The Delacours: Part Deux

twelve.

The sunlight was hitting us hard. The fire had long since died out. I sat up and noticed that Chris and Zane were already up, Val was still asleep. I stood up, trying to dust off my jeans and walked over to them. They were looking at the book we found in Adriel's house.

"Please tell me that's useful and that we didn't almost die over Adriel's diary?" I asked.

"There's – there's some stuff in here that will help. Val and I are gonna need to go to the fae realm though," Zane said. "There's some language and spells in here I don't understand."

"I'll wake her so we can go," I said. Zane and Chris put the book away and I walked over to Val to wake her up. I knelt over her body seeing her glow fade. I shook her lightly. She started to blink her eyes and gasped loudly. "Hey, hey. I'm right here. It's okay, Val..."

"We got the book, right? We all made it out?" I smiled.

"Yes. We did. We need to get to the fae realm." She nodded and stretched her arms out before standing. I helped her off the floor as she dusted her pants. Zane opened a portal to the fae realm and we stepped through. It had been a while since I'd been in the fae realm, but time moved so differently, that for a lot of fae, it had only been a few months since they'd last seen me. Val had changed a few things, but most of it had to do with the way things were run and how decisions were made. We started walking towards her home, the fifty stories high building made of gold. Fae bowed to us as we walked through the town. Val hated it, and as much as she told them to not do it, it was engrained in their minds. Looking over to the field in front of the building was a group of about four or five fae engaging in sexual acts out in the open. Val rolled her eyes.

"Gaia... Why can't they do that in their own home?" she said.

"Val... We've had sex out in the open," I said, quietly.

"I know, but not where kids could see!" She rushed inside the building and we took the lift to the top floor, stepping on the carpet. I took my shoes off at the door, not wanting to dirty the carpet. Everyone else did the same.

"I'll have one of the servants clean those before we leave..." Val said, starting to strip her clothes off. I picked them up, following behind her. She headed to the bathroom, turning on the water to the bath. It was large enough for the four of us to fit in it together. She stood naked with one hand on her hip in front of the pool of water as I placed her dirty clothes in a pile in the corner. Chris and Zane entered the bathroom behind us. I could hear Zane scoff lightly in interest. I turned to him; he pulled his shirt over his head and shook his hair out, roughing his fingers through it. He pulled his pants down and revealed himself in all his glory. He headed to the shower to clean himself off. Chris nodded his head at me as I started to take off my clothes. He did the same.

Once Zane was done cleaning off his body, he sat at the edge of the bath. Val rinsed herself off too as I added some soap to the bath. Chris joined Zane on the edge of the bath as Val took the steps in. I followed behind her after I cleaned myself off in the shower too. The water was hot against my skin, but I heard Val let out a relaxed breath. Val sat down in the bath against a wall and I sat next to her. Chris and Zane pushed themselves off the side and sat across from us. The bubbles from the soap were creating light foam on the surface of the water. Zane and Val leaned their heads back against the edge and took deep breaths. Chris and I were still adjusting to the temperature. I could feel a jet of water hit my back and it must have hit Val at the same time as I heard a small moan come from her. I saw Val shift under the water, pulling her hair off her body and resting it along the edge of the bath instead of the back of her neck and shoulders.