Page 49 of Eight Embers

I point at Delaney but aim my voice at Saladriel. “See? It's not just me. That isnotpizza.”

“I mean it's weird, but I don't know if it's bad.” She tries another bite, grimaces, and swallows it down with far too much effort.

Now it's my turn to laugh. “Yeah, you're really selling it right now.”

“Shut up,” she says as she rolls her eyes and smacks me lightly in the chest.

That bit of playfulness makes it hard to feel distant from her. I'm tugging on her and pulling her into me before I even think about why that's a bad idea. “Have a good shower?” I ask right into her ear.

It kills me that this woman is capable of blushing. “Yes?” she basically asks.

Spencer is in the bedroom, jumping off the bed and pretending to be an airplane. Wow, he's really good at those sounds.

Delaney doesn't even flinch at his behavior, nor at Wil’s as the sound of goat belching echoes from consuming the tin cans in the corner.

“I'm happy for you.” And then I make myself step away because I may be stupid, but I do have some sort of preservation instinct.

I grab some more pizza, determined to eat it out now that my expectations are well adjusted, grabbing some water for me and Delaney before walking out to the little dining area.

I pull a chair for her and sit, trying to dig into the meal as she takes her time to meet me over there.

She's quiet for a few minutes, and I can tell she wants to say something, but that's fine. We don't need to talk about our feelings. I know she doesn't want mine.

“Look, Rush—”

I hold out my hands. “It's fine, Delaney. Really. You don't have to explain anything to me, alright? I'm just happy that you're happy.”

I begrudgingly finish my slice and get up to wash off the plate, thinking maybe a bit of air will help me feel better. I don't knowif I can be locked in a room with her and everybody during their post-mating snuggle sesh.

“Saladriel, you want to go for a walk or something, man? Show me the area?”

When he doesn't answer I realize that he wants to be here too. “You know what? I'll manage. Go relax Delaney, I'm just going to scope out the area and then I'll be back.” I kiss her on the cheek and head out the door, taking note of how I get back down to the lobby, so I don't get lost.

A little bit of independence will be good for me. Maybe I'll be able to report back to dad later with some new ideas. He's always excited to try new torture methods and this whole realm is an embarrassment of riches in that department.

I don't really remember much about leaping through the clouds earlier, but I do remember how good it felt to be with her.

It's no surprise that thinking happy thoughts makes me think of other happy thoughts. I don't have too many of them, and I'm missing what Leo and I had more than ever.

I'm sick to my stomach not knowing where he is, not knowing if he's really okay. We only have this unknown goddess’ word to go off of, and I know better than to offer her my blind trust.

Leo is... special. Fragile in a way. He needs attention, especially since he just got freed. I'm really worried about what getting cut off from Delaney will do to him.

I wander for a bit, trying not to let my ears burn when I hear shocked neighs at my appearance. I get the hang of traveling over the clouds pretty quickly, watching others use hidden trampolines within them or ladders.

Without paying much attention to where I'm going, I end up heading in basically the opposite direction we traveled to get from the Tunnel of Love to the hotel.

I'm so proud of myself for not panicking when their version of a sunset hits, that I seek out a perfectly formed cloud and sit on the edge of it as I watch the sky. I guess I can kind of see why people enjoy this. It's happy, if you're into that sort of thing.

Little cupids carry baskets across the sky and throw out dark blue glitter that seems to make everyone it hits sleepy, but luckily it has no effect on me. Another thing my demon blood is good for I suppose is that foreign magic has to work harder to affect me.

I lay back and let my fingers run through the cloud, coming away with little tufts that I get the oddest desire to sniff. I don't know if all of them smell differently or what, but I am a little ashamed when this one tries to give me a hefty boner. It's shocking because up until now I've basically been impotent in this realm. I don't think the goddess would appreciate me rolling over and showing this cloud who's boss.

Instead of molesting the cloud, I roll over on my stomach so I can inhale the smell of it better. I bury my arms in it, making it way more sexual than it needs to be, but hey, everyone else is sleeping so who's going to know? It just smells so good. It tickles something inside my brain.

Some parts of it have different textures, and that fascinates me, too. Soon I'm crawling around and feeling throughout it, inserting my arms all the way up to my shoulders and making a fool of myself. But I can't find it in me to regret that or stop myself.

Eventually, I come across a curious item and pull it out of the cloud to inspect it. “That's weird, does every cloud have a switchfloating around inside them somewhere? It's probably a terrible idea to flip it, right? Really bad things could happen.”

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