In the stillness of Maria's bedroom, the surface of the huge full-length mirror behaved momentarily like water agitated by a stone.
The ripples expanded from the center, and a second later, the surface tension broke.
Airam, with Lief's hand firmly intertwined with hers, took a step, crossing the threshold from the grayish world back to the warmth of reality.
"Ah... nothing like real oxygen."
Airam released Lief's hand and stretched with the languor of a cat that just woke up from a nap in the sun.
She arched her back, and the movement made the hem of her skirt rise dangerously, revealing a stretch of pale thigh before falling back down.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the glass...
In that faded limbo inside the mirror, Maria was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees against her chest, watching the scene like a spectator trapped in the front row.
Her emotions were a volatile cocktail.
She had seen her own body, move through a living nightmare without blinking. She had seen Lief dismantle a monster and heal a girl with a touch.
Her heart still beat with a residue of fear for the danger and a strong admiration toward him.
But now, upon seeing them alone in her room, that admiration was souring rapidly, transforming into something much more painful... secondhand embarrassment and an acidic pang of jealousy.
She saw that Airam, after stretching, did not make the slightest attempt to give her back control. Instead, she turned on her heels with a smug smile and walked toward Lief, invading his space with a confidence that Maria had never possessed.
Due to the height difference, Airam had to tilt her head back to hold Lief's gaze, with a direct boldness.
"You are a mess," she murmured.
She raised both hands and began to fix the collar of Lief's shirt. Her fingers grazed the skin of his neck, tracing the line of the collarbone with a softness that made Maria, from her prison, feel a shiver.
"Tell me one thing," said Airam, lowering her voice and injecting a subtle huskiness into it. "We just saved a whole town from an eternal curse, and the lieutenant only treats us to a greasy burger? Doesn't that seem a little... stingy to you?"
Lief let her touch him.
"It seems like a fair deal to me. I was hungry."
"Tch. What a boring guy you are sometimes."
Airam made a grimace of displeasure, but she did not pull away. On the contrary, her hands slid slowly downward, going down from the neck until landing flat on Lief's firm chest and with the tip of her index finger, she began to trace slow circles on the fabric, just above his heart.
"You should know that real rewards," she whispered, getting a step closer, "rarely have to do with food."
!
Maria felt her breath cut off.
She was petrified.
'Sister... What the hell are you doing?!'
It was her body. They were her hands. It was her voice.
And yet, it was being used to execute a dance of seduction so shameless that Maria could not process it. She felt her cheeks burning with such intensity that, if she had a physical body, they would have radiated heat.
It was a sensation of violation of privacy, mixed with a strange and bitter feeling of displacement.
She felt like an intruder in her own life, seeing how someone else drove her car much better than her.
But what really drove a stake into her heart was Lief's reaction.
He did not push her away!
Lief stood there, stoic but receptive, allowing Airam to touch him with a possessive familiarity.
A poisonous doubt took root in Maria's mind:
'Could it be that... could it be that he likes this? Does he like girls like her? Daring...?'
In an instant, her self-esteem collapsed.
She looked at that version of "herself" on the other side of the glass, radiant, confident, capable of holding the gaze of a man like Lief and flirting with him without stuttering.
Then she looked at herself, whose only ability was blushing and hiding.
A sensation of crushing inferiority flooded her.
She was not only jealous that Airam was touching Lief, she was jealous that Airam was everything that she did not dare to be.
"That is enough. Stop playing."
Lief finally intervened, grabbing Airam's mischievous hand, "If you keep playing, your sister is probably going to have a panic attack inside that mirror."
Laughing, Airam let Lief release her wrist, then she turned to look at the mirror and gave a mocking grimace to Maria, whose eyes behind were glassy from frustration.
"What a party pooper. It was just a little warm-up," complained Airam, taking a step back. "Okay, okay. I will not bother the puritan anymore. Let's switch."
As soon as she finished speaking, Maria felt a familiar suction force from the depths of the mirror.
And the scene before her eyes spun violently, the colors shattered and reformed, and then, with an electric shock, consciousness crashed again against her physical body.
The sensation of having her feet on the ground was relieving, the weight of her own body, the soft texture of the room's carpet, the dense and familiar air.
She was back.
Standing in front of her, immutable and strangely attractive, was Lief.
Airam's soul had already returned to the glass, crossing her arms and looking at her with a smile of superiority.
"I..." Maria could barely form words and the heat in her face was so intense that she felt the pulse in her cheeks.
She did not dare to look Lief in the eyes.
She lowered her head, fixing her attention on the tips of her toes, praying for the ground to open up and swallow her.
The experience of the last few minutes had been engraved directly into her nervous system.
The texture of the fabric of Lief's shirt under the tips of her fingers, the warmth of his neck, and even the firmness of the muscles of his chest... all those sensations were now etched into Maria's muscle memory.
She was hopelessly compromised!
How was she going to be able to act normally?
"It is getting late," said Lief breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I should go back home."
"Ah... oh, yes, sure. Good," stammered Maria, snapping her head up, only to lower it instantly and she forced herself to speak with the firmest voice she could find. "You... be careful on the way."
"I will."
Lief turned around and headed toward the window. He opened the curtains with a quick movement, but just before jumping, he turned back.
"By the way, Maria."
"Mhm?"
Lief smiled.
"You had a lot of courage last night, you looked very cool."
Having said this, he pushed off and jumped out the second floor window. A moment later, the vibrant roar of the Fenrir engine resonated from the street and soon faded into the distance.
"..."
Maria stood there, stunned.
The last sentence echoed in her mind, repeating itself over and over again.
He said "you," not "your sister."
A wave of indescribable emotion ran through her body, instantly dissipating the embarrassment and discomfort of a moment ago.
The corner of her mouth lifted, and her whole body felt such a lightness that she was about to float.
He had praised her.
"Hmph, let's say he has a good eye," came the now slightly more irritated voice of Airam from the mirror, breaking the spell. "But Maria, you have to try harder. Otherwise, next time, I swear that I really will not give you back the body!"
Maria's face turned red hot again, but this time, the emotion was a mixture of embarrassment and a budding determination.
________
Time: If you're craving more (and I know you are!), I have just what you need. On my Patreon, you'll find exclusive chapters. Join our community and be the first to discover what happens next!
👉 [patreon.com/Athome790]
Your support fuels me. Thank you for the support! đź’–