With a polite bow, he returned to the front.
Reiya drifted toward the women’s area, pausing at the entrance. Warm, perfumed steam curled toward her, soft and inviting. A sign split the path ahead—left for the Beta baths, right for the Omega’s.
She hesitated.
She could slip into the Beta section, lose herself in the crowd—unnoticed, ordinary. Safer. Easier.
But the Omega chamber beckoned—quieter, more secluded, its stillness curling through the air like a whispered promise. She curled her fingers, nails biting gently into her palms. The thought of sinking into that silence, of letting the water fold around her, felt like a balm she hadn’t known she needed.
Crossing that threshold also meant more than bathing. It meant yielding to a truth she had spent months outrunning.
Her heart stumbled on the choice.
Was this surrender?
Or was it acceptance, quiet and inexorable, slipping past her defences without permission?
The questions coiled in her chest. Beneath the uncertainty, a deep longing stirred: the ache to finally understand. The possibility of finding another Omega inside—someone who could help her make sense of her body’s betrayal—was a pull she couldn’t ignore.
Why had her instincts responded when her mind recoiled? Why had she felt trapped in a body that no longer felt like her own?
She slipped into the Omega bath chamber. The dressing room was empty, steeped in a hush that felt almost sacred. She undressed, folding her clothes neatly into a woven basket before wrapping a jasmine-scented linen towel around her torso.
A pair of heavy wooden doors led into the bathing chamber. It was empty, too. Soft candlelight flickered across polished stone. An oval pool, sunken into the floor, shimmered faintly beneath rising steam; the air thick with warm minerals and herbs, soothing in its quiet luxury.
Her gaze traced the room’s design. Slender channels etched into the stone walls guided water from unseen sources, and copper pipes snaked beneath the surface, radiating gentle warmth—earth’s heat, perhaps, or hidden fires banked below. Along the pool’s edge, stonebenches held embroidered cushions, while nearby, clay and copper vessels brimmed with steaming and icy water, ready to temper the bath. Shelves overflowed with fragrant oils and soap cakes, their mingled aromas weaving through the air.
Reiya ran her hand along the stone, marvelling at the craftsmanship woven into every detail. This was more than an ordinary bathhouse—it was a sanctuary, built by someone who understood how to comfort more than just the body.
She slipped out of the towel, letting it rest on a nearby rack, and descended into the pool. The water enveloped her in a slow rush, heat unfurling against her skin, untying the knots in her muscles. A soft groan escaped her lips as the ache ebbed away—a rare indulgence she hadn’t felt since Aethonia.
She hadn’t been long in the water when soft footsteps echoed across the stone floor.
Reiya glanced up.
The woman from the market—the one with the dark curls who’d guided her through the stalls—stood at the bath’s edge. Candlelight flickered in her eyes, a curious smile tugging at her lips.
Chapter Nineteen
REIYANA
“Hello again.”
The woman’s voice threaded through the steam, each unhurried step echoing faintly against the stone.
Candlelight flickered across her face, catching the warmth in her eyes—steady, knowing—as if finding Reiya here was no coincidence at all.
Fingers slipping beneath the water, Reiya felt tension coil tight in her shoulders, as if the pool’s warmth might somehow shield her.
“I thought you might choose this side,” the woman said. “It crossed my mind earlier that you might be an Omega.”
Reiya lifted her brows. “What gave me away?”
The woman’s lips curved in a faint smile, one shoulder lifting in a slow, fluid shrug as she discarded her towel and descended into the pool.
“Nothing obvious. But we recognize our own, don’t we?”
Those dark curls spilled over her shoulder when she tilted her head. “Even when we don’t mean to.”