by Rachel Ford
Still, I was all smiles when I pulled open the door. “Good morning,” I sang out. “I hope…”
I trailed off. A stone-faced council of Inkayas watched me enter. R’ia’s arms were crossed, and Dre regarded me with disdain. F’vir sneered. “There you are.”
My eyes flew to Frank, who was sitting with his head resting in a hand at the table. Maggie was there too, her face grim and fiercely pink. “What’s…uh…going on? Frank? Maggie?”
“It’s just a misunderstanding,” F’rok said. I turned to see him and F’riya, and a handful of the cousins, gathered at the far end of the room.
F’vir snorted. “Misunderstanding? I know what I saw, F’rok.”
I glanced between all of them, now, still at a loss. “What the hell is going on?”
“F’vir saw you and Magdalene,” Dre said. “Engaged in…in…”
His wife picked up the tale when he trailed off, too scandalized to continue. “Illicit displays of affection.”
“She means kissing,” Maggie said now. “F’vir was spying on your room this morning, and he saw me say good morning.”
“He’s spinning it into something sordid,” Frank said.
I could feel my cheeks flame. The noise Maggie heard. Good God. “You were watching my room?” I said. Somehow, despite everything else, despite our cover coming precipitously close to being blown, this was the revelation that struck me as the most alarming.
“I was not,” he snapped. “I just happened to be passing.” Maggie snorted, but he continued, “And don’t tell me that was a good morning. You came out of her room, not into it.”
“That’s not true,” Maggie said, crossing her arms. “You just weren’t ‘passing’ when I stopped by. That’s all.”
He flapped his mouth a few times, as if trying to figure out how to contradict her without outing his own creepy behavior. Frank took the opportunity to say, “You really should try to understand human culture before weaving wild stories, F’vir.”
“Oh, hagdel shit,” the young man snorted. “If that’s how humans say good morning – with tongue and ass grabbing – I’m on the next ship to Earth.”
“F’er,” his father said gravely, “why are you defending this human? It is clear she is unfaithful to you.”
“Whatever affections you harbor for her are misplaced,” his mother agreed.
“She’s cheating on you, cousin,” F’vir added with a casual shrug of his shoulders.
“Maggie isn’t cheating on me.”
F’vir laughed. “Yeah. She is.”
R’ia’s stony visage turned from me to her son, and it softened as she beheld him. “I’m sorry, F’er. I know this is not easy.” Now, she glanced at F’vir, and frowned. “And certainly might have been better handled than trumpeted in front of all the family at breakfast. But you must see the truth, my son.”
“Hey, I was just trying to help. F’er’s girl is bumping nasties with another girl. It’s only right that he knows.”
“Ew,” I said. F’vir had creepy down to an art form.
R’ia wrinkled her nose at this description, but Dre nodded. “It might have been handled better, but the point remains, F’er. Magdalene has dishonored your betrothal, in the most unnatural of ways.”
Frank stood now. “I’m done discussing this. You’re all wrong. The only dishonor has come from F’vir, who spies on our guests under our very roof.” He extended a hand to Maggie. “Magdalene, my sweet, let’s go.”
“F’er,” his father commanded. “Stay where you are.”
“This cannot be ignored,” R’ia added. “However painful, you must end this betrothal.”
“You are well within your rights,” Dre said.
“I told you already, you don’t understand. I’m not ending anything.”
R’ia seemed exasperated, and Dre furious. They spoke at the same moment, each protesting hotly that their son had been humiliated and must, for the sake of his own honor and the family’s, terminate the betrothal.
F’vir, though, barked out a loud laugh. “My gods. You knew about it, didn’t you? You knew about Maggie and Kay’s side-gig, didn’t you, F’er?” He clapped his hands, grinning at his deduction. “That’s why you brought her too. You pack of animals you.” He turned to his aunt and uncle. “He’s got a thing going on. With both of them.”
Nothing we said could dissuade F’vir of this notion once he’d settled on it. His mind seemed to run away with the possibilities. I couldn’t tell whether he was more scandalized or titillated. He’d range from moral denunciations to creepy inuendo in the span of two breaths.
Though his conclusion couldn’t have been further off, his reasoning wasn’t all bad. We had all come together, and Frank and I were closer than Frank and Maggie. And, of course, Maggie and I had been caught together – and our feeble protestations on that score convinced no one.
R’ia and Dre decried F’vir’s ideas as preposterous, but there was an air of mortification to their manner that seemed to indicate that, on some level, they weren’t as certain as they let on.
“F’er,” R’ia declared after a few minutes of back-and-forth, “this is preposterous. You see the rumors that are already starting – in our own house, no less? You must end this. Now.”
“Mother, I’m not going to-”
“It wasn’t a request, F’er. I am ordering you to do so. She has dishonored you, and now her dishonor is bringing further shame to your name. End it: now.”
Frank stood in place for a moment, his face a mask of conflicted emotions. I hoped he would tell the truth now. This ruse had gone on long enough. Whatever good we’d accomplished, F’vir had undone. The truth surely could not be worse than the rumors that were floating around now. “Mother,” he said at last, “I’m sorry. But my life is my own. I love you, and I respect you and Father. But you cannot choose my life partner. You cannot tell me who I will or won’t marry. Those are my decisions to make.”
R’ia hissed, and Dre swore. I stared at him. In all the time we’d been here, I’d never heard him lose his cool like that.
F’vir, though, laughed again. “Told you. He’s definitely boning them both.”
“And you,” Frank snapped at the young man, “can leave my house. For as long as it is my house, anyway, you are not welcome under its roof.”
R’ia ignored her nephew’s wordless flapping of the gums. “You defy me, then, F’er? You will let her infidelity go unchecked? You will bring a – a harlot into our family, to be the mother of your children?”
“A woman who lies with women,” Dre added, as if this was the worse sin, more damning than the suspected cheating.
“No,” Frank said. “Because, the truth is, Mother, I was never going to marry Magdalene.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
This latest revelation shocked even F’vir into silence – for all of thirty seconds. Then, he was whooping with delight. It was R’ia’s turn to quiet him. “Did you not hear my son’s words, F’vir? You’re unwelcome in this house.”
Then, ignoring the young Inkaya’s protests, she demanded an explanation from Frank. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But you left me no choice. You arranged a marriage to a stranger, behind my back. You tricked me into coming home to a surprise betrothal.” He shook his head. “What other options did I have?”
“You might have married Kia,” his father bellowed. “Like we told you.”
“You have been too long unmarried,” R’ia added. “We are within our rights to choose a wife for you, F’er.”
“You have a duty to our House to produce heirs of your own.”
“And I will – probably, if I find a woman who wants to have kids.” Frank was exasperated, but this seemed to shock his parents more than anything so far.
“Probably? F’er, what kind of woman – what kind of mate – would not give you children?”
“It’s these humans you surround yourself with,” Dre declared. “Their craven outlook is taking hold of you.”
&
nbsp; He held up his hands. “What I’m saying is, it is my choice to make. Mine, and my wife’s, if I take a wife. I can’t let you make it for me, Mother.”
“I can’t pretend I’m not pleased that my grandchildren will not be human. But you cannot remain unattached, F’er. What was so wrong with Kia?” Dre demanded. “If you’re not with that scrap of a human woman, why not take a good wife like Kia? She’s pretty, she’s healthy, she’s strong; the Nikyas are a good family.”
“I don’t know her, Father,” Frank said. “Is that such an unreasonable request, to know the woman I’m supposed to marry before I agree to marry her?”
“Yes,” Dre shot back.
“How will you know her, or any woman,” R’ia added, “when you spend all of your time in space, with humans?”
“I will marry when I find someone I want to marry, Mother. Not before. I’m sorry.”
His parents glared at him. “You are refusing the duties of your station, F’er.”
“It is incumbent on an heir to in turn produce heirs,” R’ia agreed. “You cannot shirk that indefinitely.”
“And the deception you’ve wrought to get out of your responsibilities…” Dre shook his head. “Bringing a pair of homosexuals into our house? And humans at that? Their lascivious behavior is on you, F’er. You have shamed us. You have shamed our House.”
“I’m sorry about the deception,” Frank said. “I should have told you ‘no’ directly. I should have told you ‘no’ a long time ago.” Dre’s scowl deepened. This, certainly, had not been the answer he was hoping for. “But Magdalene and Kay have done nothing wrong. Their part in the deception is on me. And as for the rest – they’re engaged. There’s not a damned thing lascivious about that.”
Dre hissed with distaste, and R’ia waved it aside. “I don’t care about that, F’er. I care about your duty to this family.”
“Well I do care about it,” his father put in. “You have shamed us all. You have dishonored us more than any Inkaya in living memory. You have brought perverts under our roof, and passed off a degenerate – and a human – as your wife.”
F’rok and F’riya objected now. “Magdalene and Kay have nothing to do with this,” the former said. “There’s no need to attack them, Father.”
“This is about F’er’s autonomy. And I, for one, feel he deserves it,” the latter chimed in.
Their father ignored them both, though. “Do you have any idea what disgrace this will bring on our House?”
“Listen, F’er, it is not too late. We can still speak to the Nikyas. We’ll leave out the more sordid details, of course. But they may-”
“Did you not hear me, Mother? I won’t marry a stranger.”
Dre crossed his arms, and fixed Frank with a fierce scowl. “If you will not live up to the obligations of our House, F’er, how can you expect this House to recognize your place within it?”
Frank’s brow creased with what seemed like physical pain, and when he spoke there was a color of hurt to his words. “I expect nothing, Father. You must do what you feel is right. As I must.”
R’ia hesitated, but her husband did not. “Very well. If you will not be an Inkaya, you shall not be one.”
“Wait,” F’riya interjected. “Wait, Father.”
“Silence,” Dre commanded. “I won’t be interrupted.”
“You will be,” she shot back. “Because, before you say something you may regret, there’s something I must tell you.” He stared daggers at her for her insolence, and she sucked in a great breath. “I’m pregnant.”
F’vir, who still hadn’t found his way to leaving, whooped aloud. “My gods. And I thought my branch of the family had its skeletons. You all have a graveyard living in your closets.”
“Pregnant?” R’ia hissed.
“With Ger ark britya’s child.”
“A Britya?” Dre said. “An Inkaya, giving birth to a Britya? My gods.”
“We’re married, too.”
Dre took a seat at this, and R’ia exhaled in a pained fashion. “Oh F’riya. What have you done? You might have married anyone. Anyone.”
The young woman’s face hardened at that. “But I wanted to marry Ger. I love Ger, Mother. And I deserve the right to make that choice. I deserve the right to be with someone who will make me happy.”
“Deserve?” her father spit out. “Right? You sound like F’er. And how fitting, for you’ve both shamed this House.”
“How have they shamed it?” F’rok demanded. “Is it a dishonor to be happy?”
“What kind of parents have we been?” R’ia wondered aloud. “Both of our eldest: what has become of them?”
Dre’s face grew sterner, hard lines cutting across his brow. “They’ve made their choices, R’ia. They’ve chosen their own selfish ambitions and desires. We must look to the needs of our House.” He glanced now at F’rok. “At least we have one child left.”
R’ia reached out a hand to her husband’s arm. “Wait, Dre. Do not speak in anger. Let us discuss it.”
But he shook his head, repeating, “They’ve made their choices. I’ve made mine. F’rok-”
“I’m gay,” the young man blurted out.
I blinked at the pronouncement, and for a full thirty seconds the entire room sat in silence. So far, until this point, nothing that had been said was a surprise. I knew about Maggie and me, and the fake engagement, of course. I knew about the secret marriage. I knew about the hidden pregnancy.
But F’rok, gay? That was as much a surprise to me as anyone in the room. In truth, I knew very little about the quiet, unassuming young man. His natural shyness, I suppose, aided in the concealment of his secret: where he was reticent, we assumed nothing more than his standard reserve.
But he’d kept it well. So well even F’vir didn’t know what to say for a space. It was Dre who broke the silence. “What?”
“I’m gay,” F’rok repeated, a little less hesitance to his tone, a little more certainty in his posture. “And I have a boyfriend – a fiancé, actually. We’re going to be married.”
He glanced us over one by one, and I smiled reassuringly as his eyes fell on me. “Congratulations, F’rok.”
“A fiancé?” the elder Inkaya sputtered. “A man?”
“Yes, Father: a man.”
F’vir laughed to himself, shaking his head. A few of the other cousins exchanged glances.
“F’rok,” his mother said. She was suddenly very pale. “How…that is, why?” She seemed at a loss for words.
“Why what, Mother?”
“Why a man? Wouldn’t you rather have a wife who can give you children? A family?”
“We can have kids, mom, if that’s what we want.”
“Unnatural,” Dre hissed.
“But it’s not about what I’d rather. I’m attracted to men.”
“Since when?” she wondered, shaking her head in disbelief.
“It’s those humans, isn’t it? Their influence.”
F’rok frowned at his father. “Of course not, dad. I’ve always been gay.”
“That’s not true. It’s impossible. There are no homosexuals in this family. Do you understand me, F’rok? None. And there never will be.”
A pregnant silence descended on the room as the two men stared at each other. F’rok smiled in a minute, a wry kind of smile. “From heir apparent to outcast in two minutes, Father? Well, if that’s how it’s to be-”
“Wait,” R’ia said, “no one is an outcast.”
“I won’t have queers in my family,” Dre said icily.
“Then you’ll lose both sons today, Father,” Frank said. “If you won’t have F’rok, you won’t have me either.”
“Or me,” F’riya said. “‘One for all, all for one.’”
R’ia’s face flushed with anger, and when she spoke, it was in a high, uncertain tone. “All of you, shut up, dammit. This is my House, and you are all members of it; and I say who stays and who goes.
“Dre: I love you, but you’re not turning
out my children.”
The Inkaya patriarch’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t argue. Now, she turned to her sons and daughter. “As for the rest of you…I don’t want to hear another word about going anywhere. I…I don’t know what we’re going to do about this mess. But we’ll figure it out. We’re Inkayas. That’s what we do.” Her expression grew sterner. “Together.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Three Musketeers had taken their seats, on R’ia’s orders. She was pacing back and forth, trying, it seemed, to work through the revelations. Dre stood in the background, stony-faced and arms crossed.
“Gay?” she repeated again.
“Yes,” F’rok said patiently.
“You’re sure?”
“Very.”
She repeated her circuit, up the length of the table and back again. “It’s not…some kind of mistake?”
F’rok grinned. “No, Mother. It’s not a mistake. I’m old enough to know who I’m attracted to and not, aren’t I?”
She considered his words for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. I just…I don’t understand.”
“There’s nothing to understand, Mother,” Frank offered. “It’s just how F’rok was made.”
“And you, F’er? Are you gay too? Is that why you don’t want to be married?”
“No, mom, I’m not gay. I don’t even have anything against being married. I just don’t want to be married to a stranger.”
She took a seat across from them, and turned to her daughter. “F’er doesn’t want to be married, and you wanted to be married so badly you went behind our backs to do it.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I love Ger, Mother. I can’t imagine my life without him. It’s not about being married – it’s about being married to him.”
“But he’s a Britya, darling. A Britya.”
F’riya’s brow creased in pain at her mother’s words. “He’s a good man. The best of men.” She looked R’ia square in the eyes. “And he’s the father of the child I will have – of any children I will have.”
