The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams by Melissa Myers Page B

and a
sponge.
    With both weapons in hand she returned to the
bathing room and froze again. The Blight was sitting in the middle
of the tub looking less than pleased and the water around her had
turned a frothy brownish gray color just in the short time she had
been immersed. “Uhh, let’s just freshen that water a bit,” Jala
said slowly and dismissed the water, filling the tub with fresh
clean water.
    You won’t need to fill a stone tonight. By
the time you get that creature clean you are going to be out of
magic , Marrow said with a bit of disgust.
    She is only a child and we have no idea of
knowing how long it has been since she bathed last , Jala said
gently into the Bendazzi’s mind not wanting to insult Emily.
    I’m going to go with never as my guess and
continue pondering why I couldn’t smell her. From the looks of her
I should be able to smell her half way across the city .
    “That stinks,” Emily said, pointing at the
soap and wrinkling her nose.
    Jala bit her lower lip to keep her expression
neutral and glanced down at the soap. “It’s all I have, unless you
want to use Finn’s soap. It doesn’t really have much of a scent to
it,” she said with a shrug.
    “No, I don’t want asshole soap,” Emily
replied and snatched the lilac-scented bar from Jala’s hand. She
examined it closely turning it one way and then the other and
raised it to her nose sniffing it again. Abruptly, her expression
changed to one of disgust and she let out a snort as if to clear
her nose. “Why would you use this?” she asked in dismay.
    “Because to me it smells good. And please
don’t call Finn that,” Jala replied patiently and took the soap
back from the Blight. Dipping it in the water quickly she ran it
over the sponge a couple of times and then began rigorously
scrubbing the child’s head. She tried in vain to ignore the various
bits that fell from the child’s hair and settled instead for trying
to not identify what they were.
    “Do you have to do that?” Emily objected,
trying to squirm away.
    “Yes, I do, though I think I’m going to have
to use magic to get the tangles out. How long has it been since you
brushed your hair?” she asked, still working the majority of the
filth from the brown locks.
    “Brushed?” Emily asked in dismay.
    “Well, that would explain that,” Jala said
with a sharp nod and added more soap to her assault. She stepped
back after a few moments and rinsed the soap from her hands.
Nodding her head in approval she smiled at Emily. “Now dunk and
rinse it out,” she said with a motion toward the water.
    “What?” Emily said eyes going wide in
alarm.
    Nodding Jala smiled sweetly again. “Just hold
your breath,” she said quickly and placed a hand on Emily’s head,
pushing her under the water quickly. Two hands shot out of the
water, clawing frantically for purchase and a sharp pain shot down
Jala’s right arm. She let go of the child who came up sputtering
indignantly. Leaning back against the wall Jala raised her arm to
see blood flowing freely down her wrist. The talons had missed the
artery there, but not by much.
    “I’m sorry,” Emily said quietly, her chin
resting on the edge of the tub as she stared at Jala in dismay.
    “It’s my fault. I scared you,” Jala said with
a slight shake of her head. She watched the blood continue to well
for a moment and wished in vain that she regenerated like Finn. “I
was just in a hurry. Go ahead and finish cleaning up while I wrap
this.” Turning she left the room and nodded with approval at the
sounds of splashing water from the other room. She hadn’t been sure
the Blight would listen and continue bathing but apparently the
child was.
    With a sigh she fished her old blue dress
from her trunks and tore strips of material from it. Finn healed so
quickly he didn’t keep medical supplies on hand and she didn’t have
anything else to use. There was of course the option of asking one
of the others in the hall but she didn’t