Page 30 of Seduced By the Mermen
“Sunshine, take Marlee and Blair and go home,” Eros growls.
“Come on, Aunt Blair,” Annabelle says.
“What? No, you go on.” I smile at her. “I’m okay.”
Nico corrals Marlee and Annabelle. “We are leaving now. Holter and Eros will help your aunt if she wants to make sure the male pays his restitution.”
“I...” Annabelle holds my eyes. “Is that what you want, Aunt Blair?”
“Yes, please go.” When the four of them are out of earshot, I pivot to the male Sterling is holding. “What are you going to do to him?” I ask Sterling.
“He will pay,” Eros says.
Sterling has a firm grip on the offender, who can’t be more than nineteen.
“Pay how?” My shoulder’s rise.
“He will die,” Sterling clicks out.
“For touching Marlee? Die as in dead, not as in a metaphor?”
Sterling’s forehead scrunches up. “How is dead a metaphor?”
“It’s not, but I was kind of hoping it was.”
“Execution.”
The male looks up. His brown eyes flick to mine for only a second.
“That’s what you would normally do?” I ask.
“Yes,” Sterling says.
“You’re not verbose, are you?”
“No.”
I hold back my laugh. “You can’t kill the kid—podlet. That’s what he is.” I’m chewing on the side of my cheek. “They can’t kill him, can they?” I ask Eros.
Eros looks from me to Sterling. “Our justice system is different from yours, Blair.”
“It’s a bit extreme.”
“We’re a society of mostly males. It keeps things under control.”
The male in cuffs looks up. I clocked him good; his lip is split. I’m sure it hurts more than my hand does. Which is a fair amount. “I’m asking for leniency. Is that a thing here?”
“I suppose it can be. Your niece saved a male’s life aboard the Centauri,” Eros says.
The male hasn’t said anything. He hasn’t begged for his life.
“Why did you do it?” I ask.
“I’ll never be mated. I’m an eighth son to a pod that doesn’t have a lot of money. I’ve got nothing. But now at least I can die knowing what a female’s hair feels like.” His eyes sink to the floor.
“Sweet pancakes. You can’t kill a poor boy for that.” Then I turn to him and, in my best mom voice, say, “You can’t go around touching girls—females. It’s not right. They’re not property. You’re young, but I’m sure if you work hard, you can make something of yourself.”
He blinks at me like I’ve told him the sky is purple. Which I guess isn’t something they say around here.
