After the grueling training session, Kaine found himself once again in the luxurious bathing chamber. The same two women from before were waiting beside the steaming pool, their thin white gowns making his teenage brain short-circuit all over again.
'This really is like paradise,' he thought as they helped him into the warm water. 'Maybe dying wasn't the worst thing that could have happened to me.'
The woman with the more generous figure leaned forward to wash his shoulders, and Kaine tried desperately to look away. The entire experience left him feeling dizzy in ways that had nothing to do with the bath temperature.
When he finally made it to the dining hall, clean and dressed in fresh clothes, Catherine was already seated at the table. Vincent stood behind her chair, silent as always.
"How was your training, my darling?" Catherine asked, her eyes bright with maternal pride.
"Exhausting," Kaine admitted, taking his seat. "But good."
