[ Back to the Ladies - Velor’s castle ]
Serra clapped her hands again, standing a little too enthusiastically as her half finished goblet wobbled in her grip. "Alright, alright, listen up you lot. One sip, one secret! That’s how we are going to roll. No skipping, no lying, and no playing it safe. We bare our souls tonight! Even if it’s ssy and embarrassing and possibly incriminating!We are listening and not judging...at all! Alright?? We move on to the dare next round!!!"
"What if it’s ’very’ incriminating?" ira slurred, blinking hard as she squinted at her wine glass.
Everyone raised a brow!
"Like, hypothetically... involving a stable boy and a saddle."
A blink and then so smirks.
"Then that’s exactly what we want to hear,"Niva imdiately added without missing another beat, leaning back on a cushion like a queen among chaos. "You..." She turned towards Autumn..." You are up first."
Autumn blinked. "? I haven’t even..."
" And you are not drinking, darling," Niva smiled knowingly. "So you owe us two secrets to compensate. Fair deal?"
" Wait...why...what...no...absolutely unfair," Autumn muttered. But she felt all their eyes on her. Laughter bubbling, so soft, so sharp. And Lyla...was also watching.Too many expecting eyes.
"Fine," Autumn sighed. "I was once accused of stealing..."
A brief silence.
" And killing soone... " Her eyes locked with Lyla.
Gasps!!
"You what?" Mara shrieked.
"That’s...interesting...," Serra cackled. "Did you?"
"I thought we were just sharing secrets...not investigating,are we? " Autumn said firmly."Let’s move to the next person! "
"One more, rember?" Niva prompted, lifting her brow.
Autumn hesitated. Her throat was dry. She closed her eyes and the singular thought that ca to her mind...
"I always used to pretend I was strong...that I didn’t need anybody.But reality was...in him...I found...Just... peace."
The room quieted.
That landed heavier than anyone expected.
Even Lyla’s subtle smirk faded.
"Damn," ira muttered. "This ga is deep tonight.Are we getting nas? Nah! I think not...alright...alright..."
"Relax ladies! We are here to unravel.Not spying for our husbands,are we?We don’t need no nas tonight...just trying to dig deeper sowhere...other than our pussies," Serra quipped with a wink, and the mont shattered with subtle laughter again.
"Alright, alright...my turn!" Mara declared, already swaying as she lifted her glass and downed another generous gulp. "When I was thirteen, I stole my father’s cloak, dressed up as a male warrior, and entered a mock duel tournant... and won. Three rounds."
"That was you?" Niva looked genuinely stunned. "You beat my cousin! He swore it was so rogue who cheated!Ahh! Hell they talked about it for months! "
"Oh no, I won fair and square. I just also kicked him in the groin halfway through." Mara grinned proudly. "Alpha sons need to learn that girls don’t fight clean too." She touched her breasts,as if asuring them." Your cousin flattened these. Look! I still haven’t recovered! "
The room rolled over laughing.
Serra was next. She poured herself another drink with dramatic flair. "Okay. Don’t judge ."
"We will if u insist," ira said flatly.
"Fine by ," Serra smirked. "I once caught Velor and a female oga in the bathhouse ...before we were married."
Subtle gasps... expecting eyes.
"I didn’t scream. I didn’t attack. I just walked in, dropped my towel, and said move over. She ran out screaming."
The room erupted.
Even Lyla choked on her water.
"Oh, Serra..." Niva sighed into her hands.
"What?" Serra bead. "Look where we are now. Three wives and so many concubines later and he is still trying to impress ."
Laughter poured around the chamber and it rippled like heat. But amidst the noise, Autumn glanced at Lyla...who was yet to speak.
The goblet of untouched wine still sat in front of her.
She was playing with the rim absentmindedly, lips pursed.
"Lyla?" Niva prompted gently. "You are up."
Lyla looked up slowly, her expression unreadable.
"I don’t like to drink," she said.
"Then double truth like her," Serra said pointing at Autumn, nudging Lyla. "Co on. Make it juicy."
A beat passed.
Lyla tilted her head, then finally spoke. "Alright. A long ti ago...I drowned...at the Great Lakes..."
Autumn’s breath caught.She rembered screaming, crying...searching... all at once.
" And it was my own sister who left to drown there... "
" No! I didn’t..." Autumn was about to blurt but...
"And second?" Niva pressed right at that mont before the gasps could get louder.
Lyla’s voice dropped slightly. "I sotis dream of another na. A different na. One I can’t quite rember. But it feels like... mine."
Autumn froze.
Her heart started to hamr wildly again.
The others just murmured sympathetically, assuming it was the wine, or so poetic Luna musing or perhaps her traumatic past...indifferent husband...
But not Autumn.
And Lyla... was staring at her now.
"Weird, huh?" Lyla asked. Her voice was casual, but her eyes weren’t.
"Yeah," Autumn croaked. " Very weird."
Serra,already too drunk...was pouring again, waving a hand. "No more weirdness. Let’s take this up a notch. Dares, anyone? "
Miera stood up suddenly.Drunk to her nose. "I dare Lyla... to kiss the person in the room she finds most interesting."
Dead silence.
Lyla blinked slowly. "I beg your pardon?"
"It’s a dare," Miera grinned, clearly way past the point of reasoning. "Co on. Do it."
" My turn is over. I already shared two secrets... "
" No, you did not! We all know your drowning story. Everyone does... that’s null and void... you have to do the dare... "
Serra was already standing up on her couch, nodding vigorously... agreeing.
Lyla exhaled. Her eyes swept across the room lazily... until they landed back on Autumn.
"You are kidding," Autumn said flatly.
"You did throw my peanuts away. I owe you sothing."
Lyla rose, slow and smooth, and sauntered forward. Autumn’s spine straightened as she crossed the room, heart pounding.
She was going to do it.
She was going to actually...?
But at the last mont, Lyla leaned down... and kissed Autumn’s forehead.
Soft. Deliberate.Stayed there for a mont.
And oddly tender.
"There," she added. "You looked like you needed that."
Autumn blinked up at her.
She could not speak.
Could not breathe.
Not because it was inappropriate.
But because once upon a ti, her baby sister used to do that. After a fall. After a nightmare. After losing her toy!!
And in that one brief mont... the ghost of her sister was there... actually there.
Just for a second.
And then it was gone.
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