Read Schism: Part One of Triad for Free Online Page A

calm and enthusiastic, surely she could soften their resistance. Her mother would be easier, so Soz would approach her first. If Roca came around, she might ease her husband’s opposition.
    “I thought you were a ghost,” a voice said. “A ghost haunting Merchant’s Lane.”
    Soz whirled around, her back to the wall of a bedding shop behind her. A youtii stood lounging against a glasswood pole that held up the roof of a bubble-sculptor’s shop. The moonlight made his eyes look black and silvered his burgundy hair. He smiled, slow and languorous. “You going to knock me over and carry me off, Soz?”
    Soz put her fists on her hips. “Not a chance.”
    ‘Too bad. It might be fun.”
    “What are you doing, sneaking up on me, Ariquil?” She deliberately used his full name instead of Ari, the nickname she had called him when they went swimming in Blue Potter’s Lake a few octets ago.
    He ambled over to her. “How come you’re wandering down here?”
    Soz crossed her arms. She had liked him last year, then she hadn’t, and then she had again. By the time she had untangled her confusion, he had gone off with some other girl. Soz hadn’t known whether to be angry at him or at herself.
    “I asked my question first,” she said.
    “I was bored. I went for a walk.” His voice had deepened recently, with that vibrato that adult men among the Lyshrioli possessed. He was taller now, his eyes level with hers. He touched a lock of her hair where it curled on her shoulder. “You look good, Soshoni.”
     
    She pulled her hair away from him. “Don’t call me Soshoni.” She should have never told him the affectionate nickname her parents had given her. “And where’s your girlfriend?”
    He was all innocence. “What girlfriend?”
    “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that girl you were all over a few octets ago.”
    He shrugged. “I don’t see her anymore.”
    “Why not?”
    “She’s not you.” He hinged his hand around her cheek, cupping her face.
    “Remember that time we went swimming and lay on the shore afterward?”
    Soz remembered every detail. He had kissed her that day, which had scared her off, only for a few days, but he had grown tired of waiting. Or maybe he just didn’t believe in fidelity.
    She nudged away his hand. “I’m trying to forget.”
    “Why?” He smirked. “You’re jealous.”
    “Go away, Ari.”
    “You want me to stay.”
    She glared. “Not a chance.”
    “Yes, you do.”
    “Pah.”
    “You love me, Soz.” Laughing, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him.
    “Come on, Soshoni.”
    Caught by surprise, Soz reacted on instinct, as she would do when training in the hand-to-hand combat she wasn’t supposed to learn, but that she had practiced for years with her brothers. She yanked him forward, rolled him over her body, and swung him down on a pile of pillow-sacks stacked by the wall. He landed with a thud, his breath going out in a whoosh.
    With an explosion of breath, Ari sat up. “What the hammer-hell was that for?”
    Soz’s face flamed as she dropped next to him. By Rillia’s Arrow, she hadn’t meant to do that. It had been a reflex, prodded by her tension today and her anger over that other girl. “I’m sorry, Ari. You surprised me.”
     
    He scowled at her. “You know, Soz, your approach with men leaves a lot to be desired.”
    Maybe that was true, but she was still mad at him. “You approached me.”
    “At peril of my life.”
    She glowered. “But of course it was all right for you to run off with whatever her name was after you kissed me.”
    He rubbed his side where he had hit the sacks. “You disappeared. I thought you were trying to get rid of me.”
    “No I wasn’t.” Her face heated as they stood up together. “I was confused.”
    He smiled ruefully. “I thought you were going to slap me silly that day I kissed you.”
    His kiss had inspired far different thoughts. Embarrassing thoughts. To cover her flush, she said, “If I recall, we were having