“Yes please, sorry. I didn’t mean to have y’all stand in thedoor.” As Poppy moved to let them pass, Wheaton tightened his grip on herfingers.
Thorne and Dathrow sat while motioning for Valerie to speak.
“Okay…well…it seems there was a bug in the matchmakingcode,” she stuttered out. “Apparently, they ran the matches again and adifferent warrior popped up as your match, Poppy. It’s a huge mess. Many of theliaisons are taking heat for it even though we had nothing to do with theactual programming of the system.” Val cast a glance at Thorne and Dathrowbefore continuing. “We’ve been accused of matching the higher-ranking warriorsover the others, and now the higher-ups on both sides want to wipe the slateclean and start over.”
Wheaton stepped forward, tugging Poppy with him. “No! I amkeeping my bride. She is my match no matter what the system says.”
Thorne stood and started pacing. “Wheaton, it’s not thatsimple. The Council is pushing to send the previous brides home and start over.Not only that… Wheaton, there is another situation that ties into this.”
“Thorne, just say it. This can’t get any worse,” Poppy saidwith a sigh.
“Poppy, Wheaton has been assigned another bride,” Thornesaid quickly as if to lessen the blow.
“I want no other bride!” Wheaton shouted, startlingPoppy.
“Well, fuck. I guess it could get worse. What do wedo?” Poppy glanced at Val, who she knew even without asking was on their side.
“Well, right now, we’re really trying to figure out what we cando.” Val let out a watery sigh, as if she might cry again. “Can I talk to youin private, please?”
“Wheaton?” Poppy glanced at him. “I’m going to take Val intothe bedroom and talk for a minute. Can you see if there is anything that youcan get out of Thorne and Dathrow?” When he was about to protest, she said,“Val is on our side, sweetie. She may have an idea she wants to run by mebefore saying it in front of another Council member.”
“Fine. Do not take too long. We might not have much timetogether. I do not want to waste a moment.” Releasing her hand, he sat next toDathrow and huffed.
Clutching Val’s arm and leading her into the bedroom, Poppyhoped she had a couple tricks up her sleeve to figure out how to fix this mess.Clusterfuck indeed.
Chapter Fourteen
Sitting on the bed, Poppy put her head in her hands. Feelingas if she were taking hit after hit with no breath in between, she tried tocalm herself. She looked up at a shuffling of papers to see Val digging throughher bag.
“Tell me you can fix this, Val. Please…I can’t leave himnow. I’m pretty sure I’m totally in love with that man, and I don’t know whatI’d do if I have to leave.” Swallowing back tears, she prayed that Val had aplan.
“What have I always told you, Poppy? I am here for you.Not only because it’s my job but because we’re friends.” Val smiled, findingthe paper she was searching for. “And I think I’ve found a loophole.”
Thank god. “Tell me now. What is the loophole?”
Valerie sat next to her, holding out the original BridalPact forms Poppy and Wheaton had signed before this adventure had started.
“Here, the pact agreement says that unless you fear for yourphysical well-being or either party requests that the trial period ends, thenyou are required to spend your entire thirty days on the ship while finding outif you’re compatible. Specifically being that the ‘parties’ are you andWheaton, not the Council or the bridal service. The trial period can onlybe dissolved by the Council if you are a threat to their security.” She pausedwith a smile. “Essentially they don’t have a right to tell you to leave unlessyou’re stealing secrets or you threaten their ship or their society.” Shepointed to the paragraph that held the info.
“So this is our plan then? It should work, right?”Excitement was evident in Poppy’s voice as she quickly scanned to where theirsignatures were. It felt as if she had signed these forms eons ago instead ofjust a few short weeks.
“Yes,” Val said with a relieved sigh.
“Well then, why did you want to talk in private?” Did Valhave suspicions about the other warriors that were with Wheaton?
“Thorne is on the Council….and the Council members are theones that are pushing for the matches to be dissolved, Poppy. Not Earth.”Lowering her voice as if the men had super-hearing, she whispered, “Earthdoesn’t really want it known that we made such a massive mistake. We’re stilltrying to get brides to apply and it’s not going too well. A new anti-alienmovement has formed since you left. They’re basically using the same mindsetthat people used against different races marrying back when blacks and whitesfirst started mingling. It’s hugely racist but gathering a lot of followers andthe protests are a huge deterrent to anyone even coming in and filling out ourforms. The Intake Centers have had bomb threats almost daily and the protestershave gotten violent toward anyone entering the building. We have even had ourcleaning people threatened as they come and go.”
Valerie stood and cast Poppy a questioning glance.
“How well do you know those warriors other than Wheaton? Arethey anti-human?” She crossed her arms and said with a huff, “Because let metell you, there are some pretty anti-human Council members. They tried to stopme from coming up to see you. I couldn’t take the chance of having you comeback to Earth since we have more leverage with you still on the ship.Especially considering my loophole, if you had left then they could haveclaimed that you dissolved the trial period. There are definitely Councilmembers working against us. I just don’t know who yet.”
Poppy thought long and hard on that one. She had met Thornemaybe four or five times, and he had been nice, if not civil toward her. Shehad originally attributed it to him being a warrior though. Dathrow she hadbeen around more and he seemed very friendly and even eager for his own bridefrom what she could tell. They hadn’t had much time to talk but from what shecould gather Wheaton trusted both
