Sunset ^beta

Tula knew that Valya had risen through the ranks in the Sisterhood quite rapidly, and it didn't surprise her at all. Her sister was a head-strong woman who imposed her will on others as she pleased and it was indeed impressive. That Valya had two loyal companions didn't surprise her either, nor the fact that she had made an enemy out of another powerful figure whose voice was heard and considered important.

What did surprise her was that Valya had not already disposed of her rival. But Dorotea was Raquella’s grand-daughter and raised to follow her one day as Reverend Mother, so she had to be careful of how to prevent a schism – at least that was what Valya’s companion Kasha told Tula upon arrival. She talked about it with an ease that assured Tula that when the time would come, Kasha would happily act in accordance with Valya's decision, and that she knew Tula would do so as well.

She could only guess what Valya had told her friends (were they her friends? Even on Lankiveil, Valya never bothered with anyone besides Griffin and her unless they were useful and only until then) about her little sister - kind-hearted, sweet, weak, but ultimately, and above everything else, loyal. She wondered whether Kasha, who herself was gentle and nice upon first impression, had looked at her with the knowledge that it was Tula who had massacred almost the entirety of House Atreides.

“There’s already have an alcove for you, just next to mine,” Kasha said and took her hand. Her palm was calloused and rough. “It used to be Valya’s, but since she is no mere sister anymore, she has her own private chambers now. She still comes around on the odd evening, but I miss her.” Kasha spoke with no jealousy of her sister’s ascent beyond them, rather with a certain melancholy. Maybe they at least considered themselves her friends.

“Not her nightly mumbling though,” Kasha added after a slight pause and laughed. She gently touched Tula’s shoulder as she led her through the corridors of the inner sanctum. Tula wasn't used to being touched a lot; neither her aunt nor her uncle were very physically affectionate people. When she had been a little girl, Griffin would pick her up and spin around as her legs swung through the air and she screamed in joy.

Valya, on the other hand, was strange when it came to touch; she had to be the initiator. If someone else crossed her boundaries, she would react coldly. For as long as she could remember, things were either done Valya’s way or not at all.

“As long as she is not spilling any secrets of the Sisterhood,” Tula tried to joke.

Kasha scoffed. “Oh, not Valya. She always keeps her cards close to her chest. We can be lucky that she trusts us. But,” her eyes darted around for a brief moment, making sure there were no listeners in plain sight, “it’s not as if she does it for the joy of it.”

Tula nodded.

If the differences between Dorotea and Valya would prove to be irreconcilable, it might end in a catastrophe, and knowing her sister…

Unbidden came the memory of mixing the poison into drink and food that the members of House Atreides would consume after the hunt. She hadn’t been able to let Orry die this way (a dark and sweet voice in her head told her it was because she wanted him to know the truth, but she would ignore it as well as she could), so she seduced him. His embrace and feeling him inside her did not take her mind off what was happening outside, how the poison was working its way through nerve systems and blood streams as it did irreversible damage in its wake.

It always ended in catastrophe, that might very well be the Harkonnen way.

“I think it would be best if I speak to her.”

Valya had left the landing dock in a hurry together with Francesca while Kasha stayed with Tula and greeted her warmly.

“Alright. Let me bring you to her quarters then.” Valya’s rooms were in a different wing and unlike the acolytes or the sisters, they belonged to her alone. When her sister opened the door, it was her and Francesca in the sparsely decorated room. Francesca smiled at her as she passed by her, and when the door was closed shut, Valya and Tula were alone again.

Before Valya had returned to Lankiveil, she didn't see her for years. She went through the Agony where they used to play as children, and now she had chosen to turn her back on her home for Valya. But she might have done that the moment she decided to pursue the grandson of her brother’s murderer.

“Very austere,” Tula remarked as she looked around. Valya was seated on her bed. She had already changed into a simple black tunic that fell over her body. Her hair was down and fell heavy over her shoulders, reaching her waist.

“Would you decorate the walls with whale fur tapestries?”

Tula answered the sharp smile on Valya’s lips with a scoff.

“No, but I would have added some color. A painting or two.” A painting of Griffin. That was the unspoken specific and Valya knew.

“How about some red? Maybe green?”, she suggested.

Tula stared at her but Valya continued, “You conquered our enemy, Tula. You avenged him. This is your trophy to decorate yourself with —”

“Let us not talk about this.”

“Fine. Then why are you here?”

Tula wrapped her arms around herself. “I just don't want to be alone.”

“You aren't, you have Kasha and Francesca. I told them to be kind to you and show you everything you need.”

“Did you speak to Mother Raquella?” Now it was Tula’s turn to throw Valya off-balance. She was good at hiding her surprise, but not good enough for Tula to not spot it at once.

“I did. Since I passed the Agony, I will not be excommunicated from the Order and can continue my studies under Mother Raquella.”

“Did anything change since the Agony?”

Valya averted her eyes. Then she nodded. “Fine, you win.”

Tula crossed her arms. She was not the one who made the first aggressive move.

“I mean it. I won’t talk about… that.”

“Good.”

“But, still: here you are not alone.”

Tula looked around the room.

“The reality of that doesn’t make my loneliness go away.”

Valya watched her, then she patted the empty spot next to her on her bed.

“Stay here for the night, then. You’re lucky this bed is wider than the berth in your alcove.”

They hadn’t done that in a while, the last time being the night they got the news of Griffin’s death. It had been Tula as well who had crawled into Valya’s bed and sobbed as she curled up next to her while Valya held her without making a sound.

Tula had already changed into her night shift so all that was left to do was slipping her shoes off and climbing into the bed. The mattress was slightly softer than that in the alcove, and there was the warmth radiating from Valya’s body, covered by just one layer of cloth.

Tula faced her, both because she wanted to see her face and also because turning her back to Valya would be akin to admitting weakness.

“Sweet Tula,” Valya whispered. “Sweet lonely Tula.”

“Are you less lonely?”

“Now, less, yes.” Valya's fingers danced across her cheek and she shifted closer to lay her forehead against Tula’s.

In their last embrace, it was the rare instance of Tula comforting Valya, they had gone back to old habits now: Valya had the upper hand and Tula was the one to lower her head and be caressed like an approval-seeking pet.

She let out a shaky breath, then she kissed Valya. It was more of a tracing of Valya’s lips with her own, but Valya gasped and pulled back. Her eyes were wide and her pupils small, her gaze was clear, blue and surprised — but not fearful.

Tula chased her again but this time Valya met her halfway, her lips on hers with caution, something so unlike Valya. Have you ever kissed someone, sister? Are you untouched? Or do these sisters you found here know you and your flesh? No, there was no place for any of this in Valya’s heart. Her mind and soul was ever only for House Harkonnen, for Griffin and her, Tula.

Tula cupped Valya’s face and kept her close as she kissed her, her lips pressing on and on. She felt an exhilarating thrill at her hesitation compared to her own experience. She had beaten Valya at something, at last. A warm feeling spread in her belly and she pressed herself against her sister’s body. Tula was taller despite being younger but Valya was stronger; the Sisterhood had trained her well and underneath the shift Tula could feel her heavy breathing. Tula ran her hand over her collarbone, between her breasts — here Valya whined — and over her tight stomach.

“Touch me.” It was a whisper against her mouth and between kisses, a plea from someone who never pleaded.

But Tula had come here to receive comfort, not to give it altruistically. As much as she loved Valya, she needed this more, more than Valya ever could.

Now she was the one to pull away and held the back of Valya’s head as she deepened her kisses. Valya understood, she was the one being led here, but she moved against Tula as well in her need for friction and closeness.

She moved them so that Valya lay on her back and Tula straddled her waist. As Valya lay underneath her, face flushed, lips parted in anticipation and eagerness, Tula thought she could hear her mother wail, “Valya, you devious girl, was pulling your sister into kanly not enough? Are you so rotten as to seduce her as well, blood laying with blood?”

As if anyone cared about that. Once upon a time, on Old Terra maybe, but haven’t even their gods in the most ancient of times wed brother and sister?

Tula pulled her shift up but only to her waist. Valya furrowed her brow and pouted for a brief moment of irritation. Had she been looking forward to seeing her breasts from below? The thought of that made Tula grin. No, that sight was not one she would grant Valya… for now. Instead, she tugged her underwear down and enjoyed how immediately Valya’s annoyance faded to… to what exactly? Realization that this was indeed happening? Surprise that Tula was so daring? Lust for her sister? Whatever it was, or if all at once, Tula enjoyed it a great deal.

Valya made her move as well and pulled up her own nightclothes, but Tula couldn't help but feel that this role didn't come naturally to her, as if she was restraining herself from taking the reins back.

“Leave them on,” she said when Valya attempted to remove her underwear. Something in her sister's eyes glinted, protest and indignation, but she obliged.

Then she moved to only straddle one of Valya’s legs, her left one, and nudged her to prop it up at a better angle all the while Valya was still staring at the bush of coarse dark hair between her legs where her already swollen clitoris peeked out underneath its hood.

Tula began slowly at first, grinding herself against the hot flesh of Valya’s thigh, up to where it met her knee and back down again. The friction against her labia and clitoris was wonderful and she let out a low shaky moan.

Valya pressed her lips together and swallowed hard. Her hand went over her stomach and below her undergarments as Tula slid over her leg and didn’t break eye contact with her. For a moment, Tula regretted telling her to not undress; now she wanted to see the evidence of Valya’s arousal, watch how she touched herself to the sight of Tula. Just the thought of seeing Valya’s slender fingers sliding between her lips, dipping into her cunt and the glistening wetness on them got her even more aroused. With a wanton groan, she ground her hips against Valya’ skin and slipped her hands under her shift to toy with her erect nipples.

Valya stroked herself with urgency, so very un-Valya-like. When usually she was sleek and self-assured, she was frantic and aggressive now, like a wolf backed into a corner by a hunter. She laid her free hand on Tula’s thigh and stroked against her, her fingernails scratching over her soft skin. Tula dug her nails into one of her breasts and gasped at the pain while she pinched the nipple of the other.

Valya’s gaze was fixated on her, but not on her body, she was staring at Tula’s mouth only for her eyes to flicker over to her eyes, then scanning over her face, drinking in her expressions as her desire grew and grew and grew until it burned in her belly like a raging fire.

Come, sweet Tula. Come. Come. Come.

The irresistible siren call did it for her. Valya’s voice was in her head and caressing her in a lovelier way than her hands could her flesh. She cried out as she rutted mindlessly against Valya’s thigh, leaving a slick wet trail of lust on her as she reached her peak.

Follow me. Come with me. Stay with me, she thought desperately. Whether she heard Valya gasp or it was just her imagination, she didn’t know, but she did sunk into the mattress and flat on her back.

Breathlessly and empty-headed, Tula slumped down on top of Valya. Her heart was thumping in her chest and just underneath, she felt Valya’s heartbeat as well, fast and excited but it slowed down considerably quicker than hers. Ever in control, even of her body and its responses.

A hand held the back of her head and caressed her hair. Tula buried her face in the crook between Valya’s neck and shoulder and breathed against the sensitive skin. Unbidden, tears dwelled up in her eyes and she pressed her lips together before the sob that built in her throat threatened to escape.

Never leave again, not without me, she thought and reached out to intertwine her hand with Valya’s.

“My love,” Valya whispered and petted her hair, “my sweet sister. I shall not. Neither in this life nor beyond.”