Connections

[Oriena]

He didn’t press, and she hadn’t honestly expected that he would try. Ori watched him crawl closer. The heat in her gaze had been a purposeful distraction, one she knew he’d pander to, but when he reacted the way she assumed he would she felt the seductive veneer cool. She wondered if it had been a mistake, sleeping together that last time, when emotions had tangled with touch. But sex had always been an easier language than words. It wasn’t romance, and she was hardly about to spout reassurances that their relationship remained unchanged; that it had shifted from a game to a mutual benefit to a genuine connection a long time ago. So far as she was concerned it didn’t need defining. Loyalty like that shouldn’t. But he was always poking at it, like he was afraid it’d puff away like smoke on a sharp breeze.

What Nox needed was someone, and she wasn’t under much illusion about her role in that. She was a habit he was afraid to kick because he’d lost almost everything else. And given his unusual greeting at the door, she expected something had happened to trigger off his neediness now. This was the first time he’d ever tracked her down without her consent. That wasn’t exactly normal for him.

She didn’t move away. If he closed the distance she wouldn’t stop him. From kissing her, at least; she wasn’t unmindful of her mother’s breakdown behind the bedroom door. But she didn’t move closer either. “What happened?” she said instead. Ori knew where they stood, not least because he’d told her before. She knew that the fact he’d resolved his issues with the horde didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy one another in boredom or comfort or whatever other excuse they found. “You have an argument?”