sixteen #2
Mira lowered her fingers from her mouth, blowing pipe smoke into the open air of the barn. Sulim had yet to close the doors, and between the pouring rain and the fresh, cool spring air, Mira looked like a specter come to haunt the space after death.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to get here.”
Finally, Sulim lowered her hand to her heart, willing her blood to stop coursing through her body as if it were flowing for her very life. Once her heart slowed, she feistily undid her rain jacket, ripped it off her body, and hung it up on the tack behind her.
“The hell are you doing here?”
Mira clicked her tongue, but did not come closer. “What a rude thing to say to your guest,” she lightly chastised. “I was searching for shelter out of the rain, and well, here I am.”
“Without a horse?”
“I can walk.”
“In the rain?”
“I can do other things quickly that get me where I want to go.”
She must have meant teleporting, but Sulim’s understanding was that the tattoo prevented Mira from doing that. She was too flustered to ask for clarification. All that mattered was that Mira was here, in her space, and looked like she had been quite comfortable for some time.
“Your mother is looking for you.”
“Let her.” Mira extinguished her pipe and tucked it into a knapsack by her feet. “I’m giving us some space.”
“Why?”
Mira looked like she wanted to explain, but merely shook her head and closed her eyes in thought.
“She’s down some rabbit hole. Not quite acting like herself. Then again, this is the first time since I was a kid that we’ve spent so much time together. Maybe she’s always like this. It’s been two years since we left Yahzen, you know.
Maybe she’s losing it without something academic to distract her.” Mira shrugged. “None of my business.”
“Neither is being in my barn.”
Something about that amused Mira, who slowly approached with her hands in her back pockets and her hair hanging loose around her face.
Stop it. Sulim took a step back toward the tack, but said nothing when Mira stopped halfway across the gap between them.
“Your barn, huh?” Mira teased. “I get that you’re the only one who really uses it, but… well, forgive me. I didn’t know where else to go that wasn’t all the way to town.”
“No, it’s fine.” Sulim brushed some raindrops off the top of her hair. I’m an utter mess compared to her. Mira only had one outfit, but her hair was always perfect, and her skin was as soft and clear as any julah’s. Truly, it wasn’t fair. “You just scared the shit out of me, that’s all.”
“Something going on back at the house?”
“Nothing that’s any of your business.”
“Ouch. But point taken.”
Sulim busied herself with rearranging the tack while the rain picked up outside.
Got here right in time. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to see Emi in her little shelter, despite the brown mare only being a few yards away.
I should have brought her in here. Usually, Sulim didn’t, because she didn’t want the mucky smell of horse to penetrate her space, but… well, it was too late now.
When she turned around, Mira had come closer. Was there something she wanted?
Me. Sulim defiantly faced her. She wants me.
“If I could,” Mira softly said, gesturing to her tattoo, “I’d take us both off this planet and somewhere much warmer and more interesting. Maybe Sah Zenlit. I doubt my dad’s using the family guesthouse.” She chuckled. “That would be something…”
“Why would you take me anywhere?”
“Well, for the novelty, for one thing. You ever teleport?”
“No.”
“There you go. It’s something you could tell your adopted grandchildren.”
“What? About the time the woman who flirted with me ‘took me somewhere’?”
“Please,” Mira said with an airy laugh, “give me some credit. I’m not flirting with you.”
“Oh, pray tell, then, what the hell have you been doing ever since you got here? And don’t say kissing me.”
“Well, I have been doing that.” As Sulim smoothed down her wet hair and shook out the sleeves of her shirt, Mira came right up to her, simultaneously ten feet tall and barely coming up to Sulim’s forehead.
Gravitas and humility wrapped in one person.
I hate it. She further hated how intriguing it was to have someone she was now so comfortable with standing so close to her.
So close that she could feel Mira’s hot breath in the cold air. “But I’m not flirting with you.”
Sulim was aware that their lips brushed. She didn’t step back. Mira, however, did.
“I’ve been seducing you.”
Those words closed Sulim’s throat as she struggled to breathe. Let the Void steal all of my life force right out of my body, right here. She deserved that kind of end.
“Tell me, has it been working?”
Sulim turned her head before those lips decided to try something. I could very well mean my own. She could breathe again, but at what cost?
“My husband asked me if there was someone else.” Her eyelashes were heavy as she recalled the look on Sonall’s face when he probably realized that Sulim wasn’t going to last very long in this marriage. Not without throwing him the saddest bone she had in her arsenal of matrimonial weapons.
Mira was patient until it was apparent that Sulim couldn’t speak as quickly as they’d like. “Well?” she asked. “Is there? You tell me.”
Sulim inhaled a deep breath that hitched the moment it hit her throat. Eventually, she turned her head so she looked Mira right in the glistening amber eyes.
“Guess so.”
The smile on Mira’s feminine visage was a soulful blend of voracious and reassuring, as if she had no impure thoughts, and certainly no ill intentions for Sulim in that barn.
Too bad.
“What did you tell him, though?”
“I told him no.” Sulim swallowed the air that was trapped in her throat, knowing damn well what would soon happen. “Because I’m a fucking liar who thinks that lying in the short term will stop the pain from what happens long term. Except I’m good at lying. One of the most obnoxious things about me.”
“You lie to people often, do you?”
“Only if I think it’s in my best interests.”
“Have you ever lied to me?”
“Only when I pretended that I wanted nothing to do with you.”
“Damn.” Mira put her hands on her hips. “You sound like you could use a hit of my pipe. Unfortunately, there’s nothing good in there.”
“Yeah, well…” Sulim rubbed the back of her neck before giving in to the facts—she was hopeless and confused.
I want her. I want her to leave. I want to enjoy what of my life I have.