her mother’s gowns.
“It’s not as meaningful as yours, I’m afraid. Really, I wanted something to cover the Flare scars.” His shoulders shrugged away from her curious stroke, the golden ink bouncing with the movement. Flames engulfed the bottom of the bird from what she could see above the water. “Mirq and I decided for each other. He picked a phoenix for me, I picked a lion for him.”
