Roxy felt uncomfortable.
She sat on a submerged ledge of smooth, ancient stone, her back turned to the open cavern, while Queen Nerissa scrubbed her shoulders with a rough sponge.
And it Intensely, agonizingly uncomfortable.
It would have been one thing if Nerissa were simply washing her. A mother-in-law helping a new mother. That happened. It was a bonding ritual.
But Nerissa had just accused her of carrying "the scent of a lie." She had looked at Roxy with eyes that seemed to peel back the layers of her soul and read the "Exit Strategy" written on her bones.
And now? Silence.
Nerissa didn't ask what the lie was. She didn't ask about the Surface. She simply scrubbed, her massive, clawed hands surprisingly gentle as she washed away the lingering traces of birth-blood and amniotic fluid.
"Mother," Roxy ventured, her voice echoing too loudly in the damp cave. "About what you said..."
