Chapter 26: Handshakes
Wulfric didn’t remain after his dramatic announcement. He left. To prepare, he said. Something felt off to me. But I couldn’t figure out what it was. Our fathers left as well. They had to inform their wives and prepare for the sudden party they were hosting.
Lynn and I found ourselves alone. Lynn was grinning, “Did you recognize that dialogue?”
“It sounded familiar, but I was too busy holding my tongue. You seem pleased though, so I’m happy.”
“I am pleased. That was game dialogue. You get it when Wulfric’s story path progresses from his initial rejection. The game has reactivated or got itself back on the rails somehow. But I can still save things!’
“So, what is your next move?” I said, trying to stay positive.
“Well, I rejected him. So that means I have to recover the interest that rejecting him cost me. No discussion there. I’ll need to tailor my look for his preferences. Will you help me? You’re better at fashion than I am.”
I hated this. But what could I do? I couldn’t let Lynn down. I didn’t know how to do that. “I will. What does he like?”
“He likes demure and submissive women, but he respects women who stand up to him. I’ve got enough respect for this phase of the story. So, we need interest. So, fashion that says meek and submissive.”
“How about a Handmaid’s Tale outfit?” I said.
“I’m serious, Ren. That’s what he likes. And we’ll need to get it right, end of story.”
“Well, I assume your choices from the game are in your closet?” I asked.
“I think so. We should check.”
“You go check. I’ll be up in a few minutes. I need to have a smoke. I can feel my legs wobbling.”
“You even sound like a smoker now Ren.”
“Well, I am. I’m lucky that my cigarettes smell of licorice.”
Lynn departed. I began to pull myself to my feet with my cane. As I did, Aunt Theresa entered the room alone.
“Oh good,” she said, “I hoped to catch you alone.”
“Hi auntie,” I said.
“I had hoped that Lynn’s refusal and your slap had sent him running for good. It wouldn’t surprise me if his father told him to man up or some such nonsense. But either way, you’re still in agreement with me?”
“I am auntie.” I said.
“Are you going to slap him again?” She asked.
“I don’t think it will work this time,” I said. “He’s up to something now.”
“Well, do your best. And dear, it’s good to have you back.”
“Have me back?”
“You remind me of your younger self. Before you grew from a girl into a lady. You remind me of that Ren.” She paused. “You know Ren, being nobility has its advantages.”
I squinted at her, “I agree Auntie, what does that have to do with anything?”
“As nobility, we will never know hunger or cold. Our needs are provided for at all times. But as a noble we may never know love. Relationships with parents can be cold. Marriages can be loveless political alliances.”
“Oh. Okay. That makes sense,” I watched my aunt for a clue about where she was going with this.
“My own marriage is loveless. We accept each other. But there are two beds in our bed chambers. I don’t object to this marriage, not since it gave me Lynn.”
She paused. I didn’t know how to respond, so I stayed silent.
“The gift is quite rare,” She said.
“Auntie, you seem to be skipping around at random.”
“Nobles have always had more people blessed with the gift that the general populace. But even so, gifted are rare and valuable. You and Cecile give House Octavian advantage and prestige. Did you know that I have a gift as well. I haven’t told the family. My gift is too weak to be of much use. I have the See Aura gift. But it only works on family whom I know well. And even then, it isn’t detailed. Your aura looks like it did when you were still a child, still a girl. As an adult, your aura has resembled your father: cold and calculating, but afraid. Now, since you met Fiona, your aura has returned to that of the decent child you were. I believe in love at first sight, and that you experienced it. And it saved you.”
She was mistaking my mind occupying the rival's body for love at first sight. I wasn’t going to correct her.
I smiled. “Whatever caused the change, I feel better than I have in years. I like it.”
“Do you know what I see in Lynn’s aura when she looks at Wulfric?”
“Revulsion?” I asked.
“Fear. White hot fear. She is holding down panic every second she speaks with him. And she is pursuing him. My daughter believes this is her duty in some way. She thinks this will help House Octavian. She thinks this will help Ys.”
“She fears Ys is on the brink of war with Hyperborea,” I said. “And she hopes that a marriage between an Yssian noble and the crown prince of Hyperborea will avert such a war.”
“I imagine she does,” Theresa shook her head. “But this means you’re talking outside polite conversation. Are you friends again?”
I nodded.
“Good. I am glad to hear that. I’m glad to hear that for its own sake. And I’m glad because she may listen to you.”
“Not on this subject, she hasn’t- not so far.”
“Keep trying. She deserves more than what Ulfric will give as husband. And less that he will take from her on the wedding night.”
I shivered. “I’m not looking forward to the possibility of that wedding night.” I said.
“Exactly. We need to sell her on another possibility. Leon is that possibility. I would settle for Count Metternich. He seems nice. Any alliance with a nation like Agartha would help if it does come to war with Hyperborea. But an alliance with the House Delmar, one of the nine royal houses, would help House Octavian no end. It is beneficial if war does arrive, and if it does not.”
“Leon has Lynn besotted, guaranteed. That’s enough for me.” I said.
“Welcome back, little Ren. I’ve missed you.”
* * *
After helping Lynn pick outfits, I visited the smoking room. Aunt Cecile was there as usual, and I sat opposite her.
“It’s nice to have company here kiddo,” she said before blowing out a cloud of smoke.
“I’m glad to be of help, Auntie. Any other dangerous habits I should take up to give you company?” I grinned and inhaled.
“That’s gonna be hard, kiddo,” She chuckled. “You already drink like a bacchanalian. You don’t take the dangerous alchemies, and neither do I. At least I don’t these days.”
“Auntie!” I said in shock.
“What? It was the seventies, that’s what people did.”
So even this world had its version of the seventies. It had to be an in-joke by the designers. Then I had a horrible thought.
“Auntie, you didn’t have any bad trips, did you?”
“Nope. My clairvoyance gift gave me more control over my trips than other people had. I was fine.”
“That’s good. I’ve never recovered from- I mean. Nevermind, I’ve heard they can be quite traumatizing.”
“Karen Valeria Octavian, what are you not saying? Have you been doing illegal alchemicals?”
I shook my head, “No. Well, once. I tried a dangerous alchemical substance. I don’t know if it was illegal, because I don’t know what it was. And after surviving that trip, I decided I would never try them ever again.”
“Stupid thing to do.” Cecile snorted.
“I was trying to impress a girl, and it was the seventies Auntie.”
“Smart ass.” Cecile chuckled.
“It is not my fault if your men can’t avoid the royal navy!” Somebody yelled from the gray room.
“Was that my father?” I asked.
“It was.” Aunt Cecile whispered.
“Our job is not to get the shipments here. Our job is to keep the shipments hidden,” my father said through the door.
We both rose with some difficulty and made our way to the door separating the smoking room and the gray room. I cracked the door, and we peered through into the gray room. My father was speaking to Prince Wulfric.
Wulfric was holding a large coin purse, "The Verity has captured the last two shipments. This is putting us behind schedule. I am having to take extra steps to compensate. Stalling the wedding is aggravating. And my father is not pleased."
My father shrugged, "I recommend that you take that up with your captains."
Wulfric snorted. “We have already given you power unlike anything your rivals can imagine. You have power in your blood that men would kill to get.”
My father said, "That doesn’t make me one of your subordinates. I am your partner. You do not order me around."
"I am the crown prince!" Wulfric snarled.
"Not my prince. Not yet. Until this succeeds, I am your co-conspirator and nothing more," My uncle said.
Wulfric snarled and dropped the coin purse on the ground in front of him, "Fine, partner. Here's your payment for services rendered."
I closed the door as the purse hit the floor to mask the sound. We made our way back to our seats.
“What do we do about that?” I asked.
“Well now we know who is involved. At least one of them.” Aunt Cecile said.
The door to the drawing room opened. Amy stepped in with a drinks tray, and chirped, “They told me you were in here and I thought you could use some drinks.”
Audible through the door, I heard, “What was that?”
Oh no. He had heard Amy! I needed to do something. But what could I do? I needed to do something to distract him, so he would forget his suspicions. But what could I do? I had seconds before father and prince cannibal monster came through that door. What could I do? Wait. Precognition. If they walked in on me convulsing and frothing at the mouth, that ought to be pretty distracting. Nobody would think we’d heard anything if they thought everyone was distracted by my loud and dramatic vision. I just had to make that happen on command.
All gift users could activate their power manually in some way. A manual vision wasn’t as powerful, but that didn’t matter. Could I do it? I didn’t know how to do it. But new seers figured it out every day. It was the only option I could think of in the time I had.
I would have one shot at this.
I focused on the sensation I had felt the last time. I focused on the disorientation. I focused on the darkness and how I felt inside it. I tried to recreate it in my mind. At first nothing happened. Seconds ticked by on the grandfather clock like a drumbeat before an execution.
And then the darkness was moving, surrounding me on its own. And I lost my vision. The world went dark, and I was floating in the darkness.
I had done it.
My vision stayed dark. I could make out black roses in the darkness. But voices began to swim out of the silence.
“...You’re ending the relationship?...”
"...I cannot stand to see you in pain..."
"...I said I would be fine with it..."
"...And I lied. Or I was wrong, and I didn’t know how it would actually feel..."
"...But I’m not fine being your dirty little secret..."
"...You won a lottery… …and you’ve been squandering your winnings...”
“...Is she crying?...”
“...Let’s get her on the chaise lounge…”
“...I am trapped below you…”
“... Help me…”
As the voices faded, a single black rose bloomed in the center of my vision. As it bloomed, its petals began to bleed. The Rose began to lighten. Shifting to a gray and then a white. But it kept bleeding as the transformation occurred.
The sounds of humans exerting themselves began to enter into my awareness. And then I became aware that I was being carried. My vision began to return. I was staring at the ceiling. My eyes focused on the faces staring down at me. I saw my father and my great aunt Cecile. Standing behind them were Prince Wulfric and Amy.
“Daughter, are you safe?” my father asked.
“Did I hit my head? Auntie must have seen it. We were talking about my new smoking habit.”
“Your eyes rolled back in your head, and you slid off the chair.” Aunt Cecile answered.
“What did you see, daughter?”
Of course he’d be interested in the vision. Precognition was a rare and respected ability. Seeing the future gave immense advantage if you could use it effectively.
“Somebody’s relationship is in a lot of trouble.” I didn’t say that I was sure that somebody was me.
“Relationship trouble?” my father said. “Could you tell whose?”
“I didn’t see anything. All darkness and black roses this time. I heard snippets of conversation, but they were distorted. I couldn’t recognize them by voice.”
“What did they say then?” my father asked.
“Black roses symbolize mourning or an unhappy relationship,” Aunt Cecile said.
“Somebody was ending a relationship because somebody else was in pain. They thought they would be okay with it, but they were wrong. And something about squandering lottery winnings.”
“That isn’t very clear,” my father said.
“How often are my visions clear?” I asked, “And I was getting my legs back. Can you help me up? I want to see how much recovery time this vision has cost me.”
“What are you doing slacking like that, you little tart? Get a move on!” I looked over to see Mildred slapping Amy’s backside. Amy tried to keep a drink tray full of empty glasses from falling as she flinched.
“Was that necessary Mildred?” I asked.
My father snorted, “Let Mildred handle her girls as she sees fit. She knows what they need better than we do.”
I grimaced, “Yes, father.”
I wanted to say more, but I didn’t want risk drawing attention to my relationship with Amy. I didn’t want to risk exposing the depth of our true relationship. But this vision did not leave me optimistic.
“Anything else?” Aunt Cecile asked.
“At the end a black rose started bleeding. And then the rose went from black to white.”
Aunt Cecile paused and took several puffs from her cigar, “I don’t know about the bleeding. But White roses symbolize innocence or being worthy of somebody.”
“So that’s hopeful then?” I asked.
“Maybe,” She said. “But the bleeding seems suggestive. The path from unhappiness to worthiness is going to be painful.”
Read more in "Daughters of the Digital Empire," Available soon!
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