Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
The sun was setting behind the trees, and all around the town square, lamps and lanterns were being lit.
Mira had forgotten about that; her stall was illuminated only by two flickering candles in old glass lanterns that Harper had lent her.
That was all right though. She was almost out of stock anyway.
After the crowd had dispersed, people had come with questions.
So, so many questions. Mira had tried to answer them to the best of her abilities, and in ways that would not come back to haunt her in the form of a sternly worded letter from Golden River’s solicitors.
Thankfully, Gemma and Rue had kept the stall going the whole time.
Rue had seized the opportunity to loudly sing the praises of ‘the town hero’s magnificent potions’, which had been so embarrassing as to make Mira wish that the ground would open up and swallow her.
It had been undeniably effective though.
By the time Gemma had spotted Yoni lingering nearby and gently shooed Mira away to ‘go see her pretty neighbour’, there had been half a box of bottles left, and even those were probably gone by now.
If nothing else, then maybe Mira could at least make another payment, and stay for just a little while longer.
“You look like you badly need a nap.”
Mira laughed as they sat down on the edge of the fountain, each with a ‘Honeywood Kiss’ in hand, something Emilia had insisted she hadn’t just come up with when she had served them the delicious concoction of mead, lemon and mint.
Mira had steadfastly ignored the fact that her face felt as hot as a furnace, complimented her on the creative name, and pretended not to hear Emilia cackling when she, Kayden and Yoni left the inn.
Kayden, with the smuggest smile Mira had ever seen on his face, had excused himself, which left Mira and Yoni alone to sit down and enjoy their drinks.
Legs outstretched, Mira looked up at the darkening sky, finally able to just sit and breathe for a moment.
“I need a week of sleep.”
“Aww.” When Mira glanced sideways, Yoni was pouting in a rather exaggerated manner. “You’d miss our walk?”
Mira sat up a little straighter. “Not for the whole world.” Something fluttered in her chest, and before she could think, she’d held out her hand. “I’ll be there, rain or shine. That’s a promise.”
Yoni held her gaze. “Don’t promise things you can’t stick to, Mira.”
“I’m not. I’m going to make this work. If you want to.”
The way Yoni’s lips parted, she knew as well as Mira that this was no longer about a walk. Slowly, she reached out, weaving her fingers through Mira’s. The tiniest smile appeared on her face, but it was there, and that was all Mira needed to feel like her feet had left the ground entirely.
“I do. We’ll make it work.”
Mira smiled a little crooked. “If I don’t try hard enough, are you going to get all scary again?”
“I’m not-” Yoni snapped her mouth shut and exhaled sharply. “You were never scared of me.”
“Of course not.” Mira leaned in a little closer. “But… you are a formidable woman. That’s very motivating in a number of ways.”
Yoni blinked slowly, but didn’t move to pull away. “Motivating to do what, exactly?”
“This and that.” Mira waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe something foolish, every now and again.”
“Foolish how?” Yoni pursed her lips. “Mira, I swear, if you want to kiss me, just-”
This time, it was Mira who cut her off by closing the distance between them.
For a moment, time seemed to come to a halt, like the universe was courteously allowing them to have one single timeless, weightless moment.
Allowed Mira to smell the mint on Yoni’s breath, taste the honey on her lips, put down her glass and pull Yoni closer, until they were pressed against each other with no space left between them.
When they finally, after what seemed like an eternity, broke apart again, Mira’s heart beat an elated staccato in her chest. She knew she was grinning like a fool, but right now, she didn’t care. Maybe she’d never care again, as long as this would never end.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while.”
Yoni’s eyes were wide, but she stayed close. “It was about damn time.”
Laughing, Mira leaned in again, pressing another quick kiss to Yoni’s lips. “We can always catch up.”
Yoni’s eyes flickered around. “Maybe not all the way in public at least?”
“Fine.” Mira inched a little closer still, resting her head on Yoni’s shoulder. “You think we really did it?”
“Did what? Expose the big, bad corporation, chase them out of town, save the day?” Yoni was quiet for a moment.
“Not really. Not yet at least. But we did the right thing. It’s out in the open now.
People know they’ve been stealing from the whole town.
There’s no putting that water back into the bottle, if you excuse this horrible joke. ”
Chuckling, Mira closed her eyes for a moment. “Small victories, eh?”
“Maybe small for now. It’ll be bigger soon.” Yoni snorted. “Harper will see to that, I’m sure.”
“Yep. She’s scary, too, if she wants to be.”
Yoni laughed, a quiet, beautiful sound that Mira wanted to hear again and again and again. “What a town full of scary women can achieve, huh.”
Mira would have argued the point that she was particularly scary, but she was too tired. A week of sleep may have been an exaggeration, but tomorrow, she would sleep in. Maybe after breakfast, she’d go and visit Yoni to catch up some more. And come the next week…
She would see about that. Today, they had won, and right now, that was all that mattered. They would figure out the rest one day at a time.