Page 174 of Tempting Fate

“I don’t know what you mean.” It wasn’t often I got a chance to one-up my sister, and after spending my whole life with her besting me, I wasn't above using everything to my advantage. My muscles already protested at the intense workout, and I knew I’d pay for it over the next few days, but still. A welcome price. I held out a hand.

She took it, and as soon as she was upright, she grabbed a handful of my headspines and yanked.

“Now who’s cheating?” My eyes watered. It wasn’t only cheating, it was dishonourable.

She let me go with a ruffle of my headspines and leaned against the wall. “Big sister privileges.”

Some things would never change.

Comkiri’s chirpy tones carried through the in-house comm system. “I declare it a draw. Madame Shohari, you will have to up your game. Now I have more of your training data for simulations, I am sure Master Airida will beat you next time.”

“Madame?” My sister fixed me with a dangerous glare.

I shrugged. “I might have told her we’re from Orith, but other than that, I cannot control what she says.” The gods knew I’d tried.

“Remind me why you have a corsair ship AI in your home in the first place?”

I took a long breath, only a flutter of anxiety as I remembered the day I’d retrieved her. “I owed her, and I didn’t know where else to put her. So unless Comnisa wants a friend…?”

Shohari’s whole body shivered. “Kri’s hairy arse, no. I… have some affection for her, but I could not cope with two of them. Three if you include Muzati. No offence.” She offered the last to the air around us.

“None taken, Madame Shohari.” Comkiri played a motif from a popular technir track. “That is your ‘final boss music’ for Master Airida’s ‘kick my sister’s arse’ training programme. Do you like it?”

Shohari pushed off the wall with a growl. “Our mates are back from the garden. I need to claw someone, and it shouldn’t be you.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” My toes curled into the padded floor. Maybe one day she’d learn to keep those thoughts on the inside, but I wasn’t lucky enough for it to be today.

We racked the staves on the training room wall and paced up the ramp to the ground floor. Music filtered down from above, and we headed for the upper level, where Imani’s presence called to me through the mate bond.

We’d lined the staircase walls with holopanels: on one side, copies of our art—the originals hung elsewhere in the house—and on the other, photographs of us. Me next to Bekatal shortly after I’d agreed to co-ordinate the communal garden with him. Imani in a cave entrance with the president of the Geoscience Guild, on the day she’d been accepted. An image captured by Orukem without us knowing as we sat near the central fire; the expression on Imani’s face as we gazed into each other’s eyes took my breath every time.

Before we reached the top, Shohari caught my arm. “Freedom looks good on you, brother.”

It did, though there were still days I could scarce believe it. A year since she had rescued me. “As it does on you.” She had never looked so relaxed, so alive. And there were days I barely recognised myself in the mirror—for the better. I’d filled out, not by much, but enough to make me content.

We crossed the landing. The door slid open as we approached, and I stepped onto the balcony. Hypra blooms cascaded over one corner, and in them, Kri’s shrine—and their ever-present contingent of flower lizards. Chiyi in all shades of cobalt and emerald, orange and gold, flew around the swaying branches, feeding on the last drops of nectar before the flowers closed for the night.

And there were our mates, sat on each of the two padded seats, gazing out towards the lake.

Imani turned, sensing me as I did her. Her face lit up in a radiant smile. “Who won?”

“It was a draw,” Shohari grumbled, drawing chuckles from her mate.

Garrison leaned back on the swinging sofa, letting it rock to and fro with a faint hum of hardlight ropes. “Is that so bad?”

Not at all. A definite improvement—for me, at least.

A familiar lizard flew over and nestled in my headspines. I gave Orbit an affectionate stroke as I settled into the loveseat next to Imani, then drew her onto my lap. “She’s not used to me being as strong as her.”

“I’m still not used to her being stronger than me sometimes,” Garrison muttered.

Ah yes, kri’ith females gained extra strength when they were— No, no. Sister. Disgusting.

Insects and bats flitted about in the dusk, drinking from the flowers trailing up the walls and over the balcony railings, their erratic movements sometimes synchronising with the pulsing music. The tall linsfai tree over the house provided a natural canopy; I’d been told we couldn’t have a house in the design we wanted here because of the tree’s location, but I’d insisted. And so the balcony had been built around the tree, leaving plenty of space for it to grow.

“Oh,” Shohari said, pointing to the planter in the corner, “I haven’t seen those in years.”

“They are beautiful, are they not?” It had taken a while to source as they only grew on Orith, but my contact had come through beyond my wildest expectations. Nrixia blooms in all possible shades filled the triangular planter, burgundy, deep purple, dark brown, black, and jade green. The plush petals untwisted and fell open as the small moon rose in the sky and its light reached them. They glowed with their own soft radiance even as a cloud scudded over the moon, hiding its reflection in the lake.