Starglass

“How?” I demanded.

Silvan gave his muscular body a twist, springing on me, grabbing my hands in his. He pressed my body to the mattress. His lips formed a toothy grin.

“I can tell,” he said. “It’s the way you walk, swinging your hips like a common girl.” He pressed his stubbly chin against my neck, leaving a trail of rough kisses on my throat.

“Besides,” he said, barely lifting his mouth from my skin, “it’s not as if it matters.”

I squirmed away from his kisses. “What do you mean?”

“The bloodlines are a farce,” he said. “You must know that already. We make our children in a lab. If they have any genetic flaws, we select out for them anyway. What would it matter if cousins married cousins?”

I struggled to sit up. “But then why read the bloodlines at all?”

“Because it lets us ensure that only the right families marry into one another. If the Council decides it’s not meant to be, then we falsify the results. If you ask me, it’s a bit unfair. People should marry whoever they want—within reason, of course. I might even change things once I become captain. But Abba says that it’s the best way to ensure that commoners stay in their place. Of course . . .”

He hesitated. I finally sat up, gawking at him. “Of course what?” I demanded.

Silvan looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he gave his head a shake. “Nothing.” He scooted close, kissing the corner of my lips. “Come on, Terra,” he prodded. “Surely you realized all this?”

I hadn’t. I should have, but I hadn’t. I swallowed hard, forced a smile. “No,” I said smoothly. “But it makes sense.”

Silvan eased my body down into the bed again. I turned my head away from him, to the pile of clothes on his bedroom floor. The bottle of poison was buried in one of the pockets. Waiting for Silvan. Waiting for me.

* * *

In the genetic archives neat volumes lined the shelves on the walls. I couldn’t help but wonder now if all the books on the shelves were just for show—or if, perhaps, the words inside were nothing but lies cooked up by the Council. Still, the woman who sat behind the curved desk didn’t look much like a Council stooge. She was short haired, plump with middle age. She smiled up at me.

“Good evening,” she said. I set my hands awkwardly on the desk.

“Hi,” I said. There was a long cricket of silence. Her smile grew just a little—thin lips belied her amusement.

“Can I help you?” she offered. I let out a coarse laugh.

“I need to make an appointment for me and my intended to have our bloodlines checked.”

“Mazel tov!” the woman said. “And what’s your name?”

“Terra Fineberg.”

Her trim nails clacked against the keys. “Let’s see . . .,” she began. But then her expression changed. “Your bloodlines have been run already. A match between you and a Mar Maxwell.” She hit a button, and a noisy printer at the end of the desk began spewing pages.

My throat tightened. That must have been my father’s doing. “The match was never made,” I said. “We broke our engagement.”

The woman stared down the desk at the scroll of pages unfurling from the printer. “That’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Our records indicate that someone came to collect the record. An Arran Fineberg.” She walked over and tore the pages off. Then she set them on the counter between us. “Usually if an engagement is broken before the contract is signed, we simply discard the results.”

I gawked down at the printout. “My father,” was all I could manage to say.

“Yes, well.” A furrow had deepened between the woman’s eyebrows. “He must have been quite excited about your match.”

I stared at her bleakly.

“Ah.” The woman forced a breezy tone. “I suppose it’s for the best, if a new love has found you. What’s the name of your intended?”

“Silvan Rafferty.”

His name changed the air in the archives. The silence felt sharp, electric. Or maybe it was just my blood pressure skyrocketing.

“You’re the girl . . .”

“Who is marrying the new captain,” I said carefully.

“Yes,” she said. Hastily she turned to her screen. “Well, Talmid Fineberg, if you come back in one week with your intended, we’ll have the research all done for you. Here’s a reminder card.”

She jotted the date down on a tiny rectangle of paper, then dropped it atop the printout. I scowled down at both.

“Oh,” she said. “I can shred the other report for you if you’d like. . . .”

“No!” I said. My hands darted out. They moved with a frightening hunger, grabbing the card and printout both. I clutched them to my chest. “No, thank you.” I felt myself blush as the woman regarded me.

“Of course,” was all she said.

I started to turn to leave. The woman’s voice reached out.

“Terra?”

When I looked over my shoulder at her, I saw that she’d lifted two fingers to her heart. “Liberty on Earth.”

I wondered how this woman knew. Maybe she was one of the rebellion’s leaders. Maybe she’d been the one who’d decided to push me down this horrible path. I heard myself answer her, but my voice sounded distant, like it belonged to someone else.

“Liberty on Zehava,” I said.

* * *

I sat beside Artemis on her bed, running my hands over the printed text.

“He did this for me,” I said to her. The child watched me with saucer eyes. “Checked my bloodlines to ensure we’d make a match.”

I looked down at the printout. It traced back Koen’s line and mine. The two threads went back and back but didn’t touch, not yet. And they wouldn’t, either. No matter what my father had believed on the day he’d . . .

“He wanted to take care of me,” I told her.

“Sure,” Artemis said. “I bet he loved you lots.”

I turned to her, considering her features. Her aquiline nose was her mother’s, but that was the only thing. Otherwise she was tall and strong-bodied like her father. Artemis was kind, but not particularly bright. So why was I looking to her for answers? Habit, I guess. For years I’d turn to Rachel for help or to Ronen. When I saw Benjamin Jacobi die, I leaned on Koen. Even years ago, when Momma passed away, I’d reached out for my father, expecting him to comfort me. And where had it gotten me?

It was time to look for answers in myself.

“You know, he did love me, in a way,” I said. For the first time I spoke to her like she was the child—and I the adult. “But I don’t think that was the whole story. I was an obligation, too. My father valued nothing more than doing his duty. I was part of that. That’s why he pushed me toward Koen. He couldn’t leave until his duty was fulfilled.” I felt a lingering flash of anger as I said it. Left me. He’d left me. But I pushed that thought away. This was the truth. And my father was gone, and it wouldn’t do any good to be angry with him.

“I’m sorry, Terra,” Artemis offered. I smiled faintly, then looked down at the list of names. Just above my name was Momma’s. Alyana Fineberg. I touched the square letters and felt something go to stone inside me.

But my tone was gentle, for the girl’s sake. “That’s okay, Artemis,” I said. “That’s okay.”