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this early?”
    Stella stepped back, color stabbing her cheeks. “I might
have had a really good time last night.”
    “Stella!” Sarai hissed, pulled her friend into her
room and shut the door. “Have you forgotten about Link so quickly?”
    Something passed over Stella’s face and she glanced
away; embarrassment, remorse, Sarai couldn’t really tell.
    “Link and I were on the way out. I mean, it’s not that
I am not sadden by the loss- I am! But he and I were
having… trouble.” She glanced at Sarai and away again. Her next words were
whispered, “He was cheating on me.”
    Sarai wanted to reach for her friend but didn’t, it
would be out of character for her. “Oh Stella, I am so sorry.”
    Stella shook her head, squared her shoulders and
speared her friend with a wide smile. “Flynn… oh- well, let me tell you about
him… he is a tom cat!”
    “I think he’s a Leopard Stel ,”
Sarai said with a smile.
    Stella opened her mouth to correct her and then
laughed. “Yes, yes he is. But what I mean is…”
    “Oh I know what you mean.” Sarai said with a chuckle.
“I am glad you enjoyed his company.”
    “I enjoyed it alright. I wasn’t sure if I was going to
be able to walk this morning.” Stella turned and looked around her room. “Your
room is bigger than mine.” When she turned back to Sarai she was smiling. “The
king must fancy you.” She wagged her eyebrows at Sarai.
    Sarai rolled her eyes and went to her bathroom. “Let
me take a quick shower and we can go get breakfast.”
    “I already ate, Flynn brought
me breakfast…in bed!” Stella eep’d like a child and
twirled around the room. “But I will accompany you to breakfast and we can
talk.”

 
    *

 
    Sarai showered as quickly as she could. She threw on a
fresh pair of underwear- underwear she had not the slightest idea of where they
had come from but had turned out to be her size. She towel dried her hair and
then wrapped the towel around her. As she stepped out of the bathroom she spoke
to her friend without looking up. Not making eye contact while half naked gave
her the false sense of modesty she needed.
    “So you had a fantastic night then, do you plan on
making this a regular thing?”
    Someone cleared their throat and it was decidable
male. She stiffened and slowly lifted her eyes. She stared in sapphire eyes
that watched her with a predatory edge.
    “Your eyes,” she whispered, unable to hide the
trepidation. Conri’s eyes, normally a crystal blue were the color of the ocean
after a storm- cerulean, opaque and intense. He closed his eyes and took a deep
breath, when he opened them again they were almost normal; almost.
    “My apologies. Your comrade
let me in. She gave me a message. ‘You should consider taking a page from her
book’- I am not sure what it means.”
    Sarai knew what her friend meant. She had been getting
out of the shower; she was now alone –with the Leopard king…. Yea Sarai knew
what her friend was suggesting. But what little detail her friend didn’t know
was- Sarai had never had a boyfriend before. In high school she was awkward and
dorky. In college she was so focused on school and getting the best grades she
didn’t have time to go to parties- let alone date. And by grad school all bets
were off if she wanted to be the best in the field. Long story short, Sarai had
never been with a man and she wasn’t about to throw herself at the Leopard King
because Stella thought it a grand idea.
    “Thank you Conri, I am pretty sure I understand what
she meant. I will talk to her about it later. Ummmm ,
what are you doing here?”
    As if realizing the woman in front of him was only
half dressed he startled, his eyes going wide. He flipped around, giving Sarai
his back, and hung his head. “I did not mean to intrude. Your comrade failed to
tell me you were indisposed and by the time I realized it I was…” He trailed
off as he shook his head.
    “It’s ok. I’ll just take my clothes into the