To Hell and Back by L.B. Gilbert

Chapter Ten

She closed the door to her quarters, realizing Rhys hadn’t misspoken when he said ‘rooms’ plural. He had given her a suite.

Wow. Valeria put down her bag on the floor, twisting her head this way and that to take it all in.

The first room was something between a sitting room and an office. At one end, there was a large desk and a bookshelf made out of some exotic-colored wood with hints of purple in it. Stroking the glossy surface, she wondered if anyone had ever used it. She didn’t how anyone could bring themselves to write at it. It was too pretty. A plush leather couch and a large screen television set rested on the other side.

The bedroom lay just beyond, separated by a wide arched entrance that could be closed off by a pair of pocket doors tucked into the wall. A panel of glowing buttons on the wall next to the light switch controlled their opening and closing. After playing with them for longer than she wanted to admit, she took a running start and jumped on the bed.

When her body sank into the memory foam mattress, she moaned aloud in ecstasy. Rolling around on it, she giggled when she found another set of buttons above the bedside table. These made the lights overhead dim, then brighten dramatically.

Then she found another button that brought down lightproof panels suspended between two thick planes of glass that made up the windows. I’m Kate Winslet in ‘The Holiday’!

Bouncing off the bed, she ran to the bathroom.

Yes! The tub was huge, and it had jets. An assortment of bath oils, bubble bath, and other toiletries lay in a basket on a small table next to it, just like a fancy hotel.

Valeria had turned the taps, stripped off her clothes, and was covered in bubbles before she realized she hadn’t checked for hidden cameras. She’d stayed in some pretty sketchy places in the past, and unfortunately had a good reason to do this.

More unfortunate may have been the fact you continued to stay in that place after finding the cameras and confronting the manager.The little worm had offered to let her stay for free if she left them running. He’d offered an additional two hundred bucks because he’d been planning on uploading them to the internet.

Broke and exhausted, she’d conceded and taken the cash…followed by a quick break-in to sabotage the footage and his computer.

Still, the dragon might be on the up and up. He certainly read that way to her, with his formality and the reaction he’d had to her questions in the car. But you will still check for cameras later, she thought, lifting bubbles in her palms and blowing them away.

Leaning back in the tub, Valeria let herself relax. There hadn’t been too many opportunities to slow down and rest the last two years. Not for anything longer than a few days at least.

But her distrust of safety was too deeply engrained. Always one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she turned over her first impressions of the members of this insular clan, wondering which one was most likely to sell her out first.

No one jumped out at her, but then she hadn’t met everyone yet. You just have to keep your eyes open.

In the meantime, she would enjoy this ridiculously luxurious tub and that stupidly large soft bed for as long as it lasted.

“Hello, dearie.”

Screaming, Valeria put her hands out, channeling her raw power to push all the water out of the tub. It streamed out in an arc, dousing the intruder and knocking them down with a loud smack.

She scrambled up, snatching a towel to cover her naked body. Valeria craned her neck to see a small figure wrapped in layers of wool struggling to get up.

“My apologies,” a wet pile of rags said. This was followed by some grunting as the bent-over figure straightened, the gesture tentative because the tiled floor was covered in water and very slippery.

Valeria threw down another towel and stepped out of the tub, one hand up, ready to throw a defensive spell.

A rounded face peeked out of the layers of wool. “Hullo,” the creature chirped.

Tense despite the friendly greeting, she pulled her head back, trying to blink bubble bath out of her eyes. When her vision cleared, she was staring at the oddest face she’d ever seen.

The intruder was round—round head, round nose, puffy round cheeks, and big round eyes. It was as if someone had animated a child’s drawing of a face made of circles and brought it to life.

There was a crashing sound, and Rhys ran into the room.

He was big and moving fast so when his big boots hit the wet tiles, he had too much momentum. Sliding, he put his hands out to check his progress. He managed to shift his weight in time to stop himself from falling into the recently vacated tub, but only just.

Rhys straightened with a snap.

“Agatha,” he began when he caught sight of Valeria, standing there dripping and naked save for the towel.

The towel she had grabbed was as large a sheet—indicating all the guests who stayed here were on the same scale as Rhys. But at least nothing was technically showing.

Not that it seemed to matter. Rhys kept staring at her as if he could see through the thick cotton.

“Hey,” she snapped.

Giving himself a hard shake, Rhys cleared his throat. “My apologies.”

He turned on his heel until he faced the wool-woman. “Aggie, I have asked you not to intrude on our guests. You gave me your word you would not do this again.”

“I thought you just meant the men,” Aggie said, her grin cheerful. She shook out her many layers of wool like a dog shaking off water droplets.

Valeria’s eyes watered, wondering if there was soap in her eyes. “Are your clothes completely dry now?” she asked.

Bending at the waist, Aggie bowed. “They are,” she chirped.

Rhys turned to her. When Valeria glowered, he snapped his eyes up to a point above her head. “I believe I mentioned Aggie is a brownie. Once a brownie enters an agreement with a homeowner, they gain certain abilities—strictly powers over the domestic sphere. It makes them excellent caretakers, but it comes with drawbacks. They can appear in any room in their domain at will, which makes them lax when it comes to boundaries.”

This last was said with a glare in Aggie’s direction. She simply beamed as she began to flap her wool-covered arms at the floor.

“That explains why I didn’t hear you knock,” Valeria muttered, trying not to let her mouth fall open as the water receded. It was as if the brownie was pulling it back, tucking it away like a magician folded their many silk scarves back into their sleeve.

The brownie began to hum. Finishing up with the water on the floor, she began to fuss with the shelf of toiletries next to the sink.

Rhys pointed to the door. “We need to leave Valeria to her ablutions.”

“Very well,” Aggie shuffled to the door with a pout, her wool layers drooping. There was a little poof as she crossed the threshold of the bathroom and then she was gone.

Her host sighed heavily. “You can ask her not to come in without knocking. Brownies are mid-level caste Fae. They cannot lie, and Aggie’s abilities end at the thresholds of this home. Within, her powers are significant, but she has no sway on the rest of the grounds or in another clan member’s house. Her gifts are restricted to this one. Aggie is harmless. That being said, she will try to work around whatever promises you get her to make regarding privacy.”

Valeria adjusted the towel. “So, asking her not to come in when I’m in the tub won’t work?”

“Yes, it will. But then she’ll pop in while you’re changing in the bedroom or when you’re using the other facilities,” he said with the weariness of someone who had fought this particular war for centuries. He gave the toilet a significant look. “It may take a series of promises to get to a place where you are comfortable with her.”

“I’ll remember that,” Valeria said.

There was a long pause.

“Uh, I think it will take even longer for me to be comfortable enough to have a conversation with you while you’re dressed and I’m only wearing a towel.”

“Oh, yes. Of course.” Red-faced, Rhys hemmed and hawed. “I will go.”

He put his head down—an odd-looking gesture on someone so tall—and marched out of the room.

Valeria followed him to the door, closing it behind him with a heavy sigh. She turned around. The tub didn’t have the same siren-like appeal of ten minutes ago, but there was a power shower built into the corner just behind it.

Pursing her lips, she looked in every possible hiding spot before dropping her towel, delighted to find the shower stall had a steam sauna built-in.

There is a bright side to having a peeping tom brownie, she told herself. It’s highly unlikely there are cameras on top of that.

That would be overkill.