The Bloodbaths | Page 7

the dressing rooms. The men's dressing room stank of sweat and dirt from the laborers thronging the tiny clothes lockers. Crixus found one on the end of the aisle, stripped, and draped his robe over his arm.
He stepped into the caldarium to wash himself. The attendant, a boy in a loincloth, handed him soap and a brush. A shallow pool of hot water lined with buckets steamed up the room. He felt his sinuses clear, his pores open to the hot mist. Crixus soaped up, scrubbed his skin with the brush, and rinsed off with a bucket of stinging hot water. Holes in the floor drained away the waste water. He watched the water swirl around the drain and guessed that they had not broken up the mineral deposits in years, if at all. He made a mental note to add that to the list when he approached the city about renovating this bathhouse.
Clean and tingly, he collected his robe and entered the frigidarium, a wide room sporting a raised octagonal pool. A quick dip in the chill waters set his heart racing. The water had an organic taste, as though plant roots were leaching residue into the tunnels of the aqueduct. But the locals in the pool splashed and laughed; they were accustomed to the taste.?
The tepidarium housed the largest pool in the modest bathhouse. The grand bathhouses he frequented in Greater Rond took up several city blocks and offered massive vaulted chambers, exercise fields, and libraries. Those who could afford the time lounged away every afternoon there. It was said that more business was done naked in the tepidariums of Greater Rond than in the palace, and it wasn't meant as a bawdy joke. This tepidarium, however, was strictly utilitarian, non-segregated, with a submerged bench for reclining in the lukewarm water that ran off the two caldarii. Men, women, and children swam in the four foot deep pool, but most sat and chattered away the evening. The echoes off the tiled floor and walls turned the room into a festive hall.?
Kharrina had not yet finished in the women's caldarium. Intense scrubbing was required to remove the layer of ink and grease from the printing equipment. Crixus sprawled out in a corner away from the splashing children and watched the bathers at play. Restians carried themselves with a languid ease compared to the urban residents of Greater Rond. Less was at stake in the quiet town, a quality he feared would be lost with the influx of investment.?
Crixus brought Gavri and Stamm to Restia to begin the process of estimating aqueduct and plumbing contracts for the new estates springing up like weeds. His Guild masters entrusted him with a new territory, a sign that they were grooming him for a leadership role. The responsibility had overwhelmed him at first, but he resolved to rise to the challenge. The task would surely prove to be a turning point for him. Success would lead to everything he wanted: a home, a wife, a family, wealth. Failure would similarly lead him down a path--one marked by frustration and resignation. It was not an option; nor was it what his father had taught him.
Fifteen minutes later, Kharrina strolled into the tepidarium, looking for Crixus.? She wrapped the towel around herself but let her hair remain wet, pushed out of her face and falling in sheets to her shoulders. He waved her over to the corner where the children had not yet intruded.
"Forgive me, Crixus." She doffed the robe and lowered herself onto the sunken bench beside him. The sight of her slender frame gave him a salacious thrill, even in a socially neutral place like the bathhouse. "Every day it gets grimier and grimier in papa's shop."
He took her hand under the water. Public affection in a bathhouse was frowned upon, for the comfort of all, but it was unthinkable for him to sit by her unclothed splendor without touching her.?
She squeezed his hand back. "Crixus," she warned.
"I know, I know. We're just holding hands." He allowed his shoulder to brush hers. "You look lovely."
"And clean."
"I was instructed not to mention that."
An eyebrow raised. "Really? By who?"
"Gavri thinks she is my older sister, obligated to lecture me."
"She's right, you know. But I give you permission to tell me when I'm dirty."
"You won't have to get dirty for much longer."
"What do you mean?"
Crixus shrugged. Kharrina nudged him. "Crixus, stop it. What do you mean by that?"
"Just that I have some plans." He felt he was blundering forward in a forest, bumping into trees, but the incredulous look on her face pleased him. "I should say no more."
"You're terrible, letting me wonder." She bussed his cheek and whispered in his ear: "What do I have to do to wrest this secret out of you?"
It was