The Witches really had been waiting for him here—
Galina stood in the hot spring near the edge, her arms folded on the shore and her chin resting on them. She was the first to spot Shade. Her long red hair was pinned up behind her head, and she looked even more beautiful than usual as she smiled in the hot spring.
Beside Galina, Vanessa sat on the shore in a white bathrobe with her back to Shade. Her left hand supported her against the smooth stone slabs at the edge of the spring, while her right held a wineglass before her. Both legs were immersed in the water.
Her golden hair was wrapped in a towel and pinned up behind her head, making her look as though she had just finished bathing. Hearing the footsteps, she turned to look at Shade. The movement made her bathrobe slide down slightly, revealing a snow-white back that seemed almost luminous.
"Shade, you're really slow."
An exquisitely beautiful woman's head emerged from the center of the hot spring. Naturally, it was not some Mermaid, but Miss Edwardz.
Megan's brown hair was not pinned up, but spread across the surface of the spring water. Then two smooth arms reached out from behind her and embraced her neck. Audrey rose from the water beneath Megan's hair, and their two identical, dripping-wet faces pressed together as they smiled and greeted Shade.
They were in the center of the hot spring, where the steam was even thicker. To Shade, the sisters' faces looked hazy and dreamlike through the mist, making them all the more captivating.
The silver curtains around the hot spring had already been removed, while several folding screens stood scattered across the pebble-covered ground. Trays containing fruit, red wine, and glasses sat near the shore,