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“Oh, yes.”
Eros runs his hand around the side of the package sitting on the table. A gift? But he doesn’t push it toward her. Instead, he’s almost coddling it to himself. He pours tea for the two of us without asking. He drops some tincture of seaweed into one cup, which is grown in our farm domes, as a sweetener. I cover the other cup to keep it out of my tea, glaring at Eros as I do. He slides Belle’s cup across the table to her, then smirks as he brings his cup to his lips. He’s insufferable. But Belle doesn’t seem to shrink away from him, and she needs practice.
Belle stares at the cup like it might attack her.
“Did you find what you were looking for today, Annabelle?” He takes another sip.
“For the apartment? Yes, but I’m on the hunt for...” She stops. “Tea.” I reach over and squeeze her leg. With trepidation, she picks up the teacup and takes a short sip. And then another.
Eros leans forward. “Well?”
“It’s not horrible.” She puts her cup down but immediately picks it back up, taking another sip.
“Now I know you’re lying.” Eros laughs.
“Fine, it’s drinkable.” She shakes her head, and one of her braids slides forward onto her cheek.
I’m about to mention it to her when Eros reaches across the table and moves it from her face. “I’ll take it.” He’s talking about her liking the tea, but I can’t help wondering if I’ve led her into the eels’ den. “You’re just the sort of female I would have expected Nico to mate.”
Her face lights up. “Oh, really? Why would you say that?”
“Well, he has no tolerance for trivialities. You’re obviously smart, beautiful. You’re not going to let him walk all over you.” Belle squirms in her seat. Other females might fall for flattery, but she’s not used to it. If Eros notices, he doesn’t flinch. “What were you really looking for today?”
“Science equipment. Before...” She stops. The shop is packed with revelers buying concoctions for the week-long festival. This tea shop isn’t like a lot of others where you go to be seen. You might even say this is a shop you go to not to be seen. To get what you need and get out. Still, everywhere Belle goes, she attracts attention. Here is no exception.
“You’re not saying anything that people don’t know already.”
“I suppose not. In Boston, I was getting close to finishing my doctorate.”
“A scientist. Of course you are.” He touches the package again.
At the same time, my block alarms. All our eyes go to it. My heart pounds. I open the message. “Nico’s on his way back home.”
Belle stands. “Thank you for the tea, Eros. I must go.”
39
Eros
Iwatch them leave, and when the tea shop door closes, the level of chatter—even for this place—rises to a frenzy. I hear the whispers. Their eyes flick to me. I shoot back the rest of my drink like it’s seaweed gin, not tea. The light on my block flashes, signaling another message. This one I’ll need to pick up myself.
My block is in my pocket when I make the way to the sculpture park. Memories of this place I would like to forget flood me. But I don’t get to pick the location. I don’t get to pick anything when it comes to what I do. I’m their cog. Forever in their debt. What I thought was a way out is only pulling me deeper into their control. They come and go, but I stay. Its fish bones and fucked. But that’s what I’ve become.
I pull the paper from the underside of the statue of Athena and make my way out of the garden. I know where the cameras are. I know how they are watching. I also know where the blindspots are. They’re few. While I’m the best they have, there are others, and no doubt they have them watching me. I’ve spotted a few in the past, a Seolfor with blond hair and a blue tail. I haven’t bothered finding out his name yet. He doesn’t matter to me. I know I could take him if I had to. I’ll wait until I’m home to read the message. I don’t care about their policy of reading and destruction within minutes.
And there’s no way they can know of my history with Nico. But picking this drop-off point makes me question whether they don’t. The outside portion of this sculpture park is where Nico and his posse of friends used to hang. Something I used to be a part of.
Never have guilt over your actions if you meant them. That’s what my uncle lived by. It’s how I’ve made it this far.
I stay a while, staring out into the water. This stretch of ocean is swim only. A flick of blue catches my eye. I don’t care. But when I don’t want someone to know I’m tailing them, they have no idea. That’s been the easy thing about Nico. I don’t care if he knows. It doesn’t surprise me at all he did what he did. He’s never been conventional. Not a rule follower. Each mission he came back from, I think we were all surprised that his former commanders hadn’t killed him. A shock went through the city when it was announced what he did and what the outcome was. There were calls to examine her. But after what has happened to our kind, all of us, that ended shortly. We don’t put people under the microscope. Oh, there’s a percentage of the population that says she got to theCentauriusing diving rigging. But once the video footage from the humans surfaced of the two of them crashing through the ice? That stopped. The whispers are now of either her being an abomination or the hope we need. There are those calling for her to be forced to mate three more males quickly, seeing if she can get pregnant.
But there are almost the same amount demanding that she be stopped and kept from mating anymore. Damn Nico. I don’t know if I want to stab him or hug him. I suppose some things never change.
Fuck, I can’t stop thinking of how soft her cheek was. How much I want her. How when Nico is gone, she’ll be free. But she’ll be sad too. She’s clearly infatuated with him, if not in love with him. Her blue eyes lit up when I brought his name up. More than when I complimented her. I shake my head and make my way across the main marketplace back to mysolo.
My Gorsca races through the city, home to my personal dome, my cursed leash to them in my pocket unread. The books for Annabelle lie next to me on the passenger seat.
* * *
