45. Chapter 45 #2
The first thing she noticed was the humidity, then the strong smell of sulfur.
Leo strode them up to the receptionist and spoke in fast Izmarian.
Her curiosity was piqued; it was not often Leo spoke in Izmarian.
The answer came to her like a gentle wave landing upon the shore.
It was a hot spring. The receptionist handed Leo a wooden slab and gestured for them to enter the door to the right.
The excitement in Leo’s eyes was contagious, and anticipation bubbled in her chest.
A staircase greeted them, and they made their way down, the sulfur smell increasingly stronger the deeper they went.
Yareli relaxed further, so much so that she was almost giddy.
In one smooth motion, Leo spun, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her.
She yelped, laughing as he ran down the stairs.
They arrived at a long hallway, and Leo took them to the furthest door at the end.
“Wait,” she exclaimed. “I don’t have a bathing suit.”
He set her down on the floor, tapping his finger to her nose. “It’s not a problem.” He opened the door, revealing two adjacent doors. “I’ll go on the left, you go on the right. See ya on the other side.”
She shook her head and walked through the door.
It was a changing room with a shelf full of linens.
She searched through them for a bathing suit, but found none.
Panic rose through her; did he intend for them to enter the hot spring naked?
It was much too sudden. She sighed in relief when she found something akin to a bathing suit—a slip of white cloth that went over her head like a dress.
She rinsed quickly in a small shower area before she dressed.
A red curtain fluttered nearby, and she pushed through it, gasping at the wide, round room.
Steam rose constantly from the hot spring, reflecting off the faerie lights that floated in the air.
Scattered around the pool were rocks of varying sizes.
Leo was nowhere in sight. She sat on one of the larger ones, dipping her toe in and hissing at the temperature.
“Keep it in. You’ll want to enter slowly.”
Leo appeared from behind a rock on her left, already chest deep in the water, and she was glad for the heat; it hid the blush on her cheeks.
She became aware of her dress’s thin fabric, crossing her arms over her chest. He waded over, his face flushed from the hot water.
He met her eyes, and taking hold of her foot, guided it into the water.
It was strangely intimate. She couldn’t look away.
When she didn’t protest, he slid his hands higher onto her calf, drawing her leg farther in.
“Put your other foot in,” he instructed, his voice softer than she had ever heard.
She listened, no longer sensitive to the water’s temperature, consumed by his touch. Her breath hitched as his hands traveled higher up her legs, trailing goose bumps across her skin. He let go briefly to grab her waist, holding her.
“Ready?” he asked.
She swallowed, at a loss for words, and nodded. He tightened his grip, and her eyes fluttered shut, shivers running down her spine. It took everything in her to hold back her groan. He lowered her into the hot spring; the water level rose to her collarbone, but his hands remained on her.
“Do you feel better now?”
His unexpected question brought her out of her reverie. She had long since exited the “overthinking” train car, her focus stolen by Leo and their—what she’d classify as—date.
She answered honestly. “I do.”
His smile was gentle, and he let go of her then. “Have you ever been in a hot spring before?”
“It’s my first time.”
“We have one in the Earth Court’s mansion. My grandfather had it built for my grandmother in the likeness of this one. My mother used to take my sister and me all the time when we were young, but nothing beats the real thing.”
She followed him toward a seating area that resembled carved stone steps more than seats, but they sat anyway.
He sat next to her, leaning back onto a step. “At that time, this future was inconceivable. Endrim, you see, was off at school, so it was only my father, mother, and my sister.”
Yareli hesitated before asking, “Is Endrim…”
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “He’s my half-brother, born to my father’s first wife. She died a few decades after his birth, right around when my father sired my older sister, Agatha, with my mother.”
That explained the drastic difference in appearances between the two.
“Do you think that’s why he hates you?”
“Perhaps, but he’s also fundamentally a shit person.” He snorted. “I’ll be glad to be rid of him after we deal with Tuom.”
When she looked at him in alarm, he added, “I’ll do it after we return you home.”
“So, you think it’s okay to want to kill them?”
“Hmm.” He dropped his head back slightly. “Are you afraid?”
“Afraid?”
“Do you fear what you desire?”
His words were shockingly reminiscent of what Weni had asked her, and she was taken aback. He turned to look at her, his gray eyes dull in the dim lighting, and she squirmed under their intensity.
“What is it that you want, Reli?”
“I…”
She thought about it, weighing her options once again, and maybe it was the famed healing of hot springs, but the answer came to her like the sure beat of a bird’s wings.
It was the warmth of a mother’s embrace, the quiet support of a father, and the random calls from a brother.
She wanted to be free of her torment, free of her anger, free of Tuom.
Once he died, she would return home and trust Augrys and them to figure their shit out.
“I want to go home.”
She didn’t need power; she needed her family—trauma and all.
“Go home and live a long life. Maybe after all this is over, I’ll visit you.”
Her eyes watered, feeling a burst of warmth in her chest. She reached out and took hold of his face in her palms. She rubbed her thumbs across his face, enjoying the feel of his day-old stubble.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Then, tired of waiting for him to do it, she kissed him.
He returned the kiss, hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her closer until she straddled him.
She held herself up, aware that only thin fabric kept them from nakedness, but she soon lost herself in his touch.
He was as demanding as the last time they had kissed; his teeth dragged along her bottom lip until she opened her mouth to him, and his tongue ran up hers. She moaned.
Every touch set her ablaze, and she soon found herself seated on him, rubbing herself against him. He groaned, gripping her hips harder, but he pulled away, knocking his forehead into hers and mumbling. Disappointment filled her; she wanted more.
She pecked his lips. “What’d you say?”
“Madness,” he replied.
“What is?”
“You—you drive me to madness.”
She stole another kiss from him, drawing forth another groan from him.
“Is that a problem?”
“It is when I don’t have a suitable place to fuck you.”
Heat rushed to the area between her thighs, and she pressed herself down harder onto his length, earning herself a twitch.
He slid his hands downwards and, grasping her ass, he stood. She clasped her legs around his waist and gave him access to her neck. He peppered kisses across it.
“Let’s head back,” he said, his voice husky.
“I’m sure we could make it work here,” she replied, not ready to stop.
He laughed, the sound echoing around them, and she couldn’t help joining in.
“Alright, you fiend, let’s go. I’ll meet you on the other side,” he said, setting her down on the floor, but kept his hands on her like he didn’t want to stop.
He walked her to her door, letting his hand fall from her back slowly and leaving a ghost of his touch on her body.
She turned back, but he had already walked away, and she admired his bare back, her eyes wandering down to his waist, where a cloth—to her disappointment—obscured his butt.
She grinned; the heaviness that had followed her since remembering had disappeared.
Even the temptation of power had been silenced, and for the first time since waking in Izmari, she finally had a chance at finding real contentment; she only had to hold on a little longer.