Kyone let the water drift down her body.
The bath was warm, far warmer than she was used to in her frozen dominion, and yet it was… refreshing.
Each drop carried with it something that wasn't hers, a power that seeped into her skin and repaired the faint scratches she bore.
Her skin looked a lot more fresh than before, and it felt that way too.
She exhaled, pressing her palm against her thigh as she watched bruises dissolve into pale skin, dried cuts knit back together as though they'd never existed.
'So this is the power of holy magic,' she thought bitterly.
Her lips pressed tight until she bit down on them. 'It isn't fair…'
Her entire life had been the battlefield.
She hadn't known laughter as a girl, hadn't known the softness of being courted, hadn't known anything other than the clash of steel and the sight of men dying under snowstorms of her making.
She lived with blood in her hair, the screams of comrades in her ears.
That was her youth.
