Tears of the Dragon Read Online Free PDF

tub. There were no handles. None. No levers.
How was she supposed to turn the thing on?
    She wasn’t about to call Damien in to
show her. It was bad enough that she’d had to parade around in
front of him, and a dozen other men, filthy and half naked. She
hadn’t even seen a towel she could wrap up in. She supposed they
must be kept in the cabinet beneath the lavatory, but she wasn’t
any more comfortable about the idea of asking him in wrapped in a
towel, particularly considering the fact that every male she’d met
so far looked at her as if he was starving and she a particularly
tasty looking piece of food. And Damien had warned her that his self-restraint had its
limits. After a moment, she decided to step into the strange thing
and see if one of the ‘spouts’ was actually some sort of lever or
knob.
    She’d reached the center of the pool when
she was abruptly deluged with water from every direction. Her
shriek was instinctive and more from surprise than anything
else.
    “ Highness?”
    Khalia whirled so fast she slipped and
sprawled in the tub, her legs splayed in front of her. She wasn’t
certain whether the water cushioned her fall and kept her from
driving her spine through the top of her skull when she landed, or
if she was just too shocked to feel the pain. After a moment, she
managed to blink the water out of her eyes and gape at Damien.
    He was staring at her like a starving man
who’d just been offered a smorgasbord, his gaze riveted to the
curling red thatch between her splayed thighs.
    Recovering from her shock, Khalia slapped
her legs together, then drew them up to her chest. Pointing a
shaking finger toward the door, she said in a trembling voice,
“OUT!”
    The order seemed to break the spell, either
that, or the fact that she’d managed to cover most of herself with
her bent legs. He blinked at her, like a sleepwalker awakening.
Finally, with great dignity, he bowed, turned on his heel and once
again left her.
    Khalia glared at the door as it closed
behind him.
    “ You screamed, your highness. It is my
duty to protect you from all threat.”
    Khalia’s eyes narrowed. “There’s not a
single damned window in this bath!” she yelled in a very unladylike
manner. “Exactly what did you think was threatening me?”
    He was silent for several moments. Finally,
with a hint of amusement tingeing his voice, he responded, “I am
only a soldier, your highness. I am paid to act, not think.”
    General Damien Bloodragon, the King’s
Champion--not paid to think? Obviously, he thought he was dealing
with an empty headed female. “If he pops through that door again,
I’m going to find something and beat him severely about the head
and shoulders,” she muttered.
    “ Would you care to dine before you
retire, your highness?”
    Khalia climbed gingerly to her feet, rubbing
her abused posterior. Instantly, the water, which had ceased to
flow the moment she settled on the bottom of the tub, pelted her
from every direction again. She clapped a hand to her mouth,
stifling another yelp. When she was more certain of her footing,
she slung the wet hair from her eyes.
    She was tempted to just tell him to go to
hell, but the truth was she hadn’t had her dinner and she was
starving. “Yes … thank you,” she said finally.
    She was fairly certain she didn’t really
care to be pelted with water from every direction, but she couldn’t
figure out any way to turn it off anymore than she’d been able to
figure out how to turn it on to begin with. Once she’d found soap
to lather her hair and body with, she revised her opinion. The
spraying water quickly and efficiently removed the soap, a feat far
more difficult when bathing in a tub. Strangely enough, the heated,
pelting water also soothed her aching muscles.
    She wasn’t certain how long she stood
mindlessly beneath the water, almost drowsing as it pummeled her
aching body, but after a time it occurred to her that Damien had
gone to prepare a meal for