"Yes," Ankerita answered from her place nearby. Her slim, elegant body was half-submerged, the water lapping gently at the undersides of her small, high breasts. The steam rose from her shoulders in delicate ribbons, making her skin glow with a soft, refined light that suited her trim frame.

"Because Jake freed him," Maudlina continued. She shifted slightly, and the movement caused the water to lap higher against the full, heavy curves of her breasts.

Droplets slid down the inner slopes, catching the light as they fell.

"After all those centuries, someone came along and did the thing he’d been waiting for."

"Yes."

"That’s—" Maudlina paused, searching for the right word, her golden eyes half-lidded with the heat. "—kind. In a very final kind of way."

Nobody disagreed.

The water continued to work its quiet magic. Steam rose from every exposed inch of skin, turning the women into living sculptures of light and moisture. Maudlina’s voluptuous body glowed warmly where the lantern light touched the wet curves of her breasts and the soft roundness of her shoulders. Maureen’s stronger, fuller form seemed almost luminous, the water clinging to the generous swell of her chest and the powerful lines of her thighs.

Elise’s softer, inviting curves caught the light in the gentlest way, steam rising from the valley between her breasts and the gentle slope of her belly. Even Ankerita’s elegant, slim body took on a quiet radiance, the water making her trim lines look almost ethereal.

Maureen was looking at the ceiling, her attention seemingly unfocused, though everyone knew better.

"Jake’s going to have complications now," she said.

"Being what he is. People will want things from him. People will fear him. People will try to use him."

"He knows that," Ankerita said.

She lifted one graceful arm from the water, and steam rose from her skin in a visible plume as she pushed a strand of wet hair back from her forehead.

"Knowing and living are different," Maureen replied. Water lapped at the full, heavy curves of her breasts as she shifted.

"He’s young. He’s powerful now, but he’s still young enough that the weight of it might surprise him."

"We’ll help him manage it," Elise said from across the pool. Her voice was soft but certain. Steam rose from the tops of her breasts, making them glisten.

"That’s what this is now. Not a temporary arrangement while I hide from being a pirate queen. This is—" She paused, and something settled in her expression. "—this is home. These people are what I’m choosing."

Ankerita looked at her across the steam-filled space. Her slim, elegant body remained composed even in relaxation, the water creating a soft, glowing outline around her trim form. She gave a single, small nod of acknowledgment.

"Then we keep him from drowning," Ankerita said simply.

The words hung in the humid air between them.

Around the pool, the four women remained in the water, bodies relaxed and glowing in the steam and lantern light.

The heat continued to work its way into their muscles and bones, drawing out the last remnants of tension from the dungeon and the revelations that had come with it.

For a little while longer, there was nothing to do but soak, breathe, and exist in the quiet knowledge.

The water lapped gently against their skin, steam continued to rise from every curve and line, and the ancient chamber held them in its warm, mineral embrace while the mountain wind moved outside the villa walls.

*

In the villa’s sitting room, Jake was having a conversation that required more attention than he was naturally inclined to give it.

Matilda Linnam sat across from him with her daughter Margeret beside her, the girl’s posture carrying the particular rigidity of someone who had been taught to sit properly and was actively maintaining it through effort. Her eyes were focused on her hands, which were folded in her lap, and had not moved from that position since Jake had sat down.

"The arrangement," Jake said, addressing both of them, "doesn’t require marriage."

Matilda’s face registered surprise.

Margeret’s hands tightened fractionally in her lap but nothing else changed.

"You can stay in the villa," Jake continued.

"Both of you. The protection remains. The arrangement remains. But there’s no requirement that it become a marriage. Not if you’re uncomfortable with it."

Matilda was already shaking her head.

"No, young master. The arrangement was made for a reason. For protection, yes, but also for stability. For Margeret’s future."

"Her future doesn’t require my name," Jake said.

"It requires safety. Safety I can provide without marriage."

Margeret’s hands loosened slightly. Her eyes still didn’t move from her lap.

"I came to this city as someone nobody knew," Jake said.

"I was Class Five and lazy and I didn’t want responsibility. Then things happened, and now I’m—" he paused, searching for a word that fit what he was without overstating it, "—different. But Margeret shouldn’t be tied to someone who’s still becoming whatever he’s becoming."

Matilda looked at her daughter with the expression of a mother trying to read what was happening behind eyes that wouldn’t open to be read.

"What are you offering instead?" Matilda asked.

"A place in this villa," Jake said.

"Protection from Kunther or anyone else who decides you’re worth pursuing. And nothing else. Not commitment. No obligation. Just safety."

Margeret’s eyes moved. Not much, just enough to slide toward Jake and then away again, but the movement was there.

"That’s unusual," Matilda said carefully.

"Most things about me are unusual lately," Jake said.

"I’m just offering clarity about what can and cannot be expected here. You can stay. You can leave. You can marry me or not marry me. What you cannot do is not be safe here. That part isn’t negotiable."

He stood, signaling the conversation’s end.

"Think about it. Let me know what you decide. But there’s no rush and no pressure."

He left them sitting there and moved through the villa toward the chambers where the hot springs waited, and behind him, Matilda was looking at her daughter with an expression that was revising her understanding of what protection meant in a city where the young master of a great house could offer it without requiring anything in return.

Margeret’s hands had finally unclenched in her lap.