Roman
The color drained from Meg’s face as she looked us over. I didn’t blame her. What a sorry introduction to the man she was being married off to.
Somehow, I’d managed to convince myself that she wasn’t as pretty as I thought. It was a lie. She was beautiful, wearing that yellow dress, and I had to tear my gaze away to focus on the task at hand.
Justus was heavier than he seemed. I was rougher than necessary as I dumped him onto his chair. I’d gone back to my men and unit, just to be sent on a wild goose chase again to track Rabbit down. Figured I’d find him in a seedy nightclub drowning his sorrows.
He really needed a more original escape.
“My bride?” Justus slurred as he lifted his head. I put a glass of water into his hand, maybe a little too forcefully.
After what he’d put me through today, and then this… That poor woman didn’t know what she was getting herself into.
Meg slowly lowered back onto her seat, and it was an effort not to glare as Justus loudly slurped his water.
“You don’t look like a mutant beast.” He smirked, wiping the liquid that had dribbled onto his chin. Meg paled further. I resisted the urge to slap him on the back of his head, no matter how deserved it might be.
“Roman, sit and eat with us,” Helen said, not bothering to reprimand her precious son as she motioned for Stephen to put another place setting on the table. “Meg was just talking about you.”
She was?
I reckoned it was only human to want to hear what she’d said, but I forced myself not to look at her again as I did what the councilwoman demanded.
Not that I was too proud to turn down a meal.
The chow hall would be closed when I got back to the barracks.
I’d spent all night hunting down Rabbit and hadn’t gotten anything to eat.
Stephen placed a plate in front of me. My lips tightened. Maybe I’d get something from the corner store on the way home to make up for this lack of a meal. Still, I nodded my thanks at the man who gave my shoulder a quick pat.
If Helen noticed, she didn’t say anything. She was too busy getting full on wine anyway.
“So, Meg,” Helen said. “What do you think of our city so far?”
“I haven’t seen much of it yet.” Meg’s eyes darted between Justus and me. “He… He’s not…” She swallowed, and I caught the hint of fear in her voice that had me clenching my fork in my hand. “Roman isn’t your son?”
My brow furrowed. Did she think I was?
“Science, no.” Helen laughed.
I dug into my food, swallowing down the shame at how quick she was to laugh at that notion.
“But he’s spent enough time with us here in this house that we consider him family.” Helen’s smile softened as she looked our way. “Isn’t that right, Justus?”
“Is what right, Mother? That Roman would make a better son than I would, or that my mutant bride should care about our dysfunctional little family?” My best friend was a piss-drunk fool who smirked as he leaned back in his chair.
“For science’s sake, eat something and sober up,” Helen muttered as she motioned for Stephen to fill Justus’s plate.
I was the only one to notice that Meg had set her fork down. “I’m not a mutant.”
“I’m sorry. Is werewolf the politically correct term now?” Justus continued to smirk.
That did it.
I stomped on his foot under the table.
“Ow!” the drunk fool cried. “What was that for?”
I swallowed my food without tasting it. “Meg is a guest of the city, here of her own accord, and trying to save her people.”
Not that I believed this marriage would do anything to help if it was as they said and the gods were threatening to come back.
But I’d tried talking to the colonel and to Helen, and I had nothing more than gut worries to explain to them what might go wrong.
It went over about as well as I’d thought it would.
“How very noble of her.” Justus rolled his eyes.
“Behave.” Helen smacked her hand against the table, making Justus flinch. “It is noble, as Roman says. How lucky for her parents that they had a child—mutant or otherwise—that understands duty and honor.”
“This is a mistake,” Meg whispered.
No one else seemed to hear.
“But being a disappointment is so much fun,” Justus chuckled.
Helen narrowed her eyes. “The time for fun and games is over. You need to grow up.”
“Grow up and get married. Will I be required to produce an heir too?” Justus reached for the wine bottle that Katrina expertly whisked away.
“No, but you will be married at the end of the month, and you will be presentable for it,” Helen snapped.
He turned back to his mother. “What are we waiting for? Why not sell me at the altar tomorrow?”
“The invitations need to be sent.” Helen deadpanned. “And the other dignitaries from around the country still have to travel here.”
“No.” He shook his head. “We’re not making this public.”
Helen leaned back in her chair. “The press release went out this afternoon.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” Justus cried. “My friends. My followers… What are they going to think?”
“Poor spoiled boy. Your playboy days are numbered.” The councilwoman was losing her temper. “I don’t think you understand the severity of this. We’re already recording volatile weather patterns that occurred this afternoon just after the arrival of one goddess.”
Justus scoffed. “We control the climate. What’s the problem? Just make some adjustments.”
Helen’s lips flattened into a thin line. “The problem is that half our electrical grid relies on the sun. And we don’t control the world’s climate, we manipulate the elements to alter the climate of the dome.”
“So what?” Justus’s voice grew louder as drunken passion took over.
“A few uncomfortable days should get those scientists working faster to figure out a solution. None of this explains why I’m being forced to marry a mutant like some eighteenth-century cattle exchange.
As a species, we are better than the backwoods logic of feral mutts. ”
The growl that sounded in the room had Justus letting out a squeal and Helen putting her hand on her heart.
I had to admit, the growl was kind of cute. Something like an angry purr that made my lip quirk.
Meg pushed back her chair. “I’ve made a mistake.”
“I’ll say,” Justus sneered.
“Megaera, sit down.” Helen sighed. “Don’t listen to my idiot son.”
“The idiot son I’m supposed to marry?” Meg shook her head. “I can’t believe I did this.”
Her eyes met mine, and I saw the anger there, almost as if it was directed at me. For the first time in my life, I felt the urgent need to distance myself from this family.
“You’re doing the right thing,” I told her, even though I didn’t believe it myself. But I understood her reasons and admired her for the sacrifice she was willing to make. “I can’t imagine this is easy for you, but we are grateful you came.”
“Science, Roman. Mom already wants to write me out of the will. Can you not lay it on so thick?” Justus groaned.
“Maybe if you had a tenth of the discipline he does, then you wouldn’t be such a disappointment.” Helen’s rant blended in with Justus shouting.
“You can’t do this to me.”
“I can and I will.”
Meg marched out of the dining room, pausing to give me one final look.
I didn’t understand why that made my chest tighten like it did.
*
“Meg, wait up!” I called after her.
She paused with one hand on the stair railing, but her eyes were a million miles away and I could almost hear her thoughts racing.
“I didn’t know,” she said. “I didn’t know it would be him.”
The poor woman. “Justus isn’t normally this bad. Give him a few days. He’ll grow on you.”
“You don’t understand.” There was panic in her voice. “I thought he was you.”
I took a step back. “Me?”
“Yes,” she said. “I thought you were Helen’s son.”
Her words from earlier today came back, and it dawned on me. “I can see the confusion.”
“Good.” She nodded. “Then you’ll understand why I can’t do this. I can’t marry that man in there.”
“But you’d marry me. A complete stranger?” I was confused, albeit a little flattered that I hadn’t been the one to make her run from the room in disgust. “That’s the councilwoman’s son. He’ll give you everything you could ever want. Trust me, you’re getting the better deal.”
“You don’t understand.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “You and me. We—”
“Listen, I know he’s throwing a tantrum now, but you need to get to know him before you cast judgement. He really isn’t so bad.” I felt like I was betraying someone as I said this, but I couldn’t tell you who. How many times had I spoken up on Justus’s behalf? It was almost second-nature now.
“Who is he to you?” Meg whispered.
I shrugged. “My oldest friend. And he won’t hurt you. This whole marriage scam might be a sacrifice, but with him, you’ll want for nothing.”
“Marriage scam?” Her brow creased. “You don’t believe it will work?”
I forced my face into a mask of stone, trying to hide my mistake. “That isn’t my place to question. The council and your people have made a plan.”
“And do you ever… think for yourself?” Her voice was soft, non-combative.
I didn’t bother to answer the question.
“They’re not normally so dramatic in front of company,” I said, remembering my place. “Helen Troy is a good woman. She stands by her word.”
I thought of the years she’d helped. All she did for my father, even long after he’d gotten too sick to keep working as her late husband’s valet.
“You admire her.” Again, not a question. There was something like defeat in Meg’s tone.
“She feeds me,” I said, trying to make light of a dark situation.
Meg sighed. “Where I come from, that isn’t food.”
“I don’t much care for it either.” I tried to smile. “But like everything else here, it’ll grow on you.”
There was a silence that stretched between us, made louder by the vast and empty space. I could tell she wanted to say more, but I couldn’t trust myself to keep talking. Something about her made me want to speak out of turn. To assure her things wouldn’t be so bad. To tell her stories about—
What was I even doing out here? It wasn’t my place to meddle in the councils’ affairs.
“Give it a chance, is all I’m saying.” I turned to leave. “Goodnight, Megaera.”
For the second time tonight, I felt that tight squeeze in my chest when I heard her whisper, “Goodnight, Roman.”