May 16, 2440 6:25 AM
L’Tani saw the look on her sister’s face when she entered Matthew’s bedroom and found her still in bed with him. In that moment, for the first time in her life, L’Tani felt true fear—and the weight of what she had done finally sank in.
“I’m so sorry,” L’tani whispered, beginning to slide out of the sheets.
“Stay in that bed,” Angelina ordered from the doorway, firm but composed. Once satisfied that Matthew was stable, she guided T’mari out and shut the door behind them.
“You want her in there?” T’mari asked as they entered Matthew’s private office. “People are already beginning to talk.”
“I need her in there,” Angelina replied. She was not yet ready to admit she was managing the rumor and had already put together a social media campaign to fan the flames of shared grief and finding an outlet. Lola Rhea was no doubt doing her part, talking up the broken chair, jeans on the fan, and L’tani’s inside-out panties dangling from his ankle when the household AI called medical after he collapsed from the fucking good fucking. His would move from epic, clear past mythic, and into immortal territory by the end of the day.
Angelina knew her next trick would be pulling a hat out of a rabbit to make the public believe that was the way things were supposed to work.
She closed the door. “Not here,” she said, holding up a hand. “Wait until we can sit down in his office.”
“L’Tani in that bed reinforces the exposure, but your mother says she won’t be able to trigger that level of reaction again for several days. Floyd thinks it’s safer for him to come down from his exposure to the pheromones together. I spoke with your mother and my husband; he’s a biochemist. We’re not sure what prolonged exposure to V’ren pheromones might do to a human, especially in that concentration. But we all agree: if he wakes up and feels abandoned, the psychological impact could be severe considering his history.”
“Who’s abandoned him before?” She wondered if that was why he had kept his distance from her. She sat and gratefully took the coffee someone labeled with her name.
“There’s a condition we call Abandonment Syndrome. It’s not about actually being left—just feeling the sudden absence of someone important. He’s lived through that pain more than once,” she sighed, sprawling in the chair across from T’mari.
“His father died by suicide when Matt was thirteen. Terminal cancer was eating him alive, and he just couldn’t deal with it anymore. He was supposed to pick him up from school in Marshall. Instead, Eddie parked the truck downtown, went into one of the houses they owned hoping no one would find him, and shot himself in the head. Matt found the body after not being picked up for 3 hours. The selfish prick. Matt only found him because he started to walk home from Marshall well past dark and noticed the truck.
The Matt I knew and loved was forever changed.
A few years later, his mother died after a series of strokes. He coped, but barely. He had to come home and pick up the pieces of a poorly run freehold. His mother, someone he was counting on to help him, had her own issues with the family and just let many of them do whatever they wanted, and she refused to pass along messages they sent her to him. He ended up exiling 41 family members rather than kill them. Personally, I think their crimes deserved it, but I wouldn’t wish that upon him. He carries enough pain.
You’ve seen how tightly he holds to his sister. She wasn’t the only one he lost in that war, and he blames himself for every one of their deaths. I see it every time he mentions the war or meets another veteran. Then there is Amy. She had miscarried 3 times before that pregnancy. Everything was going right for them this time, then the universe seemed to conspire to take her and the twins.”
“I have seen pain,” T’mari said quietly, her expression softening. “He carries so much. When I saw his grief at her grave… I just wanted to hold him. Make it better. I’ve never seen someone so strong look so vulnerable.”
Angelina thought of admitting her part of the pain her sister had caused Matt, but just couldn’t.
“He told me he could help me carry the pain I felt seeing others die around me while I lived. He said he didn’t deal with his guilt over living very well. I wish I could be there to help him. I recognize now he was responding to every signal I was giving him. Then he became High Lord and none of that made a difference. The difference in our ranks is now…” she said, shrugging, not having the words for it.
“I think you still can,” Angelina said, staring at her coffee for a bit before deciding she could share. “He showed remarkable restraint. He told me some things after you left that you should know. You’ll have to get him to admit them himself, though. I don’t know how things are going to work out with your sister, though.”
“Our pheromones shouldn’t both work on humans. And we come from different houses—our bonding chemistry isn’t compatible.”
“That’s where things get complicated,” Angelina said. “Your mother and Floyd talked about it. It is true that your mating markers require certain genetic matches, but that rule might not apply to humans. Floyd thinks it’s possible human males respond to multiple markers, possibly all of them. Matt and your sister are not the first couple having sex.”
“No, but she is the one who took him against all that was expected of her and everyone else of our station,” she said bitterly.
“Fuck that!” Angelina snarled, having had enough with caste bullshit, still pissed no one gave L’tani the support she really needed when she needed it most. Eight or eighteen, a girl needs more than lecture notes about puberty no matter how old they are when they hit. “Listen to me good. We’ll be waking him soon, and when we do, if you truly want to be his wife, you won’t leave his side.”
“I do. But can we at least change the bedding first? The whole room reeks of my sister.”
“I noticed,” Anglina laughed. “Have you had the chance to smell a skunk?”
“That was what I was thinking. When I met Rayya, his daughters said he had been skunked two days before. I can smell the resemblance. I hope that is not what Matt is into,” T’Mari said with a little laugh.
“He most certainly isn’t into Rayya smelling that way,” Angelina laughed. “I’ve already ordered a new mattress and linens. But there’s something else I want you to do. I want you to redecorate his bedroom—make it yours. Amy picked out that space. It’s time for it to reflect the future, not the past.”
T’mari blinked. “You want me to—?”
“Yes. Choose your colors, your textures, your style. I’ll help. He needs something new to wake up to with you.”
“And what of my duties?”
“I’ve already spoken with W’ren, and K’rem, plus a few others, about your skillset. One of my lesser-known roles is the head of Freehold HR. I want you to be the Director of Strategic Communications. I will give you a lot of freedom to do things your way and find your own voice, but for a while, we will work very closely to make sure the messaging is tight. He already knows to listen to my advice, but I want him to trust you as well, so we will work closely on this. Don’t worry, you’ll still have access to your engineering projects as well. I think having an engineer around he is attracted to has helped him come out of his shell, too. He brags about you like you’re one of his proudest projects,” she said, exasperated by men, even if the cramping had disappeared, thanks to a pill she got from T’monn last night. They would have to market these very soon. Those would bring kind feelings to the v’ren from every woman on earth.
“He… brags about me?”
“To anyone who’ll listen. He’s already approved 90% of your project submissions you left him with. The others, he just hasn’t had time to review. he really is reading them too.”
“I’m only a junior communications officer.”
“You hold the same level of academic degrees as he does. Sure, he’s got twice the field experience, but in terms of brains, you’re equals. Maybe even superior in some areas. Be proud of that.”
T’mari smiled faintly. “We have a saying: if your head gets too big, someone will knock it down for you.”
“I’m good at ego deflation,” Angelina smirked. “Ask Matt.”
They both laughed.
“My sister’s the one with the inflated ego,” T’mari added.
“I believe it. For the record, I actually like her. She reminds me of my own oldest sister. You might meet her soon; she’s been trying to visit. Brilliant geneticist. Even better, I think L’tani might be the sort of role model my MJ will listen to and take guidance from.
There was a knock at the door.
“Enter,” Angelina said.
Two teenagers, Kevin and Mall, walked in.
“Sit,” she gestured at the unoccupied loveseat. “Not together.”
Kevin glanced at Mall, then reluctantly took separate chairs rather than the loveseat.
“You’re not in trouble,” T’mari reassured them with a calm nod, but did notice something that looked like a bite mark on his collarbone and wondered what the story was.
Angelina didn’t waste time. “Have you two been having sex?”
Kevin’s eyes went wide. “No! My father said if I got her pregnant…”
“It’s fine. I just needed a no, not an explanation,” Angelina chuckled. “You’re a cute couple. Matt and I both approve. But we’ve learned more about V’ren physiology, and I need to separate you for a while before the press links you too closely.”
“Mall, you understand the effect our bodies can have on men, yes?” T’mari asked.
“I do. I’ve been very careful.”
“That’s what I needed to hear,” Angelina said. “Now, do either of you understand what discretion means?”
Mall tilted her head. “It’s when you don’t speak of something you’re pretending you don’t know that also didn’t happen.”
“Exactly,” Angelina laughed. “Rumors are already spreading, not by you, I know. But they’re out there. Probably about you two as well. That’s why I’m splitting you up.”
She softened. “Mall, I’m making you my apprentice. You’ve impressed me—always finding work that needs doing and doing it well.”
Kevin straightened. “And me?”
“You’re getting a promotion. Your father told me you want to learn to fly. Commodore W’ren Th’ron approved your early enlistment into the first pilot training class of the Sol Defense Fleet. You’ll be the youngest in the new human pilot class. My daughter will be in it too, much to Alexandra’s dismay from the way things look. Don’t get any ideas. She prefers girls and apparently your sister. She has already told me she thinks Mall is cute too.”
The door opened without knocking.
Matt walked in, fully dressed and looking smug. L’Tani followed behind him, calm and composed.
“Well,” he said, taking his seat behind the desk as if nothing unusual had happened, “Looks like the meeting’s started. Where are we on things?”
