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I wonder what happened to Phillip and Fiona’s parents. Did they also die in a suspicious accident? Widow Twanky here is looking more and more dubious as we go on, and there is no way she is going to get her hooks into my grandpas, even if I have to lie.
“Oh, they are already courting someone in the circus,” I tell her, and she frowns, glaring at me.
“Now, Lila, has no one taught you that lying is a sin?” Eric sighs.
“Lila, one of Vivian’s Skarrian abilities is that she can tell when someone is lying.”
Fuck! Caught red-handed. Oh well, I’m not feeling warm and fuzzy toward this woman, so I don’t care if she knows that I’m telling big fat lies.
“Truthfully, Vivian, we haven’t given up hope that Liliana will one day return to us. The mating bond hasn’t broken, and until it does or we have proof of her death, we won’t move on,” William tells his sister-in-law.
She rolls her eyes and stands up, smoothing out invisible wrinkles in her outfit. She’s probably the same height as me, but there is no shape to her body. She’s kind of flat all over—flat chest, flat butt, and no waist—so she appears box-like, and the brown skirt suit does nothing to help things.
“Yes, well, I think you are delusional. Even if the mating bond hasn’t broken, my sister obviously does not want to be found. Otherwise, why wouldn’t she be here with you?” Vivian starts pacing around the living room, picking up knickknacks and examining them before putting them down and repeating the process with the next object she finds interesting. “She probably found a new family and is living happily on the other side of the universe. She always was untrustworthy. I tried to convince my parents to give me the council seat. I care much more about our great planet than she did. The fact that she lived off it most of the time proved that.” I can see by the look that Eric and William exchange that it’s not something they haven’t considered, but hearing someone else say it must hurt them.
Holy fuck, this woman is nasty. If she raised Fiona and Phillip, it’s no wonder they are the way they are. For the first time, I have a little sympathy for my cousins.
“Thank you, but the answer is no,” Eric replies firmly, getting up and removing a crystal figure from her hands and returning it to the sideboard. She eyes it carefully before turning her back to it.
“Fine, but let me know if you change your mind. We could be good together. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Philip and Fiona. Don’t you think it’s time that they had some more responsibility in the circus? That Reccedean reptile show is beneath them. You could be training them to take your place as ringmaster when the time comes.”
Ah, hello, bitch, what the fuck am I? Chopped liver? Also, wow, talk about whiplash. This woman is all over the place.
“Well, that is Lila’s birth right as an Adams. We wouldn’t take that away from her,” William explains none too gently.
“But she won’t be able to manage that task in addition to being a mother to three…” She shudders before continuing. “Whatever it is she will give birth to.” She moves over to another cabinet filled with curios and starts manhandling them all. What the fuck is this woman doing?
I can practically see the steam pouring out of Eric’s ears. My normally jovial grandpa is about to go postal, but before he does, I hold up a hand, stopping him. “I can assure you, Vivian, that I can handle that and more. Not to mention I have two mates who aren’t actually in any of the circus acts who will be happy to look after their children when I am working. You see, that’s how it’s done in a lot of families. It’s called sharing the love and responsibility. Just because these babies are Caspian’s, that doesn’t mean my other mates won’t love them like their own.”
“You won’t have a nanny?” She gasps and clasps another figurine against her chest.
“No, we will be hands-on parents, just like mine were before they were taken from me.”
“Well, there is no accounting for taste. I’m sure that’s how you ended up mated to a kraken, because your parents chose to live on Earth and then got themselves killed. If you’d lived here on Skarr, you would have had a perfectly nice Skarrian bond group.”
My eyes slide to my cousins. “Fiona and Phillip aren’t mated to anyone.”
“Well, they don’t have time. They have been devoting themselves to the circus in the hope that their skills and drive will be recognized.”
“Actually, now that we are on the subject, why don’t we discuss that?” Eric looks at William who nods, latching onto the change of subject like it’s a lifeline.
“You assured us when we agreed to take Phillip and Fiona on that they had animal control abilities. It’s why we allowed them to apprentice with the animal trainers at our compound here on Skarr. After an incident during a show on Earth, however, I am beginning to question that they have those skills. Do I need to ask to see their Skarrian ability registration? I didn’t when they first started because you are family, after all, but I’m not so sure if that was smart now.” William’s tone brokers no argument, and Vivian glares at her grandchildren.
“What do you mean?” she asks through gritted teeth.
“Phillip and Fiona were unable to control the raptor during the show, and it became dangerous for our crowd, not to mention themselves. I had to have the warlock step in to make things right.”
“I’m sure it was all a misunderstanding. Maybe they were sick. You know that can wreak havoc with a Skarrian’s abilities.” She sounds a little panicked as she offers up the excuse, but even though none of us have built-in lie detectors, it’s not a stretch to know she’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
“Maybe they need to stay on Skarr once the circus resumes and practice a little more with the animals,” Eric suggests more kindly than I think any of them deserve. I still suspect they were involved with Viggy’s Vegas jaunt—we’re lucky nobody got eaten.
“No!” She stops fiddling with my grandpas’ stuff and comes back over to the sofa. “No, they need to be on that ship. On the way over, they were telling me just how much they love it.”
I’m skeptical because they have nothing but disdain for most of the performers and only socialize with other Skarrian crew members. They also certainly don’t have a warm and fuzzy bond with their animals.
She kicks Fiona, forcing her to respond. Fiona grunts and rubs at her shin before replying, “Oh yes, we just love it. Please don’t make us stay on Skarr.”
William, Eric, and I just stare at her in amazement. You couldn’t get a more robotic response than that.
