It Sleeps in Me by Kathleen O’Neal Gear Read Free Book Online

considered an honored salute.”
    “It wasn’t just the fingers to the nostrils. It was the seductive smile, the expression on his face. Everything.”
    “Oh, don’t be a dull-wit. What do you think Flint talked about after he left you? Who do you think he talked to?”
    Sora sank back on her mat. How odd that it had never occurred to her that after the divorce, Flint might have revealed every detail of their life together … especially to his best friend, Skinner. Perhaps he’d kept nothing sacred.
    Wink sighed at the hollow expression on Sora’s face and toyed with her tea cup, moving it in little circles on the floor mat. “Don’t look so shocked. Divorced people hurt each other. You know that.”
    “Do you think Flint told him every private moment?” she asked.
    “Probably. It wouldn’t be unusual.”

    She stared down into the pale green liquid in her cup and murmured, “I’ve kept those moments locked in a sacred chamber in my heart. It’s just hard to believe he might not have.”
    “Men are curious creatures, Sora. They don’t have the responsibilities that we do. Men can afford to be gossips; women can’t.”
    Women were responsible for deciding when and what to plant, when to harvest, when to go to war. Women negotiated marriages to distant clans, established political alliances and critical Trade agreements. Men were responsible for hunting, fishing, and fighting—and making certain their sisters’ children received the proper upbringing. Even when a woman’s son ascended to the position of chief, he followed the orders of the clan matron. She always had the final word. The world’s welfare rested on women’s shoulders.
    As the angle of the rising sun changed, the splash of sunlight that had been on Wink’s yellow hem crawled imperceptibly across the mat-covered floor toward the door curtain.
    Sora watched it. Very soon, Rockfish and Long Fin would arrive for their scheduled meeting to discuss the jade brooch that sat in the painted box near the fire. They didn’t have much time.
    “I swear to you that my reflection-soul is not out wandering the forest, Wink.” That’s what caused insanity—the reflection-soul drifted out of the body and got lost in the forest. Only a powerful priest could bring it home again and make it stay. “Something’s wrong with Skinner. It’s as though … he’s not Skinner.”
    Wink exhaled so hard the tea in her cup rippled. “How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”
    “After Flint left me, I never saw him again.”
    “Three winters?”
    “Yes.”
    “People change. Three winters is a long time. Maybe he’s just a different person now.”
    “But”—she struggled to say this right—“he reminded me so much of Flint. As though …”
    Wink’s mouth quirked. “Stop it. Friends pick up each other’s
mannerisms. I mean, Blessed gods, every time I wave my hand to dismiss someone, it reminds me of you. Because I learned it from you.”
    Wink was right; they frequently imitated each other. It came from a lifelong friendship. Sora tossed her head when she was angry in exactly the same way Wink did.
    Wink glanced at her and hesitated before saying, “Flint was crazy. You know it. Every time he challenged someone to a fight because the poor man smiled at you, I saw the looks you and Skinner exchanged. You were always attracted to each other. Don’t deny it.”
    “That’s not true,” she objected.
    “Sora, everyone saw it, including me. Now that Flint is gone, maybe Skinner has finally decided to go after the woman he’s wanted for eighteen winters.” She leaned toward Sora with her graying brows lifted. “Did that occur to you? If he really did say ‘I still love you,’ maybe he meant it. He loves you.”
    Sora stared at her. Of all the possibilities, that made the most sense. She took a long drink of her tea, hoping it would settle her roiling stomach. Made from the inner bark of the honey locust tree, the bitter brew eased nerves and