A groan left her the moment she did, tears of pleasure at the intense relief of having such warmth envelop her muscles flowing down her cheeks. She leaned back against the tub, relaxing into the water, closing her eyes, and forgetting, for one brief moment, about everything.
Her phone buzzed beside her.
Peeking with one eye, she opened the message and blinked in surprise.
Tristan Caine: Do you need a doctor?
Why hadn't he asked her himself?
Surprised, she typed back a response.
Me: No. I'll be out of your hair in the morning.
She waited for a response after that. It didn't come.
Shrugging, feeling oddly conflicted but deciding to leave all the thinking for the morning, she stayed in the tub until the water cooled, and then slowly, languidly rose. Her body hurt even more, and yet, the knots in her muscles were relaxed after the bath. Quickly drying herself off, Morana pulled on the borrowed clothes. The t-shirt hung on her small frame, almost to her knees, the scent of something musky wrapping around her as she walked out to the bedroom.
The sound of voices drew her towards the closed door, voices coming from the open kitchen.
"You have a plane for Tenebrae in an hour, Tristan," Dante's voice came through.
Morana's heart sank. She didn't know why it did, and it made her angrier. Why did she care?
Tristan Caine stayed silent. What was up with him?
Morana heard Dante sigh. "Look, I would have gone, but father specifically asked for you. You know when he summons..."
"I'm not his dog," Tristan Caine grit out.
"Neither am I." Dante's voice hardened. "But we have innocent people to watch over. So, go to Tenebrae. I'll handle stuff here in the meantime."
Tristan Caine didn't say a word, and Morana retreated back into the comfortable bed, sliding into the sheets and switching the lights off.
Her phone buzzed again.
Tristan Caine: How much of that did you hear?
Morana swallowed.
Me: Enough to know you’re leaving.
Tristan Caine: Relieved, are you?
Me: Doesn't bother me either way.
There was a pause for a heartbeat before another message came.
Tristan Caine: There are painkillers in the drawer.
Morana looked at the message for a long time, before closing her eyes and going to sleep, no worry in her heart. If Tristan Caine killed her in her sleep, it'd probably be a mercy.
It was the sound of some kind of crash blaring through the apartment that woke her up.
Morana sat up on the bed suddenly, all the aches in all the muscles coming back tenfold as a groan left her, her eyes blinking into the dark. How long had she been asleep?
She looked at the clock beside the bed and blinked. Eight hours. She'd been asleep for eight straight hours.
The door to her room suddenly opened, and Tristan Caine stood there, his eyes blazing with such strong fury that she trembled. Wasn't he supposed to be in Tenebrae?