Late that night, the sanctum finally fell silent.
The evening prayers concluded and the bells had stopped ringing hours ago.
The younger maidens had retired to their chambers, the wardens rotated to quieter patrols, and the endless prayers echoing through the halls had faded into stillness.
However, peace refused to reach Laliya.
The high luminars’ words still lingered unpleasantly inside her mind, ‘you are safe here.’
She almost wanted to laugh.
Safe?
How could she be?
There was a fallen angel living beneath the sanctum roof.
A being powerful enough to slip through divine wards untouched.
Someone who looked at her like temptation wrapped in everything she’s ever denied herself and had made herself so present that Laliya couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The holy maiden stood alone inside her private bathing chamber, trying desperately to calm herself beneath warm water scented faintly with moon lilies and sacred oils.
Steam drifted softly through the room, candles burned along the marble walls.
The bathing pool glowed faintly beneath submerged crystals designed to soothe one’s Lumen during meditation.
Normally, the ritual relaxed her.
Tonight, however, nothing helped.
Not the water, not the scent from the incense or quiet of the night.
Laliya sank deeper into the water until only her shoulders remained visible.
Her damp white bathing dress clung lightly against her skin beneath the surface while strands of dark brown hair stuck to her neck.
She closed her eyes.
‘Breathe.
Find your balance,’ she practised her breathing.
‘The light endures,’ she reminded herself.
But the moment her thoughts quieted, deep golden eyes appeared behind them as though taunting her.
Laliya groaned softly and covered her face with both hands.
‘Radiance preserve me,’ she prayed.
A voice drifted lazily through the steam.
“You think about me constantly. I keep having hiccups.”
Laliya nearly drowned.
She jerked upright so quickly water splashed over the edges of the pool.
Anaqielle sat atop the marble divider beside the chamber windows as though she had always belonged there.
The moonlight framed her beautifully and dangerously.
The fallen angel wore black again tonight, silver hair loose around her shoulders while one dark wing remained partially visible behind her.
She looked entirely too comfortable inside a sacred sanctum bathing chamber.
Laliya immediately submerged herself deeper into the water.
“Anaqielle!”
The fallen angel brightened instantly.
“Oh, you’re saying my name now.”
“You cannot be here!” Laliya said filled with fright at the intrusion.
“And yet I am here.”
Laliya’s heart pounded violently.
“How did you get inside?”
Anaqielle glanced lazily toward the sacred ward symbols etched around the chamber.
“I continue to find your security adorable.”
“That is not reassuring!”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
Laliya sank lower into the water until it reached just beneath her chin.
Anaqielle noticed immediately.
“Are you hiding from me?”
“Yes!” The honesty startled both of them slightly.
Anaqielle laughed softly, finding Laliya’s reaction adorable.
The sound of her laughter sent another uncomfortable flutter through Laliya’s chest.
The fallen angel slid gracefully from the divider and walked toward the pool.
Laliya stiffened instantly.
“Anaqielle,” she gasped, scared of Anaqielle’s approach.
“Yes?”
“Stay back.”
Anaqielle ignored her completely.
She stopped beside the edge of the pool and looked down at her.
Laliya hated how beautiful she looked from this angle.
The light of the moon reflected on her making her golden eyes shimmer like twin stars and her silver hair glowed beautiful under the moonlight, not to mention the corrupted feathers of her wings they were like sin itself had learned elegance.
Anaqielle tilted her head slightly.
“You’re nervous.”
“I wonder why,” Laliya retorted.
The fallen angel crouched beside the water.
“Relax, holy one. I came in peace.”
“I am trying.”
“No,” Anaqielle said softly.
“You’re trying very hard not to relax and that is bad for your Lumen.”
Laliya swallowed.
Anaqielle slowly lowered one hand into the glowing water.
The moment her fingertips touched the surface, silver ripples spread through the pool.
From it came the sensation that forced Laliya to inhale sharply.
The water suddenly hummed faintly against her skin, tiny currents slipping around her body like invisible fingertips that was warm, light and strangely touching every inch of her.
The sensation brushed along her legs first.
Then her waist before travelling higher up her body.
Laliya’s breath caught embarrassingly fast.
“Anaqielle, what…”
The fallen angel looked delighted.
“I’m just trying to get you relaxed,” she let out and the currents shifted again.
Tiny sparks danced through the sacred water, gentle enough not to hurt yet strong enough to make Laliya shiver violently.
The holy maiden gripped the edge of the pool.
“What are you doing?”
Anaqielle lazily swirled her fingers deeper into the water.
“Nothing terrible, holy one.”
The sensation intensified immediately.
Laliya nearly gasped.
The strange warmth spread across her skin in waves, ticklish and electric at the same time.
Every movement of Anaqielle’s fingers sent another pulse through the water that made her body react in ways she had never experienced before.
It was unbearable and somehow impossible to escape.
On one hand, if she stood, Anaqielle would see the thin bathing dress clinging transparently against wet skin and on the other hand, if she stayed, the currents would continue to slip across her body in sinful little waves.
Laliya felt heat rush into her face.
“Anaqielle,” she whispered weakly.
Her face flushed red like a tomato.
“What is it?”
“You need to stop.”
“Do I?”
Another ripple spread through the water.
It pulsed through and hit Laliya harder than the previous ones.
Laliya’s breathing became uneven immediately.
Anaqielle watched with open fascination.
“How is it, holy one?”
Laliya gripped the marble harder.
“What?”
“I want to ask if you’re enjoying my gift but from the look in your eyes, I can tell you do,” the fallen angel’s voice lowered dangerously.
“Wh…what look,” Laliya stammered.
“The one where you pretend you hate this.”
Laliya stared at her in horror.
“I do hate this so stop it.”
“Liar,” the word came softly and it almost sounded affectionate.
Anaqielle traced her fingers slowly through the water again.
The currents wrapped around Laliya’s body once more, making her shudder visibly this time.
The fallen angel looked genuinely mesmerized by the reaction.
“You’re so responsive,” she said.
Laliya wanted the floor to open beneath her.
“This is sinful,” she admitted.
“It is wrong.”
Anaqielle smiled slowly.
“That’s my favorite thing about you.”
Laliya’s heartbeat stumbled hard.
“You’ve spent your entire life fearing sin so much that even harmless pleasure terrifies you.”
The currents softened.
Laliya could still feel every flicker against her skin.
Anaqielle’s eyes drifted slowly over her face.
Then lower like she was tracing Laliya’s frame.
The holy maiden immediately crossed her arms tighter over herself beneath the water.
Anaqielle looked pleased by that too.
She loved how guarded Laliya was against her, not that it would do the maiden any good but it was fun to watch.
“You hide like I plan to devour you.”
“You might.”
Anaqielle grinned.
“Well now I’m tempted,” she touched the water again but didn’t send any electric waves towards Laliya.
She simply played with the water suggestively.
Laliya made a strangled sound somewhere between outrage and panic.
The fallen angel laughed quietly before leaning closer to the pool’s edge, her voice dropping into something warm enough to melt reason itself.
“Tell me something, Laliya Lancrest.”
The holy maiden wished she would stop saying her name like that.
“When the currents touch you…” Anaqielle whispered, fingers moving lazily through the glowing water again, “does your precious balance tell you to run…”
Another pulse shivered through Laliya’s body.
“…or does it beg you to stay and yield to me?”