MARIEL

15~Confidential~

It was still dark when Tira opened her eyes to the beeping alarm. 05:13. She felt Olivia, who was cuddled into her back, stir softly in response to the sound. Quietly, Tira sat up and tapped the button. The beeping stopped.

Softly, Tira slipped from the bed and went to her drawers to gather black sweatpants, a sports bra, and a gray, half-zip, hoodie. She dressed quietly, doing her best not to awaken Olivia, who she was pretty sure would, if awakened, attempt to keep her in bed instead of completing a workout. Fondly, she glanced over at the sleeping woman. Olivia lay on her stomach, head resting on her arm with her black hair surrounding her face.

Tira had noticed her soon after Olivia had been hired as a server within the Kremlin. Whenever Tira snuck into the kitchen to steal her favorite snack (carrot sticks and peanut butter), Olivia had turned curious eyes to her and had sent cute, flirtatious smiles. Tira, who had never been one to make first contact, had shyly acknowledged her with a blushing face and fleeting smiles in return before she would leave the kitchen with the bag of carrots and the jar of peanut butter. Eventually, Olivia stopped her before she left the kitchen one day and asked if she 'ever had anything to say about herself'. Mutely, Tira had shaken her head. Olivia had glanced at the food in Tira's arms and had told her that one of the only things she knew about her was that carrots and peanut butter were her favorite snack.

'I don't talk much about myself,'  Tira had responded. 'I would bore people.'

'Oh really? Because the other thing I know about you is that you are a very special human being. That doesn't sound boring to me,' Olivia had said, with strong curiosity in her voice.

Blankly, Tira had stared at her.

Olivia had then said, 'Let me know if I can bring you snacks to your room so you don't have to get them yourself.' She had winked and Tira's face had reddened. A day later, Olivia had come to Tira's room for the first time and they talked for an hour. After that, the visits had become more consistent, until talking morphed to affectionate excuses to touch each other, to the first evening they kissed. The kisses had transitioned to sexual touches, and had remained that way for several visits after Tira had confessed that she had never been with anyone before, due to her isolation and constant training.

'No one?' Olivia had asked, almost pleased.

'No. I have had one priority my whole life and that has been to improve my body and my mind for whatever this career may hold.'

'Do you like women? Men? Or both?'

Tira had explained that she held only the attraction for women, and Olivia volunteered that she liked both but, at the moment, could not be more enthralled with how 'incredibly stunning Tira was'. Several visits later, something had switched inside of Tira, taking her from the shy girl with blushing features, to an aggressive agent who had decided it was time to shed any withholding from her desire. Considering the only things Tira had experienced or committed to were training and education within the Kremlin, Olivia had been the first woman she had been given the opportunity to succumb to her curiosity. When Olivia had brought her snack that night, there had been no hesitation. Tira had grabbed her and pulled her into the room; her loved carrots and peanut butter had struck the floor. She remembered nearly ripping Olivia's clothes with the unabashed strength of her hands, and the first lovemaking of her life and of that night had happened hard and fast on the bedroom floor. Multiple other times had occurred that night, until both women knew they had formed a bond that would be hard to break in the months to come.

But now, that bond would have to break. Unlike Olivia, Tira had purposely guarded herself from too strong an emotional attachment. Eventually, Olivia had fallen in love with her, but Tira knew she did not have the same level of feelings. It would be hard to leave her but, as she had mentioned, her job came first. It would always come first. Aleksey had made it clear that she was created for a specific purpose, and Tira intended to fulfill that purpose. Even if not for Aleksey... but for herself. Most other children were born and left to discover who they were... how lucky was Tira that she, and the most powerful man in Russia, already knew who she was and had zero need to seek a determination of her future?