Dominax carefully lowered Katie into the water and watched as the filth of the city floated free from her body.
“I am going to make you feel so much better, pet,” he told her. “You’re never going to be sick again.”
He knew he was promising something it wasn’t possible to promise, but he was overwhelmed with the need to do something, change something, make something better for this vulnerable human who had put herself through so much in the attempt to escape his, well, tyranny.
She was warm. So warm, and so cozy.
She felt water lapping around her body, playing against her ears. She felt a strong arm beneath her head and shoulders, keeping her face up out of the water, and another hand gently maneuvering a cloth around her body.
Katie didn’t want to open her eyes and ruin the moment. She could feel the care being given to her like a warm glow all around her. For a long series of very deliberate moments, she avoided thinking about who was doing this to her — though on a biological level, she knew.
She could smell him. She could feel his strength. And she wasn’t afraid. Instead, she felt safe. She felt as though she was being protected from the worst of the world, from her own failings and weaknesses.
But she couldn’t open her eyes, because the moment she did, she was going to have to face the king. And she didn’t want that.
So she laid there in Dominax’s arms and let him take care of her in the most basic and intimate of ways, ways she had barely been able to take care of herself.
“Wake up, pet," Dominax murmured gently.
There was no way she was going to ‘wake up’. She was enjoying being in his embrace, but she was not enjoying anticipating everything she’d have to deal with once he knew she was conscious.
Dominax lifted her from the bath and placed her, soaking wet, on a nearby couch.
“Watch her, brother,” he said to someone she couldn’t see. “I am going to get a towel.”
“Of course.”
She knew that fucking voice. She opened her eyes immediately and glared at the Homelander who had betrayed her.
“Darma. What the fuck!? You turned me in?”
“You needed medical treatment,” Darma hissed under his breath. “And he needed you back. You were going to kill yourself out there for no reason other than to spite the king.”
“You’re his brother! His brother! You could have mentioned that.”
“You would have hated me for it.”
“Probably. I hate you now. You dragged me back here. That’s fucked.”
“No. What is fucked is dying in a ditch because you’re too proud to go back to the king you love, and the palace you can live in.”
“Who said I love Dominax?”
Darma gave her a dour look. “You refused to leave the city. And you were always almost getting caught. You stayed just to be a thorn in his side. You wouldn’t have done that if you didn’t care about him. You would have sneaked onto a ship and been gone weeks ago.”
“Care isn't the same as love.” She struggled to sit up. “And I don’t care about him either.”
“Sure. You get free of the evil king who stole you and then make absolutely no attempt at actual escape from his evil realm. That makes a lot of sense.”
“Shut up.”
“You can both shut up,” Dominax said, walking into the room with a towel over his shoulder. He was shirtless and broad shouldered, handsome, and winged. He was everything she was just getting done swearing she didn’t want, and she was so inexplicably happy to see him.
“I am glad to see you again, pet,” he said. “Even if you were so filthy it looked as though you didn’t bathe the entire time you were out of my care.”
“I washed myself with moist towelettes,” she protested.
“Oh my…” Dominax sighed. “Pet. Why did you leave?”
“You know why. You beat me, and your guard helped me run away.”
“You taunted me into giving you that beating. You practically begged for it. I think you enjoyed it. You were wet. Even wetter than you are now.”
She made a growling noise of denial, but the truth was that it was hard for her to maintain a facade of annoyance and reluctance when she was actually more comfortable than she had been in weeks.
She had wondered what would happen if he ever found her. This was not what she had imagined. She had expected pain, and a lot of it. She had assumed that she would be chased down and dragged back against her will. She never imagined that she’d just pass out and wake up back in his care, being bathed gently and now dried by the king himself.
Darma was still there, watching her. She was not happy with him.
“Well, Darma knew what was happening with me. He found me the very first day I escaped.”