Page 37 of Slow Heat
Father snorted but shrugged.
Jason scribbled on his notepad:Vale is allowed to write about anything he wants.
Pater clucked his tongue and whispered, “As if you could stop him, but that’s fine, love. Write it down.”
Father tugged another piece of paper out with a frown. “This one is troublesome. It’s part of a file from a doctor’s office he visited several years ago with complaints about taking a knot during heat.”
Jason’s fists clenched again, but he took a long breath and let it out slowly.
“Apparently there’s some scar tissue of unknown origin that looks problematic for childbearing.”
“Childbearing is inherently problematic,” Pater said quietly. “Add his age, and now this? I don’t think it’s right to expect him to be able to—”
“One,” Father said firmly.
“Yule…”
“Jason’s our only son, and after all we went through with my pater, all we suffered so that the line would carry on?”
Pater covered his face with one hand, patting for his cigarettes with the other.
“Jason, this is important. If you intend to contract with this man, you need to think about this hard and long.” Father peered at him, forehead crinkled. “Do you understand what’s at stake? You have to take it into account. Generations of people before you have suffered in order to bring you into the world, to carry on the genetic line. If he’s incapable, there are other options. You can contract a surrogate—”
“Stop,” Pater said, cigarette dangling from his lips as he struck a match and lit it. “We have no idea if the man wants children or not. We’ll cover this in negotiations.”
“Who cares if he wants children? What about Jason?”
“Like you said, Jason has options.” Smoke swirled from Pater’s nose as he exhaled roughly. “The choice is theirs to make asÉrosgápe, not ours.”
Father’s shoulder’s rounded and his jaw clenched, but he didn’t speak about surrogates or breeding again, moving on to the income Vale had lost when Chancellor Rory removed him from his position at the university.
“Obviously, we’ll replace it as his allowance. It’s a reasonable sum.” Father picked up the papers and shoved them into a brown file folder. “Aside from gruesome reports on his parents’ deaths, all of which seems unnecessary for you to hear about, that’s all we have today. If we get more information about him, we’ll be sure to let you know.”
Jason stared at the poetry books on his father’s desk. “Are those ours to keep?”
“I thought we agreed?”
“But not every poem is about heat or sex, surely?”
Father glanced toward Pater, and they had one of their silent conversations. After Father nodded, Pater reached to take up both of the books. “I’ll read them and tear out the ones suitable for you, if you’d like.”
Jason licked his lips. Vale had given the sexual poems as the reason why he didn’t want Jason to read the books. He hadn’t said anything about the other poems, had he? And while the idea of destroying the volumes to get at some of the poetry was unpleasant, it was still better than not knowing what his omega had written about all these years. “Yes. I’d like to read them.”
Pater nodded and tucked the books beneath his arm. He stubbed the cigarette out and rose slowly. “I’ll be in the conservatory. What’s for dinner?”
Father snorted softly. “Take-out at this rate, but I did set those flanks out to thaw.”
“I’ll eat whatever you bring me.” Pater smiled at him. “Anything I don’t have to cook is always my favorite.”
“Ours, too.” Father laughed, his blue eyes losing their tired grimness. “Go on. Get your day started.”
“What about me?” Jason asked. “I should be in political science class right now.”
“Chancellor Rory has agreed you can return to your classes on Monday. It’s protocol to keep you isolated until the alpha quell has a chance to settle into your system.” Father frowned. “Still, it’s no good for you to sit around bored. Why don’t you wash and polish Miner’s car and then we’ll find another way to keep you busy when you’re done.”
“Other families of our status have beta servants to do those chores for them. And to cook.”
“Other families don’t have your pater as omega. He likes his privacy. And so do I.”
