“I’ll dry those by the fire for you,” she said, gesturing to the robes. “How’s the bath? A bit lukewarm, perhaps?”
“No, not at all,” I said hurriedly. But she had already taken an armload of sticks from the stack in the corner, crouched by the bath, and started to feed them into the fire.
“I say, that’s quite hot enough, thank you,” I repeated. She ignored me and continued to throw fuel into the fire at an increasingly rapid rate.
“I think I’ll get out now, actually,” I said, squirming as steam began to rise from the surface of the water. “I wouldn’t want to keep Oyuki waiting. Dinner must be ready by now.”
Hotchopa finally raised her head to look at me, grinning from ear to ear—literally. Her mouth had become impossibly wide, and her lips drew back to reveal long, sharp fangs. Horns p
