Page 51 of Seduced By the Mermen
That would indeed be something.I don’t need his praise or his vague threat disguised as a promise. I don’t need to do this job at all. I want to, but I don’t need to. We’re well off as a pod. Forrest’s family has a blue whale of tons of gold, and no sister to pass it to. The other architects who have come up with me all think me working this hard ridiculous.“The Mason pod has no podlets. Who are you working so hard for?”they say. I have no desire to retire. It’s absurd.
I’m going to go through the rest of my checklist and head home. Need to be up early to get a good seat at the performance tomorrow.And no, I’m not bringing up that we’ve invited Blair to come too.
Delmar has us around the oak dining table, electronic tablets at each place. He’s in full-on teacher mode.
Sterling struts into the room. “What the hell is this?” He glares at the five of us sitting at the table.
Delmar stands at the end, his arms crossed over his chest. Yes, he’s a primary school teacher. But right now, he doesn’t look it. Not when he’s scowling at one of the largest males in all the Veiled City.
“This is us behaving like a pod.” Delmar steps toward Sterling, both of their brows furrowed. There’s the same look of irritation in Delmar’s brown eyes that’s in Sterling’s gray ones.
“Pods fuck. We’re not a pod.” Sterling grips the back of his empty chair but doesn’t sit.
I grip my temples. “Sit down, Sterling. We’ve got a lot to discuss, and we need to be up early for the Festival of Liberisca performance at the school tomorrow. We’re all going. To support Delmar.”
“We’ve never all gone before. My nephews are out of school,” Zion says.
“I invited Blair,” I counter.
“Fuck.” Sterling grimaces and sits.
Chapter 22
Sterling
Delmar and the damn school. I don’t want to go anywhere near that place. Not only is it where Anya worked, but it’s full of damn podlets.
I’m sitting. But mostly so I don’t throw him into the table and break it. His students are presenting part of the performance for the Feast of Liberisca. The school is full of my ghosts. It’s where I went, back when I thought life wasn’t a complete, whirlpooling, life-sucking abyss.
Clark, the fish gut. He invited Blair to the festival at the school. Which means my team and I have to be there instead of doing something more pleasurable. Like trailing after Atlas as he goes shopping for more fucking books. I hate that more than anything. Almost anything, as it turns out.
I pull out my block and message the best of the team. A message from Atlas opens up.
“Sterling, put your block away. This is a pod meeting,” Forrest says. I toss it on the table, and it spins to the middle. “Thank you. Continue, Delmar.”
“We’re pursuing Blair,” Delmar says. “But we haven’t decided how. We’re acting as individuals and not a pod, and it’s causing problems.” He looks from Alexei to me. Which has mewondering what the professor has done. He’s like a stonefish—perfectly still, not causing any problems, but when you bump into them, they release a painful toxin. I saw him in the guest room, but...
It’s interesting Delmar doesn’t pose it as a question. It’s a statement. In a culture full of rules, there are no rules for how a pod takes a second mate. It doesn’t happen enough. And since Delmar called for a meeting... “I say we take a vote on whether we pursue Blair.”
“No,” Forrest says. It echoes around the table.
Zion’s sitting next to me. “What do you have against Blair? Is it that she’s human? She has the same chromosome that her niece has. I’m confident she will become a mermaid.”
My lip curls, and my gut hardens. “I don’t care whether she’s human or a tuna. We’re too old to take on another mate. Why bother?”
“Speak for yourself,” Alexei counters.
“He’s got a point,” Delmar, the youngest of us all, says.
“I want a mate, and I’m older than you. Being old, which for the record I am not, has nothing to do with not wanting a mate.” Forrest points at me and then to Delmar.
“Then I’m a heartless bastard,” I say.
“Yes, you are. But that doesn’t mean you’re not worthy of––” My glare cuts Grayson off. “Or maybe it does.”
“No vote. It’s not like we haven’t talked about this for a month, Sterling. Sure, you weren’t keen before. It’s a little late to object to it now.” Alexei leans back, and when he does, I get the faintest whiff.
“You.” I’m vibrating inside. They fucked her.
