Then, no, no, Dain flung himself off of me with an inarticulate cry, so hard he staggered into one of the side tables, knocking it over and smashing everything on it. Oh, no, what did I do wrong? He was so unhappy, I'd done it wrong, I needed to fix it—

"Dain? Dain, I'm sorry I didn't do it right, I—I thought this was what you wanted, please, please, Dain, don't look at me like that." The words tumbled out of my mouth, stupid words, because of course Dain didn't want this, what was I even thinking? I hadn't even asked! But he wanted me, I knew he wanted me, he wanted me so much that he had stopped a war for me.

"Who," he said, murder in his voice as he spoke between gasping, panting breaths. "Who, Leah?"

"I'm supposed to forget," I said in a tiny voice, cringing down. "Please, Dain, don't be mad at me, I only want you to be happy."

He shuddered violently, and then, like he was turning into a different person, all of the tension fell out of his body. "I'd like you to take a bath," he said, not quite looking at me. "Would you do that for me?"

A relieved smile spread across my face. "Of course," I said. "Dain, of course, I'll do anything you want."

"I know," he said, his voice sounding strained. Dain walked over and held out his hand.

His hand! He wanted me to take his hand. I scooted over to the edge of the bed and put my hand in his eagerly, looking up at him with total devotion and trust. Dain wouldn't hurt me. Dain loved me. I knew he wasn't happy right now, but I'd take care of him. He wanted me to take a bath, and I'd do that for him. I couldn't think of anything else I wanted more than to take a bath for him.

He led me to the bathroom and started running a bath for me, while I waited next to him, all but bouncing on my toes. Bath, bath, bath. I was going to take a bath, and Dain would be happy. That would feel so good. I wanted him to smile.

"Is it too warm?" he asked quietly. "Tell me the truth."

It could never be too warm if it's what he wanted—but he wanted to know if I liked it. That was so... so...

Part of my mind could only think that it was so strange, that he would care, because he was the only one that mattered. The other part, the screaming part, wanted only to sob with relief, to crawl into the tub and scrub the shame off her body. Silly, I told myself. There's nothing shameful about doing nice things for people.

I put my hand into the water to feel it and almost jerked it out. "It's hot," I said, ducking my chin and cringing.