Page 97 of Lau Ahi
“So you have some.”
“No. I gave a lot to Sasha. I’m sure she’s got it tucked away somewhere, waiting for me to ask for it. My father had been gifting us pieces our entire lives but I told him to stop.”
I wouldn’t care what my kid said; I would have kept buying things for her even if it meant angering my kid. “Your father is pissing me off more and more.”
“Why? I understood why he hadn’t gifted me any recently. I haven’t had cause for it.”
“You do now. And truthfully, he still should’ve had the pieces produced and then kept for you for later on.”
“To be honest, I’ve always been fond of clothing but I never made a big deal about jewelry. I’ve always had to be inconspicuous because of my role here. Having a bracelet stack that cost more than some people’s homes wasn’t the best idea.”
I understood her position since I was in a similar boat but it still bothered me that there was a difference in how they were treated. “You weren’t going to be playing the role of broke college student for your whole life. Things could easily have been gifted to you and then put in a vault. Hell, our family has a bunch of jewelry that we’ve counterfeited over the years and kept the originals. There’s even a tiara if you want it. It converts into a necklace.”
I was doing too much. Blurring lines that needed to stay crisp but seeing them looking so expensive and Asha being more simplistic it bothered me seeing her be othered.
She smiled and shook her head as though the thought of a tiara was ludicrous. “That’s a bit much.”
“Don’t say that. You saw that Xerxes got one for his wife. And you know that Nevaeh custom-made it for her along with all of her bridal jewelry. TheConsortiumis going to keep her in the black for the next few decades.”
“Again.Much. Vanya’s an actual princess now. I’m… me.”
I shook my head unable to speak on the situation without revealing too much. Asha had a way of speaking that always seemed to downplay who she was and it was pissing me off. “I’m going to leave that alone.”
“Why?”
“Because I never thought I would hear you be self-deprecating and I need to sit with it for a second.”
She opened her mouth and closed it before she ran her hand through her hair. Halfway through the crown she paused briefly and brought her hand down in front of her face. Her eyes were on the ring that I’d placed there and she looked past it to focus on me as she shook her head. “This is weird.”
“What is?”
When Asha hesitated I tensed wondering what she was going to say next. “We haven’t argued in hours.”
I relaxed when I should’ve been even more on guard. Her assessment was correct and I was unsure what that meant for us. Instead of allowing it to deepen into something that might have us doing something that we would regret and then run away from later, I lightened the mood as best I could.
“We’ve been in enemy territory. You needed someone to have your back, I was the person for it. Once your nervous system regulates after being there with them, I’m sure you’ll find a reason to get pissed off at me again.”
She rolled her eyes as she lowered her hand. She avoided eye contact and looked around the immaculately organized closet as though she were looking for an excuse to move away from me. Since there was nothing out of place she didn’t have one and stood her ground.
“You speak as though you’re looking forward to it.”
“Would you think I was crazy if I said I was?”
Our eyes locked and the space between us seemed to shorten the longer our gazes held.
“No. There’s a way that we’ve begun to coexist. I wonder why you’ve kept something more distant than others.” The smile that had been on her face faded slightly as her eyes landed back on her ring.
“You mean why I haven’t tried to sleep with you?”
A quick nod, one that showed how she was attempting to be open but was also guarding herself. The air had shifted, which made me wonder if she felt like I didn’t desire her. Why that would be the case was beyond me since it had been obvious. “That.”
“Because there are things I feel like we need to work through. Get on better footing. Despite the chemistry between the two of us, I don’t want what we build to be only on that. It’s the easiest way for us to have cracks overlooked in what it is we’re building.”
“So you want to learn one another before we sleep together again.”
“Eager to get back to your ladder?”
“You already know that but again, I’ll follow your lead.”
