"You okay?" Sam asked. She stood to against the wall, her hands at her side and eyebrows lowered. Of course she could be relaxed about this.
Why doesn't she just make the first turn? Dora thought. First move? Oh, what do they call it?
Time may have started moving again in her realm, but that didn't mean she always understood everything. Her brother may have been gone, and a (very headstrong, very pretty) human may have constantly been visiting her, going back and forth from the ghost zone and human world, but those had been unexpected consequences (though, if she were to be completely honest, she rather liked both).
"I," Dora replied. Her voice shook as she spoke, her eyes never leaving Sam's. Sam, the girl who had changed her life in more ways than the other girl could ever possibly realize. The girl who had made time move again, who had helped Dorothea to realize where her rightful spot in her kingdom was: the throne, not in her brother's shadow. "I'm just..."
"Just what?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
Dora looked away from her. There were thousands of words that she could say, and rearrange to form thousands of more sentences. So many possible explanations except none would ever be exactly what she meant.
She could hear her brother's voice in her head, echoing through her skull, his tone low and dripping with venom. Physically, he was gone, and yet...
Yet his presence hung around his former kingdom (ironically) like a ghost.
"And you are sure that we can do this?" Dora's voice shook.
She had heard stories of people like her. Her brother had told them sometimes, his voice always lowering and a cold disgust filling his eyes.
"I want none of those disgusting filth in my kingdom," he had said. And she had nodded along, just like she always had when he was around.
"Yeah," Sam replied, her voice lowering. "At least if you're okay with it."
"I," Dora replied. "I-"
Her lips met Sam's before she could finish her sentence. What did it matter what her brother had thought?
He couldn't stop me if he tried, Dora thought. A warm feeling spread through her chest and slowly worked its way down her arms and legs.
Sam pulled away. "I've always wanted you to do that." She raised an eyebrow. "Mind if I try?"
"Go right ahead," Dora replied.