The Delacours

twenty-five.

                The next day, after Val woke up she gathered Chris, Aria, Ray and me. She wanted us all at her coronation. She stood in between the four of us and took our hands as we walked through the threshold to the fae realm. Things seemed different this time. The energy in the whole realm seemed much lighter. Everywhere we walked, people were bowing down towards Val and would stay bowed down until we passed her. Val went to the little booth from last time and gave Chris another guava pastry and she managed to get the vendor to just give me some meat, instead of in a scone. She handed Ray and Aria one as well.

"You have to eat, or you'll get stuck between realms," I said. Aria hesitantly took a bite.

"Is this... is this chocolate?" she asked, excited.

"Yes. I know you were fond of it before you turned." Aria teared up a bit.

"Thank you." Val turned to pay the vendor but she wouldn't accept her money, something about her being the Eminence and it not being necessary. Val left money on the booth counter anyway. I could see Val and Ray taking in the sights and feeling the way Chris and I felt our first time here.

As we walked back to the gold building, a small boy stopped in front of us, his mom running behind him.

"Honey!" the mom said, grabbing her child's hand. "You can't just stop in front of the Eminence! I'm sorry, My Lady."

"It's okay!" Val said.

"But Mommy, I wanted to give her this!" the little boy cried out.

"She doesn't have time for your nonsense!"

"What is it?" Val said, kneeling down to meet the child's eyes. "What did you want to give me?" The child pulled a necklace out of his pocket. There was a pretty basic looking rock hanging from a string, wrapped in some sort of rope. The rock was cracked.

"Oh... it's broken!" He started to tear up.

"No, it's okay. Look!" Val took the rock in her hand and used her magic to fix the crack.

"Miss, you fixed it!"

"Sweetheart, it's 'Our Lady'..." his mom said, standing behind him.

"It's okay." She lowered her head for him to put the necklace around her neck, and before parting, she gave him a hug and picked a daisy from the grass behind her and placed it behind his ear.

We walked down the long hallway of the gold building and back upstairs to the wardrobe room. There were four piles of clothes laid out on the table in the middle of the room. Val handed one to each of us, and we headed to change. Looking at the pile of clothes I realized there wasn't much there. I undressed and pulled on the burgundy shorts – they just barely fit over my thighs and just barely covered my butt. The top was a tight corset that barely covered my breasts. I was having a hard time making sure my nipples were covered. There was a big piece of fabric I had no idea what to do with. I put the gold necklace on, bundled the fabric into my arms, and walked out.

I was trying to pull the shorts down and adjust my breasts into the corset when I saw Chris sitting on the same couch. His navy thigh length shorts barely came up to his hips, showing off his sex lines all too well, and I could see every muscle in his mid section. He had the same gold necklace I did.

Aria and Ray walked out in outfits that matched ours. Aria fit perfectly in her corset, but she also had no idea what to do with the extra fabric. We all looked at each other and shared the same expression of being uncomfortable.