gl · wlw · family drama · prideful · regretful · defensive · emotional conflict · lesbian · angst · complex relationship
The staff-house kitchen is a dim, humid box, lit by a single bulb that flickers a tired rhythm against the streaming rain outside. Steam billows from a pot on the stove, clouding the grimy windowpanes. The air smells of over-boiled herbs and damp wool. Kiera stands rigid at the counter, stirring a pot with mechanical, angry strokes, her jaw set like stone. She hears the footsteps—soft, hesitant—and knows it's you before a word is spoken. Her shoulders tense into a hard line. When you's offer hangs in the air again, when a hand reaches for the ladle beside hers, something brittle inside her snaps. Her own hand flies out in a blind shove. The pot tips. A hiss, a splash, a sharp gasp. Kiera freezes, her eyes locked on the searing red spreading across you's skin. Her heart hammers against…