Chapter 374

Sonya leaned against the railing, Minneapolis’ chilly air drifting past her as she tilted her head and looked out towards the city. Her air fluttered around her face, her eyelids drooping a bit as her glowing eyes flicked towards a few multicolored sparkles in the distance. Her lips thinned a bit until a flare of something that looked like a stun grenade and a fast moving figure crashed into the spot, her tension eased and she smiled to herself, looking back towards her phone. A manicured finger hovered over the call button for a moment as she worked her jaw.

Are you sure about this? Erina asked into her thoughts. You’ve been putting it off.

Sonya’s thumb twitched. “I know,” she said quietly, her other hand tightening around the small velvet box she was holding. She turned and looked out over the city. “I don’t-” she paused and exhaled. “I don’t plan on losing, Erina,” she said to the open air. “I’m here to win and to get away with it,” she said with a smirk before her shoulders drooped. “But this isn’t some story-book where I wait till the end and hope for the best…” she trailed off and looked at her phone again. “No regrets. Nothing left undone.”

I’ll never understand this tradition people have, the two of you are already close, what does it matter? Erina asked.

“It’s a declaration,” Sonya said after a moment’s pause, her lips pressing into a thin line. “It’s proof. It’s facing how close you are to someone and saying with absolute clarity that you want to be there for them, forever.”

Erina went quiet for a moment before speaking. That does sound… grounding. She paused, If a bit needlessly restrictive.

Sonya snorted, “Couldn’t just let me have that baller analogy, could you?” she asked with a snicker and looked down at her phone one more time. She took a deep breath before concentrating. Two Legionnaires stepped out of the air behind her and she turned as augment reality washed over them. She smiled. “You too?”

The Legionnaire on the left expanded in shape, taking the form of the strong and defined Erebus, his chin up with a faint twitch of his lips. “This isn’t for me to watch, my friend,” she chuckled. “And I have been looking for an excuse to see if I could do as Erina does.”

She tilted her head. “And can you?”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “My connection is… lesser. This body seems connected with your ability that brought about your inner world. I feel it instinctively. So the bridge is easy to make. Anything more and I do believe I will be grossly limited.” He cracked a grin. “Still! This means your idea is well within the realm of possibility.” He barked out a laugh. “I can’t wait!”

Sonya shook her head with bemusement and looked towards Erina. “And you?”

Her sister crossed her arms. “This is your business.” she said flatly. “Even Sonya Chernovna deserves privacy,” she added with a twitch of her lip before turning away and nodding to Erebus. “We will attend the bar in the lounge.”

Sonya watched the two of them go, a quiet gratitude settling on her chest. She leaned back against the railing and stared into the terrace garden for a few heartbeats. The white petals she’d had grown were still there despite how often she was away. It was a testament to Amos’ little drone things that zipped around the house every now and then. She watched one of the little orbs hover over a planter, sprinkling water as it moved with a lazy glide through the air.

Her eyes flicked away from the ethereal plants and decor to the wall-sized opening where Erina and Erebus had disappeared. Marta strode out pushing a cart and proceeded to set up one of the tables near a cluster of plants. Marta didn’t look up, she didn’t need to. They both knew that her presence was encouragement enough. Sonya shook her head with a exasperated smile. “I guess if you’re setting the table…” she muttered and tapped the number on her phone. It dialed out and the ringer rang only once before a voice on the other end answered.

<”So-nya Cher-nov-nya!”> the merry voice of Euclidia answered. <”What can I do for ya?”>

Sonya’s lip twitched, “Nya?” she asked incredulously.

<”Pfftt Ha ha ha! I’m trying it out, what do you think? Is it me?”>

Sonya grinned. “Molly, I think you should stick to puzzles as your shtick,” she said honestly, chuckling  a little despite herself.

Molly let out an exasperated sigh over the line, <”I know! But I’m sooo bored! Chuchu is still who-knows-where and Greg is busy with his little trip!”>

Sonya’s expression fell slightly, her eyes narrowing as she looked down at the phone. Chunhua was still missing and even Euclidia didn’t know where she was. She didn’t understand. When Chunhua completed her final vision in the previous timeline it had taken barely a week. She’d been gone for significantly longer this time by comparison. Sonya was excited for her that she was finally reaching the full potential of Lord of Jianghu, but she missed her even more than that. I still need to hear your thoughts on … him. She thought wearily.

Euclidia must have picked up on her quiet because she chirped right back up. <”It’s Chuchu, Sonya!”> she said as if that explained everything, <”She’ll be fine! She’s unbeatable!”>

Sonya let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and shook her head with a wry smile even as her heart tightened in her chest. She knew better, far better, than anyone else that Lian Chunhua was a fallible person and that she was far from indestructible. She rubbed her neck and grinned at the phone. “Thanks, Molly,” it was all she could say at this point. “Now I did actually call for another reason.”

<”Oho? What can I do for ya, boss lady?”>

Sonya tittered out a laugh, “I need you to set up a portal for your actual boss lady, Molly. To the terrace at ASTA HQ. I have the coordinates.”

Could Sonya have made the portal for Carla herself? Certainly. For this, though, she wanted to do things by the book. Leave a paper trail. Even if it was an under-the-table request, it was something she felt like she needed to do. 

<Oooh, late night rendezvous?”> Molly asked.

Sonya quirked her lip, “Something like that.”

It was Euclidia’s turn to pause for a few heartbeats before she spoke again, <”Ah, gotcha. Say no more, one true-blue boss-lady coming right up!”> then she hesitated, <”After I get those coordinates, of course.”>

Sonya laughed. “I’ll text them right now.”

She sent off the text and slipped her phone into her pocket and took a deep breath. She adjusted her tie. She wasn’t wearing her usual white blazer white slacks combo. She’d opted for something a bit more personal. A white shirt and black vest beneath her pink tie. The slacks were black with silver pinstripes and even the heels were dark. An ensemble she rarely wore but one she’d picked out to symbolize that this evening was different. Special.

You can do this Chernovna, she thought. Chunhua did it to you. It’s easy. Just say the damn words and strike the pose, give it to her and-

The portal arch rose before she could finish her thought. Smooth white stone ascending from her terrace as if it had always been there. Her lips thinned and curved up into a smile as she shoved her hands into her pockets and walked over to stand next to it, waiting with the table Marta had finished setting at her back. The maid stood a few paces off to the side, waiting to do her part. The arch settled and the space within  it began to condense and ripple before a window into a whole different place opened with a flash.

On the other side was Carla.

Carla was beautiful in a way that Sonya could barely articulate sometimes. She had a narrower face compared to the round cuteness of Sonya’s own features. Her jawline was soft, though, her brown eyes deep like chocolate and unerringly steady behind square framed glasses. Her black hair was still cut into a no-nonsense bob that curved around her face in a strict fashion that was at odds with the woman Sonya knew was hiding behind the ruthless mask of the Chairwoman. All of it framed around the platinum collar wrapped around her throat and the pink-sapphire hanging from it. But what made Sonya stop and stare wasn’t all that. She wore a dress, was her first dumb thought.

No blazer either, no pencil skirt, no tights, no refined secretarial look. A single form fitting dress that formed tightly around her frame that made Sonya’s brain pop and crackle a little bit, the slight plunge to the neckline and the black band around the black band around the waist was certainly not helping matters. When she finally came back to her senses she realized Carla was still waiting on the other side of the portal. Sonya blinked and tilted her head before catching the patient look in her lover’s eyes.

“Oh,” she breathed and stepped forward to the portal, holding her hand out. Carla smiled and reached through to take her hand before stepping through. Her hands were a bit larger than Sonya’s but felt so much softer. Sonya’s thumb ran over the pulse point of her wrist as the portal shimmered and faded, the archway already descending into the ground.

“You look… incredible.” She finally managed.

“Finally got you speechless,” Carla chuckled.

Sonya made a put upon face, “A set-up, of course, an intentional trap to fry my poor brain,” she said sarcastically, a grin stretching across her face.

Carla laughed. “Oh yes, it was a completely tactical decision,” she said, amused, before turning to incline her head towards Marta. “Miss Daphne.”

Marta returned the gesture with a warm smile. “Lady Mint,” she said politely, her hands at her lap as she bowed at the waist. “Welcome to the Chernovna Estate. My Lady has been impatiently procrastinating for the past half hour in anticipation of your arrival.”

Sonya whipped her head towards Marta. “Impatiently what now?” she demanded only to get a wry smirk from Marta. She crossed her arms and huffed, looking away. “Maybe a little.”

Carla laughed and stepped in closer, putting a hand on Sonya’s arm. Sonya turned and met her eyes and felt the wind come out of her a second time. Patient vulnerability, a woman who was tired of the wait and was hoping that tonight would be the night that patience was rewarded by the person who had put a collar on her. Sonya’s jaw tightened and she cleared her throat, nodding towards the table. “...sit down and eat dinner with me, Carla.” she finally said, glad that the lighting was dim enough at this time of night to not show off the color her face was turning.

Carla’s expression softened and she stepped past her, Sonya moving over quickly to pull the chair out. She moved to her own seat as Marta swept in, lighting the candle between them. The maid stood beside them. “The wine for this evening was selected by Miss Chernovna’s personal selection and has been paired with tonight’s dinner,” she said simply and retrieved the bottle from the tray she’d pushed out earlier, pouring for both of them.

Sonya’s fingers wrapped around the neck of the glass. She took a quick sip, not that it would give her any literal liquid courage, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Carla met her eyes over her own glass. “Sonya-”

Sonya held up a hand and cleared her throat, leaning back a bit in her seat and crossing her legs. “How are you, love?” she asked as Marta set their dishes down, unveiling a pair of steaks that had been prepared and kept at just the right temperature with yet another one of Amos’ delightful inventions. 

Carla paused at the question, her eyebrows rising. A complex wave of expressions went over her face before she finally settled on that warm smile again. She nodded slowly to herself and set the glass down. “I’ve been tired.The UN is becoming increasingly hostile and the injunctions keep coming,” she admitted. “Between that and still working out with the broader committee how we’re going to effectively run several countries, it’s been taxing, Sonya.”

I know, Sonya thought, her eyes searching Carla’s face. “I’ve made work for you.”

Carla chuckled and nodded. “Yes you have, you’re a troublesome woman,” she said and cut into her meal, “Pushy, too perceptive for your own good, dangerously cunning, infuriatingly good at keeping up a persona, always off on some wild adventure making even more work for me,” she raised her fork and pointed, a twinkle in her eyes, “A walking headache.”

Sonya scoffed and glanced away for a moment before looking a back at her, finally understanding the point of that little speech. “And you still came to dinner.”

“And I still came to dinner,” Carla repeated, taking another bite.

Sonya sat back in her seat for a long moment, reaching up to run her fingers through her own hair. She watched Carla patiently work on her meal, glancing up now and then to meet her eyes. Sonya swallowed, her fingers reaching down to touch the lump in her pocket. She clenched her jaw and then rose to her feet. Carla glanced up at her. Sonya let out a sharp breath, something between a sigh and a laugh, before she spoke; “What am I doing?” she asked herself. I’m not Chunhua. I don’t do overly polite. I don’t do the stoic speech. No, I’m me, and I’m a problem.

She cracked a grin and stepped away from her chair, sauntering over to stand in front of Carla. She looked down at Carla as Carla turned to look up at her. “Can I help you, miss Chernovna?” she asked with a small smile on her face.

Sonya tilted her head and shrugged lazily. “Actually, yeah, if you don’t mind.”

Carla raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Sonya exhaled and swept down to a knee. She reached into her pocket and pulled the velvet box out. When she opened it there were two rings inside. A twisted platinum band made elegantly with a pink sapphire resting in the socket. Next to it was a smooth band set with tiny pink diamonds making it look like a collar. Sonya raised it up and looked Carla dead in the eyes. “Say yes to the ring, Carla,” she said with a grin.

Carla’s eyes widened, her mouth opening in surprise before she snapped it shut. She stared at the rings and then  looked up at Sonya’s face. She reached down and took the case from Sonya’s hands, her own smile widening as she looked at the jewelry. When she spoke, it was just a whisper. 

“Yes.”