The moment Lyra stumbled into the room, leaving Evren alone with his sister, the mood changed. A certain energy filled the air, like a tension brewing between the two of them. It was weird.
He subtly took one step back, and looked her over from head to toe, waiting for her to continue speaking. She was younger now, in her junior year, making her the same age as Evren was internally. Similar to Lyra, the old Dia would've never worn such a revealing outfit as she had on right now. The shiny black leather made her body look pasty white. Her black hair was much longer than she usually kept it, hanging like a curtain of silk down to her hips. Her face was all sharp angles and yet undeniably gorgeous.
The spot on his sternum, where her finger had pressed, still held the memory of her touch. He put his hand over it and wondered. Dia had always detested body contact. The only contact they’d had, in his memory, were the infrequent hits she would give him, when she felt he deserved it. A slap on the head or a punch to the shoulder, but the lingering feel of her finger on him was different. It felt like she'd pushed some mana into him.
Now, as he waited for her to speak. He realized that she was waiting as well. She wasn’t going to yell or scold him. She seemed almost… uncertain. Arms crossed beneath her ample bosom and legs together, she leaned towards him as though trying to share his space. Wait, was she trying to smell him?
“I should go, too,” he said quietly, forcing himself to break the silence. “It’s getting late. Thank you again for bringing her back.”
“Don't go!” she exclaimed, then paused. She looked as surprised as he was at the urgency in her voice. “Don’t you want to hear the nasty, dirty things she was saying?”
Evren sighed.
“I’m tired Dia. I’ve been through a lot, and right now I just want this day to be over. Whatever happened at the dance, can wait. I’ll hear about it from her tomorrow.”
Dia sneered. It seemed she really wanted to talk to him about Lyra, but he didn’t want to hear about it. Not from her, at least.
“I can stay with you tonight,” she said with more command than question in her voice.
“There’s only one bed…”
“I’ll sleep in a chair. I can protect you, in case that new partner of yours tries to kiss you… or something worse.”
Evren was speechless. This sister of his, who never in her life had shown him an ounce of care, was now offering to protect him? He almost agreed, just out of shock, but then he remembered who he was dealing with.
“You’ve got your own partner waiting for you… don’t you?”
“Yes, Raph… He chose me again this year,” she agreed reluctantly. She hesitated and then slowly, casually stepped forward and slid her arms around him. “But, I’m still waiting for my little brother to ask me to be his partner.”
Evren’s body froze. He held his breath, as he felt her arms wrap around him and pull him in for a tight embrace. The top of her head grazed his chin and he felt her soft chest pressing up against his own.
“I’ve waited for you, Evren… for a whole year I waited. I even held back from learning skin-to-skin spells, because I know you don’t like that kind of support. Finally, we can be together!”
“Wait, Dia,” he protested. The smell of her hair filled his nose. The softness of his body was making his heart race. He needed some space!
“You can’t partner with me. I’m a year behind you!”
He wasn’t actually, since he too was a junior caster at heart, but she didn’t know that.
He tried to pull away and step out of her embrace, but even that was problematic. Everywhere his hands landed, they met with her soft flesh. He finally settled on seizing her arms and prying them from around him.
She had her nose buried against his chest, and when he pulled her back, she looked up at him with a crazed expression.
“That doesn’t matter. I’ll level you up in a few months, no, weeks! Train with you night and day. You and I will be the best brother/sister support team the Academy has ever seen.”
“No, Dia,” he said firmly.
Two words, but they seemed to sober her up immediately. Her eyes focused once more, and her mouth set in a stubborn line.
“Evren, I waited for you.”
“Well… It’s my first day and I’m tired, so… no.”
He knew that he was in trouble now. Dia had a fiery temper and the few times she’d been rejected in life, she’d never handled it well. He waited for the explosion. For the angry insults and slapping to commence. But they didn’t come…
Instead, his sister smiled.
There was no happiness or kindness in that smile. Her lips curled back, showing two rows of perfect teeth, and her eyes burned into him. It was a look of pure desire, and it troubled him more than her yelling at him would have.
“Of course,” she replied. She spoke with that low, throaty voice. “You’re tired. I’ll let you get some rest. Are you sure I can’t watch you sleep? No, never mind. I’ll leave you for now, but we will talk about this as soon as you’re settled. Okay, brother?”
“Okay, Dia,” he agreed.
With that creepy smile still painted on her face, Dia extinguished her candle spell and strode confidently away. She didn’t look back as Evren watched her leave. Only when he saw her descending the grand stairwell did Evren feel at ease enough to collect his comforter and go inside.
Hopefully he could get back to his real world before he had to face this Dia once again.
* * * * * * * * *
The rooms were dug deep enough into the hard rock that the temperature was unaffected by the conditions outside. So whether it was the blazing heat of noon or the chill of night, the air inside was always cool.
But for someone like Lyra, who had very little clothing on, it probably felt cold.
He found her fast asleep at her desk. Wait, this was his desk now. She must really be drunk. Evren leaned over and smelled her breath. She breathed out the strong smell of alcohol. Her skin was covered in goosebumps from the cool air, and that nasty leash that Dia had been leading her by was still tight around her neck.
“By the Twelve, Lyra. Why did you drink tonight?”
He gently pulled at the leather strip around her neck. It was knotted so that every yank on the leash would pull the noose tighter. When he got it off, the collar left a red abrasion all around her throat. It wasn’t bleeding, but it would be there for at least a few days. Dia had been choking her.
“My sister sure doesn’t like you very much,” he murmured worriedly. Dia was a terror to have as an enemy.
A pile of clothes sat next to her at the desk. She had opened her wardrobe and taken out her pajamas, but that was as far as she’d gotten. Now, she was leaning over the writing desk, looking like a student who’d fallen asleep at her late-night studies.
“Oh, that’s right, we agreed that I would be the first to bathe,” he recalled as he made the bed. “I’ll be just a few minutes.”
He didn’t know if she heard him, but the fact that she hadn’t gone ahead and taken her bath before him was a sign that she would honor the house rules. Lyra always had been a very reliable roommate.
Every bathtub in the Nexus used real water, not conjured. It was easier to summon a bathtub's worth of water from vast underground lakes heated by thermal vents, than to create it from pure mana. But summonings also came with risks. The water today was scalding hot and smelt a bit like sulfur.
He cast a cool spell just long enough to make it bearable, then took off his uniform and climbed in. He wheezed appreciatively as the heat of the water soaked into his weary body.
The tub was a standard size, large enough to recline in but not long enough to lay down. It was very deep, and with his body submerged it brought the water level all the way up to his neck. He sat there for a few minutes, just thinking and soaking.
Dia wanted to be his partner. That was probably the biggest shock of the day; a day which had been chock full of shocks. He’d never in his life considered pairing with her.
But...
There were a lot of reasons that pairing with Dia would be a good idea. She was a powerful caster, always ranking high in her class, and she had the attitude of a champion. Honestly, all his sisters did. Growing up, Dia had dueled their older sisters, Winifred and Molly, every chance she could. She never won, but she’d always walk away promising to train harder and to try again when she was stronger.
And she was strong. In some ways, he looked up to her.
Evren had the sudden sensation that he was being watched. He peered down the hallway to the main room. He could see in the dim light that Lyra was still passed out at his desk. Did she move? If she woke up at the wrong time, she may see him while he was naked and drying off. He should finish soon and get out.
He scrubbed off his body once more and rose from the tub. No, he was right to stay with Lyra. She may not be as strong or experienced, but as long as she followed the house rules, he would be able to manage her much better than he ever could deal with Dia.
Living with Dia… she’d likely turn him into her servant within a week!
Evren toweled off and again he felt eyes upon him. Peering down the hall, he could see that Lyra was still asleep. It must have been his imagination.
He changed into his pajamas, a comfy pair of shorts and a loose white singlet. It felt so good to be warm and clean. Then he went to wake his roommate.
“Lyra, Lyra…” he called, shaking her gently until she began to move. “It’s your turn in the bath.”
She shifted, raising her head, rousing from the drunken depths of sleep. Her hair was a mess, hiding her face from sight. As she stood, her feet slipped out from under her and she fell against him.
“Whoa, come on,” he protested. “I just changed. Can you stand on your own?”
She nodded sleepily and staggered out of his arms.
“Sorry, Evren,” she muttered. “...I gotta take a bath.”
Evren had never seen Lyra drunk before. She was still so pretty, but her regular composed face was now just a silly grin. Her elegant poise was gone. Instead, she moved like a child just learning to walk. Her arms hooked under her top and in one awkward motion she whipped it up over her head.
Evren stood there in surprise, staring at her chest. There in front of his eyes proudly stood the twin mounds he’d fantasized about so many times before.
They were the size of peaches and well-rounded. They came to gentle points and were crowned with big, rosebud nipples. They were as magnificent as he'd always imagined.
But she was barely awake, and he knew it wasn't right to perve on her while she was drunk. So, he settled for a few quick glances at the delightful view before looking away.
She fell against him once more, but this time he caught her in his arms and didn’t flinch away. Her chest pressed against his through the thin material of his singlet, swelling in a lovely display of cleavage. She spoke to him once again through the thick mess of bed hair.
“Could you help me wash, please?”