29

There is laughter and music.

I feel an alcoholic content in the thick, hot air.

A maid passes between the pools with trays of fruit and small, round bread rolls.

I retreat back to the door, skittish.

I think I can handle my mess a little longer, but I stand where I am when a maid approaches. She gestures to a pool further away from the others that is empty, as if she notices my embarrassment.

It's just a little dirt. Come on, encourage me.

Reeina has informed me before that wolves always bathe in groups, like me and my sisters. It's not like it's possible for me to do this in a private place. There are no private locations. Can I demand this? Can I ask them to build a pool just for me?

My body is sacred, I think.

No one should see him other than the other Handmaids of the Goddess, or a man during the fertility ritual. But none of that will happen again, will it?

Conformed, I follow the maid to the distant pool.

She brings me a small tray with fruit, bread, and a towel for my bath and