Page 63 of Seduced By the Mermen
“This is?—”
“—the same thing we’ve had in the Mason household every Feast of Liberisca since I started working here twenty years ago. It’s good. Better than good.” Rodgers glares at me, and it’s seriously more intimidating than when the king does it. “Get out of my kitchen.”
“Thank you,” I say, a little too late, and head down the corridor to the dining room and living room.
Zion’s lying on the sofa with his eyes closed. “You need to relax. You weren’t this wound up during your election for governor the first time.”
“This matters more.” It slips out, and I have to pause for a minute. Do I mean it? Does it matter more? “I knew I was going to win the election.”
“Cocky much? There was no guarantee. Even for you,” Zion says, his eyes narrow slits.
“I knew it would work out. Things always do for me.” I circle the sofa and sit in one of the chairs next to the window. The dome’s lit up for the holiday. Purple and golden yellow lights flank our window, Stele’s colors.
Zion opens his eyes the rest of the way. “You’re wearing that suit?”
“This?” I look down at my chest. It’s a tight-woven midnight purple tunic with matching trousers.
“It’s a bit old-fashioned.”
“I’m a bit old-fashioned.” I laugh, but there’s a fluttering in my gut. Am I too old for this? I’m the oldest of the seven. I want it. I know Delmar does. Clark too, or he wouldn’t have invited Blair here without talking to us all about it first. We should have done it last night. After he invited her to the performance. “You’re right. I should go change.”
“It’s fine, Forrest. Also, you’re not old and... seriously. I’m sure that Blair isn’t up to date on male fashion of the Veiled City.” He rights himself and places his tablet on his lap.
“Work okay?”
“Yeah, I’m... The Koralli, at the school today, Sherman Staal... What do you know about him?”
“Nothing.” I pull at my cuffs.
“You didn’t run a check on him when we got home?”
I blink at Zion. “I did.”
“I knew you would.”
“Sherman Staal lied.”
“That’s great. I mean, not great. About the lying, that is.” Zion puts his feet on the floor.
“Yeah, don’t get too excited. He wasn’t just the commander of the Vega. He was a five times decorated commander of the Vega. Put up for admiral, but he declined because he wanted to take care of his aging parents.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. It gets worse. He started a charity the second he heard about the pod-birthed females. He’s raised a hell of a lot of gold to track them down––”
“Okay, that’s kind of creepy. Trying to find a mate that way.”
“That’s not it. Though I did think the same thing. They’ve found a few and have set up trust funds for the females, leaving them alone.”
“That’s unfortunate. He’s an upstanding individual.”
“And the rest of them?”
“Spotless. The Staal pod doesn’t have a blemish on their record.”
“That’s not something we can say.”
“I agree. It’s not. All of us—no, most of us—have done something really stupid.”
