Reina’s gaze flitted to Maior’s plump smiling lips, finding the peach fuzz hairs of her jaw and journeying to the moles of her neck. She had so many, along with the mark of the constellation, which sent them into a colliding path. Her skin was so smooth, if a little bit hairy, the same color as the insides of a freshly baked roll.
Without thinking, she reached for Maior’s neck, cradling the smoothness of it. Reina’s heart raced. But even as Maior watched her with wide eyes, her lips parted in invitation, Reina was paralyzed by fear. She had already been rejected once. She had already been granted a kiss in pity—
Maior plunged for her lips.
Reina kissed her back, closing her eyes as her heart put the tempo of any joropo to shame. They kissed, ravenous, Reina taking in a scent she had always thought was from the Páramo but now realized was wholly Maior’s.
Maior molded the roundness of her body into Reina, who had shoulders enough for both of them. Her breasts pressed against the flatness of Reina’s. And Reina exhaled—trembled—as a wicked charge sent shivers down her spine. She was sure she was going to drown. She was sure her heart would give out at any moment now. For how could someone she held in her hands, tangible, feel so good?
They fumbled with each other, fingers trembling, delving into clothes and worshipping whatever length of skin they could find. Reina’s tail coiled, both of its own accord and with dexterous delight, helping Maior’s hands along wherever they willed to go. Every caress and every kiss was irreplicable because it sparked with the magic of newness. Of the marvel that a touch could sear as it traveled along the span of Maior’s neck or the curves of her breasts.
When Maior held Reina, it was like having a home, a roof, without fear of being asked to leave. Maior’s kisses were not spoiled by the half-truths Reina withheld. There was no magic of amapola. No fear that what she did wasn’t enough or that she was wrong for what she felt.
Reina was drunk on it, so she stopped before she could spoil it.
Maior nuzzled her face, blindly searching for her lips, until she noticed the hesitation. Her eyes were dizzy and glossy. “Reina?” She blinked away the confusion.
In her dreams she had always pictured herself as the pillar to Celeste’s splendid future, taking a supportive role, merely working in the shadows. For she would always be nozariel, inferior to valcos, and enslaved to iridio.
But ever since their truths had come out at the tomb—ever since she’d realized all she had to do was embrace Ches—she’d known her path had diverged.
And Maior had always been there for Reina.
They were equals. Reina dared believe the thing bringing them together was this feeling. Nothing else. But if she ever had any doubt, all she had to do was see it in Maior’s eyes.
Reina caressed her cheek, easing her worries.
“It’s too fast?” Maior said and Reina nodded.
“I don’t want to ruin it.”
Maior leaned into her again, hugging. “You wouldn’t.” She buried her face in Reina’s chest, her breaths close to the ragged transplant, tickling. “But I understand.”
Through the alcove, Reina watched the sun rise higher against the enamel-blue sky. A foreign sort of passion bloomed in her then, surging through her veins like a fresh shot of iridio, as if sunlight itself were the new fuel to her heart.
“This time I want to do things right.” She stared at her hands, at the calluses and nails chipped from violence, noting how they were rough and battered compared to Maior’s soft pair. “All this time I thought earning my grandmother’s approval was how I would make it. I was blinded by the idea that Celeste and I belonged together, for no reason other than the friendship we built after I came to her manor. All I wanted was a family and to belong.”
It wasn’t pity but sympathy bunching up Maior’s brows. She squeezed Reina again.
“But I went about it all wrong. This time I want to do things carefully. If I’m going to be with you, I want to do it right, and for the right reasons. I want to build my own home through honest work.” Her gaze found the sky again. “Ches gave me another chance. I want to make sure it’s not wasted.”
She didn’t have proof. But it was like one of those true facts about the world: how the sun made the day and nourished everything that was alive. She knew it with the same certainty that had guided her to destroy the tomb.
Ches had never left her. He was real. And ever since the dais had imploded, he had been in her.
Even if she had no other choice but to rebuild, she was stronger and better prepared. With Ches, Reina was no longer alone.
The story continues in…
The Warring Gods: Book Two
Geomancia
Known Branches of Geomancia
Litio: Branch for spells of protection. Litio is extracted from petalites and spodumenes. Rings of litio are worn on the index finger. Proper solutions of litio are clear in color. Litio can block the healing of galio spells by creating a barrier around the body.
Galio: Branch for spells of healing. Rings of galio are worn on the middle finger. Proper solutions of galio are chartreuse in color. Galio can inhibit the alchemical changes in the body that come from bismuto enhancement.
Bismuto: Branch for spells of physical enhancement. Rings of bismuto are worn on the ring finger. Proper solutions of bismuto are azure in color. Bismuto can shatter the barriers cast by litio spells.
Iridio: Branch in active development. Iridio is extracted from a meteor in the Páramo Mountains. Solutions of iridio can be worn anywhere on the body. Proper solutions of iridio are black in color.
Visual Manifestation of Geomancia
? Red for the assertive conductors ? Blue for the analytical thinkers ? Purple for the supportive caretakers ? Gold for the persuasive promoters
Glossary of Terms
aguinaldo—verses sung to the melody of four-string guitars and maracas, typical of the Páramo region.
amapola—a fruit endemic to coastal Fedria, spherical in shape, with thin green skin and the stem area flaring upward like a red flower. The insides are a fleshy red that turns white upon contact with air. It is believed those who share the same amapola are forever bound by the bands of fate.
arbiter—the game master of Calamity.
Calamity—a gambling card game retelling the disasters Ches’s and Rahmagut’s strife brought upon the land: an earthquake, a flood, a plague, a horde, a day of shrouded sun, a star fall, and a legion of valcos.
caudillo—a military commander and protector of lands.
Ches—believed to be the god of the sun by the indigenous societies of Venazia and Fedria.
El Cónclave Llanero—a clandestine group stirring dissent over the appointment of a Venazian king.
contrapunteo—a subgenre of joropo, in which two or more singers improvise a verse duel to the melody of a four-string guitar and maracas.
cuatro—a four-string guitar.
escudo—a gold coin, currency of the Viceroyalty of Venazia and adopted in Venazia and Fedria.
Fedria—a sovereign republic east of Río’e Marle, first established in 344 KD upon the declaration of independence. Segolita is its capital city.
frailejón—a tree endemic to the Páramo, with marcescent succulent leaves.
Las Hermanas de Piedra—a Penitent order of nurses and nuns founded in Apartaderos, who strive for convergence between Pentimiento teachings and geomancia.