by F. F. John
“Oh!”
“Why is it you never remember her name?”
This isn’t the first time I've forgotten her best friend’s name but this is the first time I won't make a cheeky comment about it.
“Did she tell you she was going out?”
She goes to a tunnel of flowers and pulls off a greenish-yellow flower that reminds me of an octopus. On her way back to me, she sniffs the tentacled blossom. “She had some last-minute volunteer work to do, but it’s not like her to ignore my call.”
Kissing her forehead, I say, “Surely she’ll be back soon. Don’t worry.” She leans into me and we bask in a quiet that is punctured by a peal of thunder that makes her jump.
“What’s on your mind?” She whispers, eyes scanning the sky.
I’m not sure how she can tell that something is bothering me, so, I opt to tell the truth. “We haven’t discussed this yet, but I want the pass.”
She steps away from me. “Are you sure? You’re doing a great job and are already on track to become the Paladin. You don’t need it.”
“That’s easy for you to say, you didn’t have a bullet slice your neck.”
“That had nothing to do with me and if you hadn’t gone along with the others, you wouldn’t have been in that situation!” She squeezes her hands into fists and paces.
“I wouldn’t have been anywhere near here if you hadn’t tricked me into this situation.”
She groans and stops in her tracks. One deep inhale later, she turns to me. “I’m sorry I tricked you and you have good reasons to be upset with me.” She takes a step in my direction. “Have you considered what will happen if I give you the pass?”
I know where she’s going and there’s a tickle of discomfort in my chest. “Neith …”
“On my birthday, you told me you loved me and wanted to spend the rest of your life with me.” She gulps back some air before continuing, “And if I give you the pass, we’ll never have the chance of a life together.”
There’s a fervency in her voice that causes grief—propelled by guilt—to travel through my body. Once again, I’m confronted by the fact that a future with Neith depends on whether I see this competition through. I hate this feeling.
“Is that what you want? To give up on us when you’re so close?” Her voice catches.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Yes, it is!” She takes another step. “We love each other and it means we must make sacrifices to be together. Do you think I am enjoying any of this? I just want to be with you!”
Something in my chest breaks and I bring her into me.
“Make up your mind, Invier.” She mumbles. “You can’t keep going back and forth like this. If you don’t want to be with me then yes, I’ll give you the pass. If not, I’ll hold onto it for you in case …”
Her voice trails and I hold her tighter. “Shh.”
We stand like that for several minutes—her in my hands and me feeling terrible.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her.
“Me too.”
My eyes go from her hazel-gray irises to her full lips. She bites her bottom lip and after resisting far too long, I crush my lips to hers. Her lips are cold at first but as time passes, they warm and there’s an intensity that flames through me. We need this to prove something to each other. My hands stray all over her. One goes into her hair and the other pins her to me at the curve of her back. Her hands do the same, rubbing my back before latching behind my neck.
When we are together like this, there is no fear. All I feel is a swelling in my chest and a need for more of her. Our embrace stills my angst. She’s the woman I want to be with and I have to do what I can to make that happen. She’ll hold onto the pass if I need it and that won’t be necessary. I will win this competition and I will make her mine.
“You’ve got to go,” she says when our lips separate. “Your bodyguard has probably alerted Sohr you’re missing. She’ll send an entire battalion to find you and they shouldn’t find you with me.”
“Agreed.”
“I love you.”
Giving her one last kiss, I tell her, “I love you too.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Neith
I send Invier off through the flower tunnel and promise he’ll find his way to the Participant’s building from there. He disappears leaving me moping at the light-green ylang-ylang flowers that intermingle with bougainvilleas from their perch above. The ylang-ylang tree has grown tall and broad enough to block the light the bougainvilleas will need for their next bloom. I’ll have that taken care of. Pulling another flower from a branch, I stick this one behind my ear and inhale its strong perfume.
My heart is still racing from our conversation about the pass. Thankfully, I took Bel’s advice and pushed the issue with him. He folded quickly in the face of losing me. And I’m glad he did because the possibility of letting him go, as Bel suggested, is unthinkable.
And where is Bel? She never came back last night. Hopefully, she’s off with Acri and not somewhere getting into trouble without me. If we don’t speak by lunch time, I’ll comm Aunty Tari.
As if agreeing with me a crack of thunder cuts across the now darkened sky. I pick my paper box of bread that I left on the bench and rip the remaining slice to shreds for the geese. Once they are eating, I bend by the water and dip my fingers to clean them. Heavy feet pound the grass behind me and the geese quack as they patter out of the way. A small smile plays on my lips.
“You couldn’t stay away, could you?” I rise, wiping my wet hands on my jeans. The face looking back at me isn’t the one I expected and a cold sweat crawls down my back.
Dark pupils study me with a mocking expression.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Scioness Neith. It’s just me,” Ika says with a wicked chuckle.
I do my best to hide my disappointment. How did he find this place? A new worry burgeons. Could he have overheard my conversation with Invier?
The thoughts tear at me until pressure builds at my right temple. Rubbing the troubling spot could relieve the discomfort but I don’t want to display any overt physical reactions to Ika’s miserable presence.
“I’ll be sure to thank your boyfriend for leading me here. This part of your estate is nice.” He circles me slowly, a sardonic smile on his lips. “By the way, how come nobody told me you two were an item?”
He stops behind me and his hot breath scratches the back of my neck. I struggle not to react even though all I want to do is shove him far away from me.
His torturous gait continues and when he stops this time, he halts in front of me. He’s so close, I have to snap my chin up to glare at him.
“He’s the reason for this competition. You wanted him to seem … heroic, to gain adoration and that way …” He takes some strands of my hair in dark brown hand and narrows his eyes in thought. “You’d have turned the sorriest of scions into a worthy partner the nomes would respect.”
I push his hand away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He throws his head back and laughs. It’s an icy melody to my ears. He wags a finger at me as if disciplining a child. “Oh, don’t play coy with me, I heard everything you two said and I agree with you, giving him the pass would ruin the wonderful love story you’re creating. Imagine when he wins, you guys can reveal what it took to be together. It’ll be great for both of you and business wouldn’t suffer for it.”
I don’t care for how close his finger is to my face and swat it away.
“What do you want, Ika?” My tone is clipped and I rest my hands on my hips while I wait for his reply. A dark cloud passes overhead, snatching away any remaining warmth and I shiver when I notice how silent the world has become. Even the geese have gone still.
His head dips closer to mine and his lips pull back from his teeth.
We glare at one another for a moment that seems like an eternity. A peek of sunlight pushes through the dark sky and a soft breeze flows between us, causing the collar
of his purple shirt to flutter slightly. And that’s when he steps away from me.
“People say you can be quite devious.” His new smile is roguish. “Now, I see those rumors are true. If only people knew how far you can go to get what you want.”
A goose strays near his shoes, which are a combination of suede, patent, and some animal leather I don’t care to determine. I do, however, take pleasure from him squeaking and angling away from the creature. His spasmodic movement further attracts the goose. It quacks and several others now make their way to him. A blissful smile comes to my lips. He hops from foot to foot in an effort to keep the geese away from his spit shine shoes. His shoulders are ear high and he’s set to run off any second.
I could bring out another piece of bread from my pocket and sprinkle it away from him. That would take the geese elsewhere and he’d be more comfortable. However, Ika is the last person I’d show an inch of kindness to right now. I let him quiver before the harmless waterfowl.
“What do you want, Ika?” I repeat.
Still skipping around doing his embarrassing dance, he finally answers, “I want—” he pauses to avoid another goose, which thinks there will be a reward at the end of this game of his, “—the pass.”
I should have known. Ika is doing badly in the competition. So much so, that he was booed yesterday. That has to be hard on his ego and no wonder he wants out. The pass is the only way he can walk away from the competition without further damaging his reputation as well as that of his family. They’d be seen as oath breakers if he quit the Pursual.
This knowledge of Ika’s weakness and shame is empowering. I jut out my chin and push out my chest. My gaze scorches him from head to toe and I clap my hands to freeze the geese. Taking the last slice from my pocket, I toss it into the water. They chase it down and a splashing squabble fills the air. He may interpret my act as one of kindness but he’d be foolish to see it as anything other than a demonstration of the power he doesn’t have.
Ika’s shoulders settle into a more relaxed position and he studies his shoes. Regaining his composure, he says, “Yes, I said I want that pass or—”
“Or what?” I take a step towards him. No matter how threatening he fancies himself to be, I can’t fear a boy who just danced in fright at the quacking of harmless foul.
He’s all smiles again. Unnervingly confident. “You, Scioness Neith, have quite the backbone, I see. If I wasn’t bored with all this, you’d be exactly the type of woman I’d want by my side.”
I scoff at the idea, ignoring my rule of not allowing him to affect my physical reactions.
He walks over to the water. It’s only when he leans forward and smooths out a brow with a finger that I realize he’s checking himself out. What a vain fool.
“Something tells me that you’d only want yourself by your side,” I say and he snickers, dipping his fingers into the water.
Straightening, he says, “The pass, Scioness. Or, I let the world know of your relationship and reveal this Pursual for the sham it is.”
He sprinkles droplets of water on me and I back away, my heart dropping. I can’t afford for my relationship with Invier to be revealed. That will be even worse than Invier receiving the pass and losing a chance to be with me. My credibility, and that of my nome will be questioned. That would be a hard problem to overcome. When I’m done wiping my dress, Ika’s leaving the way he came.
“You’ll pay for this, Ika.”
“But, you’ll regret it even more if your secret comes out.” He doesn’t bother to slow or face me when he calls back to me, “Let me out of the competition and you’ll have one less competitor in your sweetheart’s way. If not …”
His cackling goes on long after he is out of sight.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Belema
The bedroom door clicks and slides open.
“Heavens! There you are,” Neith says after a beat. A frown on her face diffuses into a relieved smile. “Where have you been?”
She takes in my appearance and I can only imagine what she sees. I hope she’s not wondering why I no longer have on my uniform.
“You weren’t up to something naughty, were you? Because if you left me out of it I’ll be upset.”
“No, silly. I was assisting families in—”
“Please don’t tell me you were in Ghitu.” She stares round-eyed. “Invier and the others barely made it back from there.” Her eyes soften with a hint of sadness when she finally utters, “Erhart wasn’t as fortunate as the rest.”
“What?”
“Someone shot him and now another participant in my Pursual is dead. Can you believe it?” She carefully removes a chartreuse yellow ylang-ylang flower from her ear, dropping it into an ebony box on her desk, patting the lid once it’s closed.
I walk over to the glass wall and look out at the sea. Today, the water lurches high and crashes onto the sand under pregnant clouds that are bound to burst soon. I’m tempted to comment that she’s not concerned about Erhart’s death but only worried how it will impact her Pursual. No. There’s no need for another fight. “I was providing health care last night and there was an influx of wounded.” I push some stray hair behind my right ear as my stomach twists. “All I was told was that the injuries were a result of a rebel attack, but I didn’t know where. Is Invier okay?”
“Yes, thankfully. But, can you imagine? The rebels are no longer content to just attack nome-owned properties. They’re attacking their own cities and killed hundreds last night.” She’s sitting at her desk and her comm screen rises from the surface. “Show me video from the Ghitu attack last night. Audio off.”
Hundreds? The rebels are committed to taking as few lives as possible. “Something doesn’t make sense,” I mutter.
“They attacked a club called Fenix. That’s where the participants were and according to Invier, the place is owned by Mehrdad’s relatives.” She swipes her screen.
Neith pushes her chair back and its legs screech across the white marble floor. The sharp trill makes me flinch and it’s a moment before I can gather my thoughts to speak.
“The nomes need to sit with the rebels. Both sides must talk with each other before things get worse,” I say as she plops onto the bed’s edge, yanking off her gold sneakers, which complement the bangles on her wrists.
Having freed her feet, she flexes them. “I don’t get it why they’re mad.” She flops backward and stretches to reach the other side of her bed, an impossibility given its size. “All they do is destroy what we’ve spent centuries building. What do they want?”
My feet move me, unthinkingly, until I’m sitting on the bed beside her. “Maybe they destroy because they don’t have anything to preserve.”
“Stop speaking in riddles. That makes no sense.”
I consider what to say next. It’s difficult for those of us who come from enormous wealth to understand others who don’t. Many of the richest Titans and Titanes sit on quintillions of dollars. Or even more, as is the case of the Cyras. Even the lowest amongst us within the Twenty have had enormous fortunes for generations that will continue for decades, if not centuries to come. Same for many of the families of the Lower Houses. But, not everyone’s that lucky.
How can my best friend realize that life is different for those existing outside that bubble of eighty families? How do I help her realize that the disproportion in prosperity spurs the very destruction she finds so perplexing?
An idea comes to mind and I go with it.
“You’re a history fan and your love of history enabled you to figure out that the Pursual could bring you and Invier together, right?”
She nods, but her expression becomes skeptical.
“So, you’ve got to know of periods where the poor challenged the wealthy over what they perceived as injustices. History is littered with examples of that.”
Her forehead crimps in concentration. “The French Revolution is as far back as I can remember.” She snaps her fingers and her eyes brighten. “
Yes, I also recall learning about the Macani Rebellion of 2189.”
“Good. That was when workers revolted because a vaccine to prevent the Macani flu was given to workers and not their family members, right?”
“Yes, and it led to changes they still benefit from today.” She takes some of her hair and stares at it as if checking for something. “Workers can bring their immediate family to live in employment zones and children get free education for as long as their parents remain employed. They even get free healthcare. What else do these people want?”
“You do realize that there are millions who don’t live in employment zones, right? They don’t have the benefits that workers do. Yet, they need education and safe drinking water. These people live in the parts of the planet where food won’t grow.”