02. TOUCH
SULPICIA CALI
Didyme and I sit on a large boulder in the sunlight, enjoying one of the rare opportunities we have to come out during the day. Though it is unnecessary, we are being guarded by Felix. Well, I am being guarded by Felix. Aro does not allow me to go out without a member of the guard at my heels.
Caius' wife, Athenodora, is with us, but she sits off to the side a little, as if somehow aware that her presence intrudes upon my deepest desires to be alone with our other sister. What privacy might afford us, I cannot say, but I long for it just the same. I always long to be alone with Didyme.
"What are you thinking, dear sister?" Didyme asks me in her siren's soprano voice. Her pale, long fingers thread through my hair, stirring a nervous but delightful feeling in me.
Crisscross, crisscross, crisscross… I will have a braid soon, one that looks like hers—only blond, not black—one that connects us until we remove the ties that hold the braids in place. I am tempted to keep my hair this way forever, if only she will keep hers braided as well.
I smile and close my eyes. Tilting my head back, I feel the warmth of the sun on my hard and cold skin. "I am thinking that eternity is not nearly long enough for moments such as these."
The braiding comes to a stop, and I feel, rather than hear, Didyme move closer. She leans into me, her small breasts pressing against my back. It is a different embrace from the ones we have shared countless times before. It is warmer somehow, more intimate. "Is it the sunlight that thrills you so?" Her voice is a whisper.
My eyes are wide open now. Though I have no need to breathe, I feel as though I am suffocating in anticipation. I desire countless things in this moment: her touch, her kiss, her declarations. "It is not the sun, no," I reply. I swallow thickly. "It is the company." Your company—always your company.
I am not looking at her face, but I know the moment her lips quirk into that brilliant smile of hers. "Did you hear that, Athenodora?" she calls out. "We make for wonderful company."
Eyes closed to the sun, Athenodora grins impishly from where she lies a pace away from us. "Was there ever any question?"
We chuckle, and the afternoon continues blissfully, with Didyme's body pressed closely to mine. My unfinished braid is flattened between us, forgotten in favor of touch.