Chapter 169

"Valkyrie?" Erskine called from the attic room. Valkyrie sighed and slid off her bed – just a sofa bed they'd opened next to a single bed so close that she, Nadia, Laila and Tanith may as well just share one massive bed. She followed the sounds of Erskine repeating her name in different tones up the stairs.

"What?" She asked him, crossing her arms sternly. Only the three Idiots were up here. And now her as well.

"Can I not just want to see you?" He asked innocently.

"I don't know, can you?" She raised an eyebrow.

He snorted a laugh. "Come in, we want to talk to you about something. Close the door!"

Valkyrie closed it with a sigh. She sat at the end of one of the two double beds in the room – it was the length of the whole house and quite a large space – and the men all sat at the pillow end with big grins. "This doesn't feel like a good idea," she said in a deadpan voice.

"Don't be silly, relax," Erskine said in a not-relaxing way. "We only want to talk to you, don't we Dexter?"

"Yeah, just a little talk," Dexter grinned. His smile was so wide he nearly reminded her of Scar, from the Lion King, except he was too handsome. She told him of the resemblance, minus the complement, and the grin got worse.

"Look. Tell me what you want or I'm going to leave," she told them, crossing her arms again.

Erskine huffed. "Why are you so aggressive? Are you like this with Nadia?"

Valkyrie couldn't help the eyebrow that went up. "Nadia doesn't act stupid, unlike you."

"We only wanted to have a proper conversation," Saracen said, obviously trying hard to be the voice of reason. "Ignore them two, they're taking the piss. We actually do have something to say."

"And that is?"

"Sex," Erskine said seriously, clapping his hands together and pointing his fingers at her like he was in a business meeting. He was almost sprawled on his back and had his legs open to see her between them, Dexter on his knees like he'd pounce on her and Saracen hovering on his other side like he could just get up to assist her at any time. More likely to stop her leaving.

"Not a chance," she said with a shake of her head. "And before you argue, Tanith already did it! It was as intensive as it was intrusive. So there. You have nothing left to say."

"Like hell we don't!" Dexter laughed. "Come on, don't act like a kid. We know you have sex now, and that's okay! You're a young woman and that's very normal. We just want to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"I'm not doing anything stupid," she said, resorting to glaring at him.

"I'm not sure he said that right," Erskine said, shaking his own head and settling back a little to talk. God, they were actually, really serious. "What we want to say, is, we care about you, and sex is normal, and you do that now. And because we care about you and you do the normal act of sex, we want to make sure you're doing nothing stupid."

"That's what he just said," Valkyrie pointed out, fighting down a blush out of sheer embarrassment. It was different talking about sex verses talking about her having sex with Nadia!

Dexter looked at him. "I literally just said that."

He rolled his eyes. "Shut up. What Tanith told you as a sister might not be what we'd tell you as brothers."

She had a thought, hesitated to say it, and then decided to even though she didn't like it. "Well, that would make sense, except I'm not having sex with a man, so not really."

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter, we'd still give you advice. I bet Tanith mostly said about protection and the basic way things work, right? We wouldn't say that."

"I'd rather not a play by play," she said, attempting some humour.

"Hey," Erskine said softly, sitting up. "Don't get anxious. I get it, it's sex, you're young, that's a thing kids get embarrassed about. But we're here for you and it's not embarrassing to us and we don't want to upset you."

"I know," she defended.

"Be honest. If Tanith spoke with you about this, would it be easier than us doing it?" He asked.

She hesitated. "I mean, probably."

"Is that because it's sex, or because we're guys?"

Valkyrie hesitated again and felt her shoulders shrink a little. Her eyes flicked to Saracen and she knew there was no point hiding it. "I don't want to talk about that right now."

"Honey," Dexter said softly as Valkyrie lowered her head. "Come here."

Valkyrie didn't want to, but she ended up awkwardly laying over the bed in Dexter's arms. Erskine and Saracen were half laughing at her between trying to be sincere. It helped take the edge off her anxiety though.

"I just don't like the idea of it, okay?"

"Okay," Dexter said like he was reasoning with her. "But. Are you upset because you are talking about sex with men, or the idea of sex with men?"

"I don't care. Both? Is that an option?"

He considered it. "I'll accept both."

"Oh, wonderful," she said sarcastically before pulling herself free to sit by herself. She was now in the middle and they sat around her. She was going to just have to power through this. "Look. I get you want to help me, but I actually spoke about all this with Nadia right before we want to New York City. So it's just a bit fresh. Give me time, alright? I don't want to get anxious about this stuff, but please don't force me to 'confront my past' or anything."

"Is there a past to confront?" Erskine asked, trying to look innocent.

She glared at him but told the truth. "Some, yes. As well as Caelan and Griever's Down."

His eyes flicked away a bit from her before he sighed. Saracen smiled at her. "Maybe we could just talk a little about some of it?" He asked.

"No," she asked softly.

"Just the easiest one. Whichever is easiest to talk about, and we won't mention it again," Erskine said. She went to snap at him but she made the mistake of looking him in the eye and saw his worry. His anxiety and fears. And she suddenly wondered if maybe, he might know what the anxiety she felt was like. Maybe he'd been mistreated like her. Maybe his abusers succeeded in their attempts, unlike hers.

Feeling guilty for fighting their help, she sighed and her anger washed away. "Just a little. Maybe about the vampire."

Erskine brightened a bit. "How did it make you feel?"

Despite the pressure of thinking of Caelan, his serious face coupled with the cliqued words made her burst out laughing. "Pretty shit honestly."

"Maybe tell us what he did?"

"I already told you," she said, a smile lingering for just a second before it fell. "I found me in the woods behind the house, he attacked me and he kissed me. I think he chased me for a bit too but I got away. It wasn't that dramatic, it was more what he said."

"I imagine what happened at Nadia's is more concerning," Saracen pointed out.

"Well, yeah. I basically had to offer myself up so he wouldn't kill Nadia and her parents. He probably would have ended up really hurting me, or even killing me, if it wasn't for Anton," she said quietly. "But again, it was just words. I was only affected by them at the time because there was a chance he could make it come true. He had managed it with other girls. But I knew I was also safe for most of the time he was obsessing over me because I stayed at Skulduggery's house with Tanith and you guys. And now he's dead so I'm not really worried about it anymore."

"Maybe you're not worried so much about him, but the threats that he said in general. If he can do those things, why can't someone else?" Erskine said levelly.

She shook her head of the thoughts. "Maybe. Probably. But I don't want to think about that because I don't want him to affect me and make me scared, you know? I don't want to live like that."

"That's a good way of thinking," Dexter smiled.

"And I don't get nightmares about it anymore either. I am leaving it behind," she said. "Especially since Nadia came to live with us."

They paused. "You had nightmares about it? How often?" Dexter asked.

She shrugged. "Not often. Just once in a while. Not about him in a long time. Not since Griever's Down."

"Do you get nightmares about Griever's?"

She thought. "Not much, really. It's more the sudden reminder or thought in the day that triggers me thinking of it. But again, it's not often. Honestly. I know it affects me negatively when I do think of it and that it's something I need to work on, but I really don't think of it that much. It's the same as all the bad stuff that's happened in missions. That time we walked in on some person being skinned alive, about Kenspeckle and The Diablery. I really don't think about it because I'm not that scared. I just sometimes get caught up in bad thoughts."

"And you're working on it with Nadia?" Erskine asked seriously.

"I swear. You can even ask her."

"Does she talk to you about her problems?" Saracen asked.

"Not much. But more than before. Mostly she talks about the people that she knew and about her parents, but nothing else. I think there is something but… do you know what's going on?" She asked suspiciously.

"We swore to say nothing," Dexter told her.

"Hey, I don't know!" Erskine cried.

"And you won't until Nadia tells you," Dexter told him. "It's for her to work on. But she talks to us sometimes. And she's talking to Valkyrie, or she is at least a bit and that's good."

Valkyrie just nodded. She would respect Nadia's privacy. Mostly because it was the right thing to do but also because she knew her brothers wouldn't cave. She would have to up her efforts to her Nadia to open up to her, it was just sort of hard when her entire method was based on no pressure and patience.

Erskine huffed. "Fine. No more bad talk. I want to talk about sex."

"You always want to talk about sex," Saracen rolled his eyes.

"Only sometimes," Erskine snipped. "I've barely mentioned it today."

"We've been out all day."

"Shut up, Saracen. Just because you have a boyfriend."

"That has nothing to do with this."

"Just shut up!" Erskine huffed, swatting his shoulder. "Ask Cub about not fun stuff."

"Cub, what not fun stuff did Tanith tell you that you've not bothered doing?" Dexter asked, a spark in his eye.

She wanted to tell him to piss off but felt closer to him for them trying to talk to her still so she decided to go along with this to get it done. Because she couldn't totally fight all three of them and get away if she wanted. "She thought gloves were a great idea."

Erskine pulled a face. "Oh no."

"That's only really needed when there are STD's involved," Saracen said matter of fact. "And with partners you don't know. Sex between multiple women lacks proper protection methods so gloves are actually the best way to deal with vaginal penetration without getting anything unsavoury on your hands. But as long as you are monogamous to each other, it shouldn't be an issue for you."

Valkyrie blush from the same embarrassment again when 'vaginal penetration' was mentioned. But it wasn't as bad as before. "Okay."

"Buuut," Erskine drew out. "You're young and young people are not always monogamous. Both of you might decide to involve someone else one day, which happens in long relationships, and I suppose some protection is good, but glove are not a good look on anyone."

"Herpes is worse," Dexter argued.

"But going to a doctor is more effective and doesn't look bad at all," Erskine pointed out.

"Yes, for sorcerers. Mortals don't have as good doctor checking abilities as mages do. STDs can hide for years even from tests so if Valkyrie – Valkyrie, if you want to have sex with a mortal, use gloves if you do not know and utterly trust them, okay? Because STDs are for life, even in our world, and it's really shitty. But with Mages, we are pretty open about sex so if someone catches something they tend to be open or else they aren't and their partner gets it and then they get thrown under the bus for it. No one likes those people," Dexter explained. "We have very good tests for STDs so if you want to involve someone else, tell them to get tested and that you want to see the results before doing anything. That way you are safe, and it's a very normal thing for mages to do before having sex with new people so it won't be weird to ask."

"Okay," she said. Was a third party going to be involved with her and Nadia? She felt as if that was an important topic but decided not to bait the Idiots. They asked for more weird things Tanith told her. "Not much. She wanted me to get checked before anything happened but since nothing had happened I never really did it."

"That just comes from years of always getting checks," Saracen assured her. "Yes, it is always good to check just to make sure you are healthy in general, but being that it's both of your first times having sex, you don't have to worry all that much. In mage communities, we rely heavily on getting checks and treating what little we can – it isn't much better than mortals like we said, but it's mostly more of a preventative than a look for cures. Over so many hundreds of years we've been able to stifle most STD's by getting very regular checks and limiting the sexual partners we have. Some people find it hard not to getting checks right after a partner and then again before a new one. It's a habit Tanith was projecting onto you."

"A good habit," Erskine said firmly. "What other things did she say?"

"Not much outside of protection," she told them.

"So nothing about those weird sheet condom things?" Dexter grinned wolfishly.

Valkyrie grimaced. "Something about that, yeah."

"I assume to took a hard pass on that."

"I agreed to gloves to avoid the other options. It was one or the other and I chose the least offensive to see in my drawer," she admitted.

"As long as you get regular checks and extras if and when other people are involved, it doesn't matter," Erskine said freely. The difference in their and Tanith's ideas of protection was obviously quite different. Having an extra three-hundred years on Tanith might be where it was coming from. "Really, since nothing has happened yet, you're good. But you should still get regular check-ups just in case. You never know if you might contract cold sores, for example. That's a strand of herpes and if you have a cold sore and go down on Nadia, uh uh, no, you're both in for a bad time."

She wanted to be embarrassed… but she was relaxing now. She just laughed. "Got it. Do you have anything to say other than to get these checks?"

Dexter smirked. "Have you invested in a good nail kit?"

Valkyrie shoved him and he fell against the headboard with a roaring laugh. "You're a dick," she laughed.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I couldn't help it!" He wheezed.

"I'm not sure I want to sit here anymore," she teased.

"Wait! I haven't finished!" Erskine said, sitting up again and smacking Dexter's leg hard enough to make him flinch. He didn't stop smiling.

"I get it," she interrupted quickly. He was going to say something way overboard on purpose and she didn't want that. "I know, really. Please don't say it out loud."

He cracked a smile. "Aww, you're so cute and little."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes.

"But you are! You don't want to talk about sex and it's really funny!" He sniggered.

"Can I leave now?"

"What about shoving stuff up there? Yeah, that's a thing. Don't do it!" He told her passionately.

Saracen rolled his eyes. "No, dickwad. Only put stuff intended to be shoved up there inside. Because if you use something that's too hard or long you can cause yourself damage. Like hairbrushes."

"Yeah, like hairbrushes. Don't masturbate with a hairbrush because they might damage the cervix. Or anything with groves on it because dirt and bacteria can grow in the groves. And not anything that soaks in moisture because it'll dry out your vagina and get stuck. That's a really bad one, I saw that happen once."

"I'm not going to – I've never even thought of – can you not!?" Valkyrie ground out.

They all grinned. "Don't do anything like a porn video," Saracen supplied.

"And never spit!" Erskine demanded. "If she isn't wet, don't force it. Don't just spit on everything, that's gross."

"Just get some lube, that's the best way," Dexter added. "It'll help out massively. A good lube is the best thing you can own. Period."

"Oh, my god, period sex," Erskine said, falling on his back and throwing his hands up in the air in front of his face. "Do not go down on someone on their period without one of them sheets. It's not okay! You can get very sick! Do not do it! Hands are fine though. And you know what, some people get most horny on their period so don't be squeamish either."

Valkyrie decided the conversation was derailing. "I think I get the idea, guys," she said jumping off the bed and walking around it quickly. They didn't follow.

"What about anal sex?" Erskine called out before Valkyrie slammed the door shut behind her.

"Oh my god," she groaned.

"They're," Valkyrie jumped a foot and swivelled to see Anton, "idiots."

"Anton! Oh my god! Yeah, they are," she said, hand over her heart.

"Nadia was asking for you," he told her. "She fell over in the kitchen and sustained a minor cut."

Valkyrie pushed passed him quickly and rushed downstairs, hearing Nadia's voice and bursting into the bedroom.

"Hi," Nadia smiled. "You okay? You look flushed."

Valkyrie took a deep breath, groaned, and flopped onto the bed.

"Hey, you nearly ruined my strawberries!" Nadia cried.

"Shut up and kiss me, idiot," Valkyrie said, turning on her back.

"No, not if you talk to me like that. What's wrong?" Nadia asked. "Did Anton tell you I tripped?"

"Yeah. Are you alright?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. I fell on a knife." She pulled her shorts up almost to her hip and showed off the very small cut. It wasn't even a centimetre long and barely red, so it didn't seem to have gotten below skin level. "It's not that bad. But I wanted to know if you wanted some strawberries with me. Here, I saved you the biggest one."

Valkyrie smiled softly, backup up on the sofa until she and Nadia were snuggling with their backs against the wall. "I love it. Thanks, baby."

"S'all right. I just love you, you know," she smiled again, kissing Valkyrie on the nose. "Here, I'll feed you."

Valkyrie watched Nadia select a large strawberry, pull out the green leaves and hold it up to Valkyrie's mouth. She bit into it and juices dripped onto her collar next to her fading scars. She almost smiled but the saw Nadia's serious look and took another bite of the large fruit instead.

"I love you," Nadia whispered.

Valkyrie swallowed. "Did you pretend to be in pain to get me alone?"

"Is it so bad I want alone time with my fiancé?" Nadia whispered, getting onto her knees and straddling Valkyrie, leaning forwards so their bodies touched all over. "Here."

Valkyrie took the final piece of strawberry into her mouth and leaned over to grab the bowl. She selected a small one, pulled out the green with one hand, and raised it to Nadia's lips, watching her beautiful eyes. Nadia was obviously getting off on this food thing more than Valkyrie, but seeing Nadia getting hot was enough for her. Still, she didn't feel inclined to do anything even though she could feel the slickness between her legs suddenly appearing. "Why do you need my attention so much today then?"

"I don't know," Nadia smirked. "Maybe it's all the fun we had on holiday. I miss it."

"When we get to Ireland and our new house, we can be like that every day."

Nadia giggled, looking away to get more strawberries. "No one will hear us," she grinned.

"Well," Valkyrie smirked, giving her the 'Dexter smile'. "We'll see about that."

Nadia giggled, resting one hand under the curve of Valkyrie's breast and putting another strawberry up for Valkyrie to eat. "You're bad."

"Thanks. Do you want to know what the Idiots were talking to me about?"

"What?"

"Sex," she smirked, taking the strawberry and eating it while Nadia laughed. "It was bad. But I guess not awful."

"So they didn't try and give you techniques?" She asked, a hint of smile on her lips.

"Nope."

She sighed. "That's too bad. Four hundred years of experience and you didn't take their advice."

She scoffed. "Yeah, no. I don't care about any reputations, I'm not taking technique advice from my brothers. And anyway, I think I'm doing a decent job already. Or are you trying to say you're unsatisfied?"

"Would I have faked a injury if I was satisfied with you, Miss Cain?" Nadia whispered back meanly.

Valkyrie breathed a laugh and captured Nadia's lips in a kiss. They both tasted like strawberries. Hands on Nadia's waist, it didn't take a moment for Nadia to get out a high moan and grind her hips on Valkyrie's legs. Nadia rested a hand on her arm, feeling the muscles and squeezing, her tongue dancing with Valkyrie's. Just as she was reaching between them to undo the button on her shorts, Valkyrie smiled and gently pushed Nadia back.

Nadia scowled. "But I brought you strawberries."

"Strawberries done make me horny."

"I'm right here!"

Valkyrie smirked. "I just got down from a gross conversation with The Idiots, can I not have five minutes? Talk to me."

"But I don't want to have good communication in a loving relationship, I want to be fingered," Nadia huffed dramatically, but quietly, and shimmied off Valkyrie's lap as Valkyrie burst into laughter.

"You're such a twat," Valkyrie laughed, reaching over and kissing her on the nose.

Nadia smiled softly and ducked her head. "I love you."

Dear god has it been a while. Simply been busy with uni, no other excuse, but I've been thinking of what to write on and off as I've done my work. Doesn't help I left my latest future chapter in the middle of a fight scene and you know how I feel about those... I hate them! And its original so I have nothing to copy. So annoying.

Hello to anyone reading that waited so long for me to update. I love you!

Remus Crux: Thank you for so many reviews! You kept busy while I wasn't updating

Lord Duck: I know, it gets really going on the big insane war type build up and I have to go and get into the last part of uni, plan a wedding, apply for a masters... I'm not making it easy on myself but I am working on it I swear!

DemiseRim: The wedding will be so cute, I'm saving it for the end on purpose, there's going to be a lot of crazy fights and stuff I don't do well with writing in between now and then so the wedding is my reward! And I have another surprise before the wedding too... a really cute one. You'll love it but I won't spoil it ;)