"It's fine," I said again, because apparently Soomin needed to hear it twice before her brain would accept the concept.
"The Fox gets jealous!" she blurted, her words tumbling over each other in a rush. "She thinks you belong to us because you helped with the breathing exercises and the fruit thing and—"
I kissed her.
Quick and soft, just enough pressure to short-circuit whatever panicked rambling was about to spill out next. Her lips were warm and tasted faintly of the strawberry chapstick she must have applied in a nervous ritual before coming here. The contact lasted maybe two seconds—long enough to make my point, short enough to avoid turning it into something more complicated.
Her entire face went crimson.
Steam practically rose from her ears as her brain tried and failed to process what had just happened. Her gradient-blue eyes went wide, then wider, like someone had just told her gravity was a suggestion rather than a law.
