Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

36 - Inside and Out



Flower Wreath

It was another hour before Hadia and Karam finished helping Basima prepare. Based on the smells coming from downstairs, Alim had gone ahead and started making dinner for all of them.

Basima nervously looked over her nails that had been painted a pale pink and realized she couldn't do anything about her sweating palms or the flips her stomach kept doing as she glanced in the mirror. She didn't think she had ever looked so beautiful before.

"Remember what I said earlier," Hadia said from behind her. "The outside might be prettier now, but the inside is what should matter more. If Jin's not seeing her old crush when she looks at you, then you didn't need any of this to get her attention."

"I know," Basima said with a confirming nod. Then she broke out into a wide smile. "But I really want to see if I can get a reaction out of her with how fancy I look now."

Hadia snorted a laugh. "If she doesn't react, I will be personally offended on your behalf after all the time and effort I just put into decorating you. Now let me and Kar go down first so we can watch Jin's dumb Talent fail. Just wait a minute or two, and I'll call you down."

Basima nodded and in the silence she was left in, took a few deep breaths to try and call her racing heart. She wasn't exactly sure how she wanted Jin to react, but she hoped it would give her some kind of answer to the thoughts behind Jin's stoic mask that had been becoming more constant with every day and every death.

The only thing she knew for sure is that in this tower filled with so much death and despair, she wanted to remind herself and the other to keep living.

Even if only for a few moments, she could help Jin feel happy and cared for… the same way Jin made her feel.

Jin hadn't been sure what to expect as Hadia dragged her into the spotless sitting area from where she was attempting to help Alim and made her sit in the chair across from the stairs leading upstairs. While she and Alim had been cooking, Liraz had been using one of her Natural Talents to make her slime clean the whole downstairs level. No more morbid bloodstains on the floor or trailed in dirt from outside. Even the built up soot from the central fireplace had been cleaned out.

The others moved to stand behind her and she was about to ask what was going on when Hadia called out, "Alright, Bas! Come show them our hard work!"

Pale bare feet were the first thing she saw announcing Basima's presence on the stairs followed by equally bare calves and knees. The hem of a blue sundress finally appeared and the color gradually shifted to a pale green with thin straps going over bare shoulders with a golden necklace glinting in the low light.

Jin's jaw actually dropped open as she stared at Basima's face with a soft pink highlighting her features and her golden blonde hair pulled up in ringlets to spill around her face like a halo. The black eyeliner immediately brought their gazes clashing together, and the brilliant smile Basima gave her made it feel like her heart just stopped functioning.

"Holy shit," Jin muttered like a complete idiot.

"Looks like you accomplished your mission, Bas," Hadia said from beside her, but Jin could barely comprehend the words as every brain cell was actively trying to memorize what she was seeing.

Bas looked like an actual angel, just missing a pair of wings. There was no way she'd be able to sleep tonight if that was what Basima was planning to look like. She had thought Basima was already beautiful, but whatever magic Hadia had done stole her breath away.

"So, who's hungry?" Hadia asked before teasing further. "Jin's drooling, so she's obviously starved."

Shit, was she drooling? Jin quickly moved her arm just to make sure, then leveled a glare at Hadia, who burst out laughing at her expense.

"You look lovely, Bas," Alim wrote in the air.

The blonde angel blushed and murmured a "thanks" before moving to sit in the chair opposite Jin.

She wasn't sure she'd be able to focus on eating dinner with her eyes never wanting to leave Basima's. It was through sheer willpower that she tore her gaze away to look at the others who were all smiling as well.

Jin tried her best to regain control of herself. Forcing herself to stand again and focus on helping Alim and Liraz bring the plates of food over to the low table they normally all ate around. She managed to start actually eating with the others but failed to keep her eyes from continually drifting back to Basima. If she had trouble before, it felt impossible to resist the urge now.

What the fuck was Hadia trying to do to her by dressing Bas up like that? She swore the woman must be some kind of sadist. All blame for the heat suffusing her body she solely laid at Hadia's feet. There was no way Basima was the one who asked to look that enticing. She never seemed to pay Jin as much attention as she paid her.

They've slept beside each other every night for over a week, and Basima never even hinted at anything more. No, this was just what Basima had said before. She just wanted to look prettier and feel special. Mission fucking accomplished.

Jin was relieved when the hours passed and the others went off to bed leaving her alone in the sitting room for the first watch for the night. She wasn't too surprised when Alim eventually returned to sit with her like he normally would. However, she was completely surprised when he signed to her, "I put up that sound barrier for you. You can thank me in the morning."

"Ha. Ha," she signed back with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "Fucking hilarious."

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He snorted a laugh. "I was serious, but it's fine if you don't need it."

"She doesn't want that."

"I doubt that."

Jin stared at him for a long minute as he sat on the sofa perpendicular to her. "What?"

"For once, she was staring at you just as much as you were staring at her," he explained. "I think she knows exactly what she was doing to you."

"That doesn't mean—"

"Jin. We could all very easily die tomorrow. You don't need to make excuses to not relax and forget about all that for a few hours each night. Nobody, and I literally mean nobody in the entire city, is going to judge either of you for it."

"That is somehow both depressing and a relief."

Alim smirked. "That's the Tower games for you. It's all kinds of messed up, but it's also life for all of us. The second lesson every Champion learns is to not care what anyone else thinks about the few moments of happiness they can find in here."

"What's the first lesson?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Do whatever it takes to not die."

Jin nodded in both understanding and agreement, but her hands fell silent as she thought over his words.

"Do you still want to learn more cantrips tonight or is your mind elsewhere?" he asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "I'll try my best to focus on the cantrips. Teach me that compass one this time."

Alim nodded and they spent the next couple of hours going over incantations for her to memorize. While he had a wand, it wasn't one she could wield at all as it would instantly crumble into shimmery white dust when she tried holding it. She could still go through the motions, though, for the day when she might be able to loot or purchase one for herself. If anything it was just something they could fill the time with and let her feel at least somewhat productive.

After waking Karam to join Alim for the next watch, Jin retreated to her own room where Basima was already tucked into the bed against the wall. She assumed Bas was already asleep so she almost jumped out of her skin when she sat on the edge of the bed and the blonde turned to face her.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," Jin said, trying to calm her heart back down. The task was made more difficult by the beautiful face smiling back at her.

"You didn't," Basima reassured her. "I was having trouble falling asleep," she added as she sat up and reached over to grab something off the chest at the foot of the bed. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to change your hair. I wasn't sure if it changed when you were sent here."

Jin raised a brow. "It did seem shorter than I originally had it but I had shaved it earlier because of my sickness."

"Sickness?"

"Right, I haven't really talked much about that." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter though. You said you can change my hair?"

"Yeah," Basima said, thankfully not pushing her for information about her cancer. Holding up the odd-looking brush, she explained, "This is a Prism Brush and it can change pretty much everything about your hair. Make it longer, curly or straight, or alter the color to whatever you want. I think the only thing it can't do is cut it. How did you normally wear your hair back in your old world?"

Jin blinked before finally answering, "Straight to my jaw. I would tie it back in a half-tail for sports. Are you saying you can make my hair look like that again?"

Basima grinned and scooted over on her knees. She nudged Jin around and pressed a button and started brushing. It was one of the weirdest sensations she had felt. The prickly tingles along her scalp as the magic coaxed it to grow out continually triggered shivers down her spine until it had gotten long enough that the brush bristles stopped touching her skin directly.

"Your hair feels so silky," Basima said as though marveling at it. The heat in her cheeks intensified when Basima ran a hand through her hair instead of the brush. "Does that feel like the right length to you?"

It was difficult to swallow as she ran her own hand through it and nodded. "Yes… thank you."

Basima smiled brightly again before saying, "You don't need to thank me for that. Here. I wanted to see how this looked on you, too." She set the brush back down on the chest and grabbed what looked like a crown of flowers.

"Was that in the box of cosmetics too?"

She nodded and lifted it for Jin to take a closer look at the green leaves and white flowers she didn't recognize. "They're not real flowers. They're made of fabric so the Rainbow Tinter can change their colors and they won't wilt or anything."

Jin didn't get the chance to decline as Basima placed it upon her head and smiled, lifting a smaller hand mirror up for her to see it. The leaves drew out the green of her eyes and the white petals were a stark contrast to her jet black hair that she had missed more than she had realized.

She glanced at Basima who seemed to be watching her expectantly. Tempering down her blush, she awkwardly admitted, "I'm not really well suited for something like this. I'm not exactly the pretty type like—"

"I think you look pretty," Basima interjected. The praise was enough to surprise her into silence but Basima continued. "Do you think I look pretty?"

"Of course," Jin admitted, not daring to meet her eyes.

"Will you tell me what you were thinking when I came down those stairs earlier?"

Jin's brain began screaming at her to lie. To not admit those dangerous feelings that had surged forward. The silence stretched for too long. Long enough that Basima raised a hand to her chin to make Jin's eyes lift and meet hers.

"Were you seeing me or that other girl?"

She knew the surprise was obvious on her face. Jin might have made comparisons to Phoenix earlier but the only one that had been on her mind when Basima walked down those stairs was…

"Just you, Bas," she admitted. "You're beautiful. Inside and out. That's all I could think about earlier when I saw you."

Basima's smile was blinding. It was too dangerous.

"We should probably get some sleep," Jin tried to redirect before her brain stopped functioning properly again. "We'll need to hunt tomorrow, and—"

A hand gently covered her mouth, cutting off her words. "Jin, I want you to repeat after me."

She raised an eyebrow in response, unsure where Basima was going with the exercise.

"I will live for the moment," she stated succinctly, and then removed her hand for Jin to repeat it.

"I'm not sure what you're trying to—"

The hand covered her mouth again as Basima shook her head of blonde ringlets. "That's not how this works, remember? I'll never forget what you did for me on the first day of the Season. You calmed me down and helped keep me alive. Now, I want you to stop thinking about the people in your past and stop worrying about what danger might await in the future."

Their eyes met again and Jin could swear Basima would hear her heart with how badly it was reacting to her touch. The pounding got even worse when the hand vanished, and Basima's face moved closer as she whispered, "So repeat after me. I will live for the moment."

"I will live for the moment," Jin repeated with barely a breath.

Then, Basima stole that breath with a kiss.


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