Page 46 of Skyn
Lily is recording.
And Ben, my husband—he looks wild. My heart is breaking. It has only been two weeks since his transition. This is all too much too fast. His body coils, tensed, vibrating with anger. A chair is hoisted high above his head; his knuckles show yellow through shaking brown hands.
Lily sighs. A touch of sadness, like she’s narrating the death of a wild beast. “Off his dampeners. He is an animal.”
What in the hell happened?I think. Is he about to throw this chair?
“Ben! No!” I shout.
His body locks. The chair halts. But he does not lower it.
“They’re taking my research, Fawl.” His voice is hot with fury and a little panic. “They’re taking the lab.”
My chest tightens. “Wait—the SKYN synthesis? We just had a breakthrough. We just built the prototype. They can’t do that.”
Lily tucks her holopad away, satisfied. “We can when the head Iku is declarednon compos mentis.”
“Look, Ben. We get it.” Michael stands. “You won your little game. This whole thing is starting to embarrass the family.”
“You should be embarrassed to have done it at all.” Ben lowered the chair. His voice still trembles with anger, “But now that the deed is done, I must say I rather enjoy my punishment.” His eyes are a welder’s torch on me.
“No one is saying you have to give up your skin bride.”
“Bride,” Ben repeats, stepping toward his brother with a deadly calm that makes everyone in the room tense. “Saybride.”
Michael backs up a step, his eyes flicking around the room, scanning for safety like he might find it behind a potted plant or someone else’s silence. “Okay, okay,” he says, hands raised halfway in mock surrender. “Your bride.”
Michael grins, but it’s thinner now. “Look, I’m just saying—I know the untold delights of the flesh,” he adds, leaning in. He stage-whispers, “Sex without the dampeners is mind-blowing, right?”
Ben doesn’t answer, and Lily shifts uncomfortably. Ben’s temple ticks, which makes me afraid this confrontation alone might overtax his splintered system.
“But to continue to elevate her like this, as if she’s your equal… It’s dangerous.”
It occurs to me that Ben is winning whatever little psychological war they laid out for him. They expected him to bolt at the sight of me. No, their plandependedon Ben’s outright rejection of me.
I didn’t know if it was strategic or just dumb, but Ben’s actions were—how did he say it?Illogical.
Something wild and green, like roots or vines, stretches out of my chest. This is how love is supposed to feel.
I turn to Lily. “How could you record this? I thought—” I was going to say,I thought you loved him. But I’m not sure I ever believed that.
She turns to me, amused. Not unkind, but pitiless. “You thought what?” Her smile sharpens. “Let me let you in on the big, wide world, little mine girl.” She steps closer. “If you’re an old family up here, you have a job to do. A job the entire world depends on. I am Lily Oggun. We are medical leaders. We build hospitals and forge weapons and tools from the iron in the mines. If we don’t do that job, society falls apart.”
I shake my head. None of this makes sense. “Ben isdoinghis job. He’s closer than ever. He’s on the cutting edge. I’ve been with him. It’s all he eats, sleeps, and breathes.”
“Fawl—” Ben walks toward me, and his voice is different now. Low. Warning. He looks guilty. But…why? He’s doing good things.
Lily grins. “Oh my God,” she says, delighted. “She doesn’t know.”
Michael chuckles. “Wow. This is awkward.”
A new, cold kind of dread seeps into my ribs. “What?” I look around, confused now, unsteady. “What don’t I know?”
I glance at Ben, and he opens his mouth, but Lily steps in front of him. “You think the Ikus arescientists?” She laughs. “That’s adorable. That’s Ben’s little hobby. It’s cute. But that’s not thework.”
The room tilts.
I swallow. “Then what is?”
