To The Ones Who Can't Dream

chapter 51 - Strip Poker

When Rhys finished talking, he sat back and silence followed. Nobody said anything for a long time. Rhys hadn't gone into detail about all of the horrible things Amarantha had inflicted upon them, but the inner circle all got the gist of what happened. "Hey guys, it's in the past. We don't have to worry about her again," Seren tried to calm everyone's nerves.

Az sat back in his chair, "But you know what this means right?"

Cass nodded, "With Amarantha gone and out of the way, the King of Hybern isn't going to be happy. We had his soldiers attack one of the priestess temples the other day. We think they were looking for something but we don't know what exactly. If they attack another temple though, we'll know it wasn't a coincidence. War is coming though. Whether we want it to or not."

After lunch, Seren convinced Rhys to go down with her to the city. She wanted to see everyone happy after being surrounded by miserable fae for 49 years. The fae of Velaris would remind her why she had put herself through Under the Mountain in the first place. And she also really wanted to see Hiroshi.

They flew down and dropped onto the sidewalk in front of Rita's. Slowly, they started making their way towards Hiroshi's shop. But soon, they were stopped by a mother and her child. She bowed her head in acknowledgment before saying, "Rhys, Seren, it's an honor to have you back. I am so grateful that you two are safe. You do not know how much the city has worried. Velaris wasn't the same without you."

Smiling, Seren took the woman's hand, "I'm glad to be back also. Thank you for doing your part to look after the city while we were gone."

And then it started. Fae started making their way over to them quicker and quicker. They all seemed to have something to say to Rhys and Seren. Seren couldn't stop beaming at the people. As they slowly made their way through the city, Seren made a point of talking to each person individually. When she touched the fae's arm or placed her hand on the fae's shoulder, she couldn't help but feel lucky to have so many fae supporting her.

Finally, they made it to Hiroshi's shop. Seren stood outside the door for half a second. This whole experience was so surreal. It still hadn't really sunk in that she was back. She was in the fresh air. She was in the sunlight.

A bell jingled above her when she pushed the door open. Hiroshi was hunched over his desk, presumably working on something. But when he heard the bell, he looked up and met Seren's eyes. "Seren?" he whispered.

He slowly stood up from his desk and walked until he was right in front of her. Seren grinned at him, "Miss me?"
Grinning, he hugged her tightly. "I always knew you would come back," he said confidently.

Seren laughed, "Well what a surprise that you were right."

"Oh my," he started moving away from her, "Seren, I have to show you all of the jewelry I made while you were gone. You must tell me if you like any of the pieces."

After an hour or so, Rhys walked into the shop to find Seren with several bags full of jewelry. Unsurprisingly, Seren had liked every single piece Hiroshi had made. When she was going to leave, he insisted that she take everything he had made for her. After arguing back and forth with him for a while, she had begrudgingly agreed to take it for free. But he would find the amount transferred into his bank account by tomorrow morning.

Seren was sitting in a circle with the Inner Circle. Somehow Cassian had convinced them all, even Amren, to play strip poker. They were all in their pajamas and it was fair to say they had all had too much to drink. She had on blue plaid pajama pants and a shirt. Certainly nothing special to Mor's bright pink ensemble. Seren wasn't horrible at poker but she definitely wasn't the best. But thankfully, Cassian promptly lost the first hand.

Seren was actually doing pretty well. By the time she lost a hand, Mor had lost her nightdress and Cassian was down to just his boxers. Of course Amren, Rhys, and Az hadn't lost a single hand and were still fully dressed. She had a sneaking suspicion that Az was using his shadows to cheat but obviously she couldn't prove it.

As Seren took off her shirt, Mor and Cassian both wolf whistled as Az shook his head at them and laughed. Rhys's cheeks reddened and he glanced away quickly. Amren shrugged, "Nothing I haven't seen before."

It was weird because after that hand, Rhys seemed to get dramatically worse. It's like he wasn't even paying attention. He quickly had to ditch his shirt and socks. Az had literally only lost one sock and Mor gave him a dirty look, "How are you so good at this?"

Az smiled, "I won't tell my trade secrets."

Looking down at her cards, Seren realized she had a shit hand. Everyone folded except for her and Rhys though, so she figured maybe she could bluff her way out of this one. Seren threw in a lot of chips, "I raise you."

She looked up at him through her lashes and smiled sweetly at him, lightly biting her lip, "What's your decision, Rhys?"

She watched as his eyes dipped down to where her bottom lip was caught between her teeth, "I-I um, I want..."

Cassian snickered, "Look dude we all know she's hot, but decide already."

Rhys sent him a glare, "Fine, fold."

Smiling triumphantly, Seren turned her cards over to reveal a two and a four. The whole table cracked up laughing. She smiled innocently up at him, "Go on High Lord, take your pants off."

Huffing, Rhys stood up and slid his pants off. Seren's mouth dried as she took in his powerful thighs and the tattoos on his knees. She quickly peeked at the considerable bulge in his boxers before blushing and shooting her eyes back up to his face. He smirked, "Like what you see?"

"Oh shut up," she answered.

Mor lost the next hand as Seren and Cass chanted, "Take it off! Take it off!"

Mor undid the clasps of her bra before sliding it off her shoulders. Az looked away extremely quickly as Rhys slapped his hands over his eyes, "For fucks sake, I don't need to see my cousin topless!"

Cassian snorted and Seren grinned. By some miracle, Cassian managed to hang in there and made Seren lose the next hand. Smiling lightly, Seren pulled her plaid pants off. "Spin around for us!" Mor shouted.

Even though she was in a thong, Seren shrugged and spun in a slow circle for all of them. When she turned back around, Mor, Az, Cass, and Rhys were all gaping at her. Before she could be embarrassed Cassian exclaimed, "Damn Seren. You have a fat ass!"

Covering her face with her hand, Seren shook her head as Amren started laughing hysterically. And as Seren won the next hand and beat Cassian, the corners of her mouth turned up, "Payback's a bitch isn't it?"

"Fine Seren, you asked for it," Cassian said.

He stood up so quickly that nobody could even register it. But when he pulled down his boxers, Rhys lunged over and slapped his hand across Seren's eyes. "Rhys!" Seren screeched.

She had just caught a glimpse before Rhys had practically tackled her to the ground. "Ok," Rhys said, "Party's over, time to go to bed."

"Hey, woah what's the big deal?" Amren asked.

"Nothing," Rhys muttered.

"Yo Rhys, can you let go of my face so I don't run into a wall walking back to my room?"

Without replying, he reached down and grabbed her by her waist. He threw her over his shoulder so she was staring at his bare back. She rolled her eyes before realizing that he was carrying her almost naked through the house. She hit his back half-heartedly, "Hey jerk, put me down. I'm a big girl, I can walk back to my room by myself!"

Rhys didn't reply and continued walking down the hallway.

AN: Seren's pajamas