Yawning, Coco unlaced her blouse before stripping it overhead. Though I moved to Reid’s side, I didn’t bother shielding his eyes. He hadn’t so much as stirred since we’d entered Le Présage, and if the sight of even Coco’s exquisite assets couldn’t tempt him to wake, we might’ve been in more trouble than I thought.

I snatched a bowl from the dressing table, filling it with bathwater.

Then again, this was Reid. If he’d opened his eyes just now, he would’ve fainted all over again.

He was going to be fine.

Coco eyed the bowl as she shimmied from her pants and plucked a scarf from the armoire, wrapping it around her hair. “Are you bathing him?”

“Nope.” Thrusting my shoulder into his, I rolled him onto the hammock, and his magical bed burst beneath us, soaking the carpet once more. “Not yet anyway.” She arched a brow and slipped into the tub, scooping sea salt from the pot beside it and scrubbing the gritty substance onto her skin. When I lifted Reid’s wrist to submerge his hand in the bowl, she shook her head and sighed.

“Tell me you aren’t doing what I think you’re doing.”

I shrugged. “Your mom said he would wake. I’m just helping him along.”

“She said he would wake when he’s ready.”

“And?” I watched his pants intently, settling into the hammock beside him, my back against the musty wall. My magic wouldn’t work, but . . . “Perhaps he’s ready.”

Her lips twitched slightly as she followed my gaze. His chest still rose and fell rhythmically, but otherwise, he didn’t move. “Perhaps he’s not,” she said.

“Well, we’ll know in a few minutes, won’t we?”

“I expected you to be more worried about this.”

“I’ve spent the entirety of my life worried, Coco. Nothing has changed.”

Except it had. Everything had changed. I’d made a promise to Ansel—to myself—when I’d left him in those waters. I wouldn’t allow fear to control me for another moment. No. Not even for another second.

Coco’s lips twitched harder as she scrubbed her skin. “He’ll be furious when he wakes.”

When he wakes.

I arched a devilish brow. “Dare I say he’ll be . . . pissed?”

She cackled outright now, leaning over the tub to better see the proceedings. “Oh my god. That was terrible.”

“That was brilliant, and you know it.” Absurdly pleased with myself, I pushed to my feet just as a veritable army of maids bustled through the curtain. Each carried pitchers of fresh, scalding water in tow.