>>6070188Salicera’s words feel like a burning snake eating through your chest.
“I will be taking a short detour with Salicera,” you quickly inform the other two, who are just as stunned as you by her comment. Rubida nods and Soralisa hesitates, tentatively raising her hands. But you do not wait for her to finish, or even to protest.
Surprising even yourself, you link your arms with the brunette and pull her into a side alley, thankfully an empty one. You feel like something else is guiding your actions and you are just watching yourself perform, as if you were an actress in some theatre play.
But the feeling of pushing Salicera against the dusty wall and peering into her brown eyes is just as sharp as that of your shock hooked onto your stomach.
“Do you understand what you just said?” You hiss, pressing your arm against her chest. At any other time you might be distracted by soft the feeling of her generous breasts, and perhaps it would be enough to make you blush and relent, but now?Now there is only fire going off through your veins.
“Ah— I did not mean to…”
“You did not <span class="mu-i">mean</span> to? Salicera, do you even hear yourself speak? Did… did anything happen to you? How can you be a Knight in training and speak like that about Saint Kishirra of all people? She’s a paragon to all of us! And you besmirch her motivation — make it sound like — like she was just trying to save her skin or something!”
Her brown eyes look at you, searching. She bites her lip.
“I— I’m sorry, Argia. I spoke without thinking.”
“That has nothing to do with thinking,” you warn, but you do relent your pressure. You pull off, panting hard. You feel the heat prickling against your face and you notice Rubida and Soralisa peeking from the corner. You are making a scene. Self-doubt tries to choke your anger in its thick cloudy smoke, but you do not allow it to.
Not yet.
[cont.]
