by Jeanne Allen
“That’s Raul,” Kieran continues.
I tear my gaze from Lakshimi to acknowledge a serious-looking man with deep-set eyes hidden under strong, dark brows that raise slightly as we eye each other.
After a moment, he gives me a nod.
I can’t read his expression; the neutrality of his face gives away nothing. But the neutrality is honest, not a court mask like Jackson’s. Raul simply seems level-minded.
I like him instantly.
“Finally, Little Bird. Or Birdie.”
“Little Bird?” I question the last member of our table. She’s tiny, especially for a Phósopoi. She reminds me of Sarah, but while Sarah’s small, she exudes strength and confidence. The girl who sits to my right looks like a strong wind might break her. Everything about her is delicate. Her skin is smooth and pale, like porcelain. Red-gold ringlets frame her small, heart-shaped face, where rosy cheeks compliment striking cerulean eyes. She’s more like a living doll than a bird.
“It’s a stupid nickname. My real name is Bernadette, but most people call me Birdie.” Her soft whispery voice is more endearing than annoying.
I smile gently at her. Then I remember where I’d heard that voice before. “You’re the one who called Professor Evans all those titles.”
Birdie’s cheeks turn a deeper red.
Lakshimi chuckles. “What? What did you call him?”
“Well, he insisted we use Professor whilst in class. I couldn’t do it, so I called him all of his titles so as not to offend his Majesty.”
Now Lakshimi and Kieran both laugh, and Raul’s mouth twitches.
Birdie looks like she wants to die.
I take pity on her. “Don’t worry. It wasn’t that bad. I only remembered when I heard your voice because it’s so unique.” I pat her hand.
She gives me a grateful smile.
Desperate to change the topic for her sake, I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “Aren’t Kladí supposed to be the protectors?”
I regret it the moment it leaves my mouth.
To my relief, Birdie laughs at my observation.
Raul answers. “Bernadette may look helpless, but she’s one of the strongest mental-class Kladí in recent memory. Strength is more than size.”
I duck my head, embarrassed for my assumption. Strength, indeed. Once again, I forgot there’s more to the Phósopoi than meets the eye.
“Yep, our Birdie is one of the best in Phóspolis.” Kieran puts a friendly arm around her. He tilts his head as if realizing something. “Except, of course, for Sebastian Taylor.”
The table goes quiet.
I’m glad I’m not the only one sobered by the mention of my sleeping Kladí. I’m not sure I can pretend to be unaffected by his name.
Kieran realizes his error and thankfully steers us in other directions. After he introduces me as a new transfer, just like that, I’m accepted into their circle.
It feels good to be around friends. I love my guys, but things with them are always so intense, and despite their efforts, I still feel pressured. The prospect of tying myself to someone forever daunts me.
So, being with Kieran and the others is exactly what I need. Since they don’t know who I am, they don’t have any expectations. To them, I’m Rose, a pre-Awakened Phósopoi from Region Five.
“I bet she hopes he’ll be her First. He’d sire a powerful line,” Kieran scoffs.
None of us have afternoon classes, so after we finished lunch, we decided to hang out at the on-campus coffee shop, where Kieran and Birdie immediately began dishing on an Agora they know who Bonded the previous week.
“Sire?” I ask.
Birdie, Kieran, and Lakshimi look at me like I’m the mutant at the human table.
Well, I suppose I’m the human at the mutant table. Still, I don’t see what I said wrong, but even Raul’s eyes widen slightly.
“You don’t know what a First is?” Lakshimi says slowly, like I admitted to not knowing Michael Jackson or basic arithmetic.
“Uhh…” My brain completely blanks. Back-of-my-mind voice can’t even offer something snarky to explain a way out of this one.
Raul, thankfully, decides to answer my question. “The First Kladí is the first to mother or father their Agora’s child. It’s a great honor and it helps to decide the family dynamics, though it’s not mentioned much after the birth of the firstborn.”
I struggle to keep my face neutral. First? Family Dynamics? It’s been almost six months and there are still things I don’t know about the Phósopoi.
Basic things, apparently.
“Oh, right. I forgot. My parents didn’t… talk about Phósopoi stuff much.”
“Oh, you’re one of those,” Kieran says, and the others seem to relax at his observation.
While glad to be out of the danger zone, Kieran’s tone bothers me. “Those? I didn’t know we were a those.”
Kieran’s eyes twinkle, and he gives me that half-smile. “Nothing bad, Princess. I’ve just heard about the few Omás who reject Phósopoi society. Bet they didn’t even take you to Magistrate classes, huh?”
I shake my head in the negative. Seems like a little truth is prudent here. I can only fake so much.
Kieran nods as if he expected my response. “I’m surprised they let you come here at all.”
“Well, my cousin…”
“Ah, your family line got involved?”
Again, I simply nod. Luckily, they drop the subject after that.
“Don’t worry, Princess, I’ll help you out. Anything you don’t know, come ask me.”
I grin.
“Call me Uncle Kieran.”
I laugh. “Uncle? We’re classmates.”
The others smile, and Kieran’s grin turns more lopsided. He looks positively wicked. “Ah, but you are pre-Awakened. You’re what, twenty-two?”
“Twenty-one.” I’d just had my birthday a few weeks prior.
“See? I’m almost a century your senior, give or take a decade.”
“You’re a hundred?” I’d known about the lifespan of the Phósopoi for some time—my own Kladí is over a century—but that’s one thing. Learning your new, playful classmate is old enough to remember the invention of the telephone is another.
Kieran grins at me. “Close. I was born in 1910, so more like 109.”
With wide eyes, I look at the others.
“Fifty-one,” Lakshimi volunteers.
“Thirty-eight,” Raul says.
“Twenty-three,” Birdie says, and we share a look.
I can tell it’s the start of an alliance, the Alliance of the Young Folk. I nearly laugh at the idea but stop myself. I don’t trust that the laughter won’t turn into hysterics. I haven’t been the most stable person since the night we found Sebastian.
“Well, looks like I have some good mentors, then, Uncle Kieran.”
Kieran frowns. “I was kidding about the Uncle thing. If you haven’t noticed, we Phósopoi are slower to mentally mature than humans. I’m no wise sage.”
“Oh, no. I like calling you Uncle. It fits.”
Kieran’s smile slips as he flinches at the title.
I glance over at Birdie, who catches my eye and grins. Payback.
“I should start calling you that as well, out of respect. Right, Uncle Kieran?” Birdie asks.
Kieran’s face loses all color, the freckles on his nose now visible in the fluorescent light of the café.
“Yes, Uncle, it’s only proper.”
Lakshimi and Raul say nothing as Birdie and I continue to tease Kieran, but Lakshimi’s eyes dance with amusement.
“No, really. I’d prefer you not,” Kieran’s voice goes squeaky with desperation, and I can’t keep a straight face as he flounders.
“It’s fine, Kieran. I was kidding,” I bite out between laughs.
Birdie is even louder with her amusement. “Your face!”
Kieran rolls his eyes, and Lakshimi chuckles. By the time our laughter subsides, his cheeky smirk is back and
those brilliant eyes sparkle.
“Funny, Princess, very funny,” he mock-chides.
I shrug.
It feels good to relax and enjoy myself. I hadn’t been around friends this way since high school. Even then, I was never as comfortable with other people as I am with my new friends.
I’m also grateful they bought the whole “sheltered” story.
For the rest of the afternoon, they fill me in on tidbits I still haven’t learned. Like the fact that Phósopoi society is geared in heavy favor of the Royals. Phósopoi with Royal blood are given every advantage and leeway while the rest of the Phósopoi pick up the slack.
The information and stories give me a lot to think about.
By the time I meet Jackson to go home for dinner, I have enough to mull over for a while.
Chapter 2
The guys are so busy with their own things, that a few weeks pass before they’re all home at the same time for dinner.
Jackson has royal engagements and his residency at a hospital in Toronto.
Jin is helping the Elite track down the murderer and Sebastian’s attacker.
A few weeks after we settled in Phóspolis, Forrest surprised me when he announced his internship at a wildlife reserve on the mainland. I suppose working with animals is easier when you can talk to them.
Lastly, Lucas and Lyle transferred to the University of Toronto. I was supposed to join them, but when I heard about Phóspolis University, I begged to go there to catch up on all of the things I would have learned if my birth parents raised me.
Nights like tonight, when we’re all home, is something I’ve begun to treasure.
Sebastian’s sisters, who had been granted access to this Region, had long ago returned home since they were Bonded to different nobles. I, for one, was happy to see them go. They’re boisterous and fun to have around, but too many Amazonians in the house can get a bit draining, even with a mansion as big as ours.
His parents, while still here, give us privacy in the evening.
It helps that we set up a dining table in my room where we eat family dinners, since Sebastian rests there, hooked up to his IV and monitors on my bed. We have round-the-clock nursing staff and doctors, but I ignore them for the most part.
It doesn’t hurt as much when I can pretend he’s sleeping.
I think the guys feel the same way. Words like “coma” and any mention of our missing family member are taboo at dinners. In fact, there’s an unspoken rule that dinners are free of any serious or sad topic. Conversation is kept light and filled with laughter. The guys tell me about their day, and I fill them in on my new friends and classes. It’s as if we’re trying to entice our Angel out of his slumber by showing him all the fun he’s missing.
After our dishes are cleared away, and we’re all ensconced on our various perches in the sitting room connected to my bedroom, I decide to break the no serious talk rule because of something I have to know. Tonight, I finally find the courage to ask the question that’s been burning in my mind since the first day I met Kieran and his friends.
“I learned something interesting today,” I say.
Really, it was a few weeks ago, but they don’t need to know that.
“Oh?” Jin leans forward in the armchair across from me.
I sit on a huge, overstuffed leather couch that takes up half the room with Forrest on my right and Jackson to my left. The twins sit in armchairs angled toward us on Jin’s left even though there is plenty of room on the couch. I get the feeling they like being able to see me.
“Yeah. Why didn’t any of you tell me about Firsts?” I slowly scan the faces of my Kladí, not wanting to miss their expressions.
Their reactions range from embarrassment from Lyle and Forrest to amusement from Lucas. Jin and Jackson revert to the blank faces they wear when they don’t want anyone to know what they’re thinking.
“Who told you about that?” Jin sounds half-curious, half-ready to strangle the person who told me.
This irks me. They shouldn’t have kept this from me in the first place. I narrow my eyes at my beautiful Kladí. I have the right to know.
I ignore the way Jin’s unbound hair swings forward like ribbons of silk over his shoulders; Jin’s hair is always perfect and it’s annoying. “A friend from school. Doesn’t matter—”
“Kieran,” Jackson spits out.
I roll my eyes, feeling a twinge of guilt at giving Professor Evans another reason to fixate on my new friend. “Anyway. My point is, I shouldn’t have to learn about this from someone else. One of you should have told me.”
Forrest touches a tentative hand to my knee. I turn to find that he, at least, looks apologetic. “You’re right, Rose. You should have heard it from us. There are just so many things for you to learn. And with everything going on…” He looks away for a moment, clearing his throat before continuing. “We wanted to leave the unimportant stuff for when it mattered. We haven’t even Bonded yet, so things like Firsts aren’t imperative.”
I blink at the swirls of gray and silver eyes framed in the masculine face of my handsome Kladí. Over the last few months, I’ve found that Mr. Sexy Badass also happens to be my most sensitive Kladí. I give him a small smile and let the accusations that sit ready on my tongue dry up. Forrest’s explanation makes sense. I have to trust my guys to tell me what they think is important.
Still.
“I heard that it’s some kind of honor to father or mother the first child? Are you all expecting me to—”
“No, no, we won’t be trying for a child until you’re ready.” Jin stands and stalks toward me, every inch as graceful as the first day I met him.
He reaches down, plucks me out of my seat like my five-foot, ten-inch frame weighs nothing, and takes my spot, settling me in his lap. He cradles me so my head rests back on his chest, but I can still see my other Kladí, who all give indications they agree with our assassin’s proclamation.
“But, it’s true though? The first one to father the child gets some kind of special prize?” I press.
It’s not like I hadn’t heard of these kinds of rituals before. In ancient China, the Imperial family awarded special palaces and wealth to the mother of the first heir. But reading about this kind of situation and being in one are two totally different matters.
“I wouldn’t put it like that. It’s not really a big deal until after the first child. All it means is that the father or mother of the first child has a bit of authority over the other Kladí. It’s necessary for family dynamics. Though we’re not human, we still feel the same emotions, and things can get messy if there’s no defined order.” Again, Jackson’s explanation makes sense.
But the logical part of my brain seems to be on vacation. “Are we going to be marathoning until I’m a baby momma, then argue about it like on Maury? Cheese and rice! Is the Awakening going to mess with my hormones? You said you’d know when it was close. Am I going to turn into a sex fiend? I don’t want to be a sex fiend!” I yell, then promptly burst into tears.
Me, Ms. Say-What-You-Want-I’m-Too-Logical-To-Care bursts into damsel in distress tears at the thought of being a “sex fiend”.
I’d say it’s because I’m already pregnant and feeling it, but unless Mutants are prone to Immaculate Conception, something else is afoot, and I don’t mean my fuzzy llama slippers.
When I look around the room, my rant has silenced the guys.
Jin snaps out of it first, pulling me closer and forcing me to turn away from Jackson’s lobster-red neck and Lucas’s bulging Goblin eyes. I breathe deeply, calming myself with Jin’s signature lavender and honey scent.
“Shh… no, no. Beautiful, it’s not like that,” he says. “You’re not going to be a sex fiend, or whatever it is that’s troubling you. Nobody will pressure you to do anything you don’t want to do. You’re too precious to us. You matter most.”
The reassurance, along with Jin’s warm arms and Forrest’s comforting hand on my thigh soothe me somewhat.
&nb
sp; I sigh, almost ready to speak like a rational human being, when something else occurs to me. “You mean you don’t want me to be a sex fiend?”
I struggle out of Jin’s arms to glare at him then Jackson, who still looks decidedly uncomfortable with the whole conversation.
“Could we maybe not say sex fiend?” Jackson mutters, which makes me even more livid.
“So, even the thought of having sex with me repulses you? Am I that hideous?” Tears begin to stream down in heavy rivers of nonsensical emotions. I’m a mess of salt and mucus, absolutely convinced now that my Kladí don’t find me attractive.
Jackson looks stricken. “No. Sweetheart, you have no idea how beautiful you are. To me. To us. To the whole goddamn world. I have to force myself to not punch every guy who looks at you the way those boys do in class every day. And I feel ten times what they do. I want you more than I can even say in words, but I know you aren’t ready.”
“Really?” I sniff.
“Really.”
I stare into those steady eyes and know he speaks the truth. My sniffles abate, and in a moment, the fog clears, and I come back to that logical part of my brain that had hidden in a corner of my mind since we began this whole conversation.
“Oh… my… I don’t know what came over me.” Now it’s my turn to be embarrassed.
“We know,” Lucas offers. When I turn, those Goblin eyes twinkling even more wickedly than usual. “This is what we meant when we said we’d know when it was time for you to Awaken. Agora women get emotional and sensitive before they Awaken.”
“How— How long do I have to deal with… this?” Too mortified to speak properly, my voice comes out in a stutter.
“Could be days,” he says with a shrug, visibly unconcerned with my impending girlfriend-from-hell antics.
I sigh in relief. I can do days.
But then Lyle adds, “Or weeks. Or, in some cases, months.”
“Months!” I screech, horrified. “We have to deal with what amounts to PMS on steroids for months?”
“Only in rare cases. Most likely only one or two weeks,” Jackson quickly assures me.
I take a deep breath. This was not something I expected. But then again, when did I expect anything that’s happened since Genetics 101 with Dr. Evans all those months ago? My life has been one wild ride to the next since I first locked eyes with my handsome professor.