Stand chatted on about his family unit, and Blue learned that his parents divorced forty years ago, but remarried recently. This time they opted for a five-year marriage instead of the traditional kind. His sisters were all married, but he was, as he put it, the “eternal bachelor”.
His family story lasted until it was nearly time to open the diner. By the time she pushed back her chair to stand, Blue realized she’d participated in an actual conversation with a Vemreaux that went beyond regular dining basics. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Thank you for keeping me company. Best conversation I’ve had in a while.”
Blue did not correct him with the fact that he’d done most of the talking. “I’ll get you some more water.”
“Would you mind taking this book for me?” Stand suddenly recalled that he had an entire plate of nearly untouched food before him.
“Yes, sir.”
“Stand,” he corrected.
“Yes, Stand,” she amended. “I can hold it in the kitchen for you until you’re done.”
“Oh, no. I mean throw it out. It’s much too old for use.”
Blue froze. “Throw it out? Like, in the trash can?”
“You can always recycle.”
Blue bit her lip as she gathered the text to her. Even though it was being discarded, Baird might view it as stealing if she did not ask for permission. She stood uncomfortably, looking down at the book in her arms and hoping the right words would come to her. “Um, I um, would it be against the rules if I, um, read through it before throwing it away?” The moment the words were out of her mouth, her eyes darted around to make sure no one else heard her indiscretion.
Hope welled in Stand’s black eyes. “Of course, I wouldn’t mind. Keep it as long as you’d like.”
“You won’t get in any trouble?”
“I am the only one who will scold myself. I should be giving you new books, not second-hand ones like that. The cover’s barely holding on.”
Blue’s voice was small. “I really…I get to read all this? As much as I want?”
Stand’s breath caught behind his Adam’s apple when she lifted her chin and gave him a genuine, no-holds-barred smile. He immediately chastised himself for the attraction that swelled. He nodded, recalling the decades of age difference between them that, to her race, would certainly matter. Big, beautiful blue orbs sparkled, tying his tongue as he became entranced by her gaze.
Unable to contain her enthusiasm, Blue carefully opened up the first page, the second and then the third, finally getting past the beginning, and at last reaching the content. She could add, subtract, multiply, divide, and figure percentages, but not much else was taught in The Way beyond the basic skills.
Once more she looked up at Stand and chose to allow a measure of emotion to come forth from her. Gratefulness wrapped around her tongue as she spoke quietly. “Thank you! I’ve never owned a book before.”
Hand flying up to his chest, Stand grasped the fabric there as though he was trying to slow the engorging of his heart. He wanted to reach out and touch her shoulder, but knew how inappropriate that would be. The logic still left in his brain screamed out at him. The innocence of her deep eyes was overwhelming.
“I’ll go one better,” he offered, lecturing himself silently at his gumption. “If you want, I’ll teach you what’s inside.”
Her stunning eyes expanded into saucers as they stared at him. “Thank you!” Her face gave way to an unbridled grin. “Really? You’ll teach me how to learn Vemreaux math?” The captivating and rare public smile fell as quickly as it came. “But Stand, I can’t pay you. You should be paid for teaching someone.”
It was his turn to avoid her eyes as he averted his attention to the texts left on the table. “I don’t just teach when I’m on the clock, you know. I can’t help myself. Besides, I teach logic now, mostly. It’s been decades since I picked up a math book. I may not be all that great a teacher.” He paused. “Do you want my help?” He forced his voice to be casual, as if it truly did not matter to him when or if they did this.
“Of course!” she exclaimed at the ridiculous question. “I didn’t even know there was more math I could learn.”
This earned an incredulous look from the professor. “Are you serious?”
It was the wrong thing to say, for her chin dropped and her eyes hid behind her hair purposefully. “I can only be expected to know what they tell us, Stand. If they don’t offer it in The Way, chances are I’ve never heard of it.”
“I was planning on stopping by the diner tomorrow afternoon between my classes. I have a little break midday.” Stand wished Blue would look up at him. “Start with chapter one. That’s Geometry you have there, and it might get a little confusing. If you have any questions, write them down and I’ll help you go over them while I have my lunch. Can you take your break then?” He chided himself for being so obvious.
“Sure. But do you really want to teach on your break from teaching? You don’t have to, you know. I’m sure I can figure it out.”
He smiled, but he did not think she saw it with her humble posture. “I’m sure you can, but I really don’t mind. I eat by myself most days. It’d be nice to have the company.”
The kitchen door swung open, distracting Blue and reminding her of the time. She excused herself, and rose up out of her chair at the sight of her best friend moving to open the front door.
Seventeen diners were waiting outside, ready for lunch. Blue shot her friend an apologetic smile, which Elle waved off. The girls sat the hungry patrons, took drink orders and met back in the kitchen.
“So, I saw you talking with Stand. Isn’t he nice?” Elle tried to conceal her hinting.
“Yup,” Blue responded succinctly. “Busy day today. When do you think Baird’ll come back?”
Elle shrugged and called over the stove to Grettel. “You ready for a mad rush, pixie?”
Grettel gave a quaking thumbs-up that did little to reassure the girls.
Tray assembled with the necessary drinks, Blue dipped her chin and started taking orders.
“You must be Baird’s new girl. Goodness, you’re young.” The Femreaux at her second table smiled, eyeing her youthful features. Blue did not miss that the diner referred to the place as Baird’s and not Joe’s, even though it’s was Joe’s name on her shirt and on the sign outside. She wondered if all the patrons felt this way and how many of them had ever met Joe. “Has Valerie popped yet?”
“No, she’s taking some time off before her baby comes, ma’am. I was bought to replace her.” Blue tilted her head downward submissively so that her hair covered most of her face.
The Femreaux turned her onyx eyes to her husband’s. “She’d better have that baby soon. Her trip to the Fountain’s coming up, and beautification won’t be quick after what she put her body through. Such a waste. Why doesn’t she just hire a surrogate from the blood farm? Hope that baby’s worth it,” the Femreaux commented as though she meant to say it under her breath, but put a bit too much volume behind it to keep her words private.
Most of the conversation was easy enough for Blue to understand, and she responded with a polite smile. She worried that she would not know how to keep up with current affairs, since she was so sheltered in The Way. “Can I take your order, ma’am?” Blue prodded. She hated speaking obvious statements. They knew what she was there for; she shouldn’t have to say it.
“Sure.” The Femreaux glanced at the menu, even though she knew what she wanted.
Blue did not understand why people did that, either. After making a decision, why not stick with it? Does she expect something else to magically appear on the laminated pages?
“I’ll have the soured pork roast with vinegared mashed potatoes instead of fries. Does that also come with pickled trout slaw?” she asked, glancing over the menu again to see if she missed a clue somewhere.
“It comes as a separate side if you order potatoes, ma’am.” The Fem nodded. “Sir?” Blue asked the Vemreaux
who looked more bored than anything else. Perhaps they came here a bit too often.
“I didn’t see Baird at the bar. Is it open yet?” Taking in Blue’s youth, he added a justification to his companion and the waitress. “Peace Day isn’t until next week, but there’s no harm in starting the celebration early.” His face looked like it had a sheen of wax covering it. His lips were unnaturally peaked.
“Bar’s not open yet. Can I get you something to eat, sir?”
“Just some scrambled three-month eggs and a Green Abby when he starts making ’em.” He thwapped his menu down on the table to signify that he was finished ordering.
His Femreaux took a loud slurp from her blood shake and shot him a condescending look. “Honey, don’t you think it’s a little early to start with that? It’s not even noon.” She glanced up at Blue for some female camaraderie as though the waitress should lecture her husband on the social faux-pas of the day.
Blue’s chin remained down, either focused on her order pad or on the ground respectfully. She swept up the menus and hurried with her chin angled to the ground to the next table and the next. She sat two more tables in her section before walking back to the kitchen and slapping the order forms in the middle of one of the counters for Grettel to tend to.
Grettel poked her head up and gave Blue an encouraging smile. Blue returned it, then surreptitiously flipped open the Geometry book and scanned the first two pages of chapter one, breathing deeply through the rapid processing her brain was performing. It attempted to catch up and catalog the problems, plus all the events of the day, in an order to best serve easy retrieval.
Elle came to stand next to her friend, affectionately knocking her shoulder against Blue’s slightly shorter one. “Not so different than The Way’s cafeteria, right? Just a little more frozen faces here.” She pulled her face so it looked unnaturally lifted. “Did you see the wax face at table number seven? Yikes. Hate to be stuck with that mug for a hundred twenty years. Gotta wonder how bad the original was.”
Before Blue could respond, Elle whistled. “Oo! Where’d you get that?” she asked, leaning over the book curiously.
“Stand was going to throw it out, so I asked if I could keep it.”
Elle pressed her finger to her mouth in mock thought. “Hmm. I wonder if your brother’ll have a ridiculous problem with that.”
Chapter Twelve
The Book
Age of Peace Law 27, Subset 3a
Government-owned buildings such as libraries, hospitals, and town halls are open to Vemreaux and freed Waywards. Owned Waywards are not citizens, and therefore, are not permitted access, unless escorted by their master.
“A book?” Baird stormed predictably when he saw the treasure his sister was clutching to her chest as he entered the kitchen that afternoon. “Where did you get that, Blue?”
“Stand said I could have it!” she protested. Blue unhappily surrendered the worn hardback to him when he made a grab for it.
“Oh, so now it’s good ole’ Stand, is it? What happened to giving him respect by calling him by his full name? Professor Standwicke too much of a mouthful for you? You two old friends now?” He flipped back the cover and leafed through the pages. “And you can’t just take books from a college. You have to pay for them. I thought you wanted to save up with us and pool our money to buy your brother. Is this your grand plan? To waste your money on books and let Griffin rot in The Way until he’s sixty?” Grettel shot him a disapproving look, which he chose to ignore. “Did you steal this?”
“No!” she cried, her volume matching his. His head shot up at her insurrection. Immediately she lowered her voice. “Professor Standwicke wanted me to throw it away. I asked him if I could keep it, and he said yes. He even offered to help me learn it all.”
Baird had no response to this, but he still searched for a reason to be right.
Elle stood next to Blue to unite herself with the girl, her morning nap reviving her sharp tongue. “I can’t believe you just said that to her. How much more do we have to sacrifice for you to be satisfied? You won’t even let her own trash?” She shook her head at the man, who she could tell realized that he was quickly losing the argument. “Go take your anger out on a squirrel or something. Leave your sister alone.”
The object of much distress felt heavy in his hands. “Fine! Just don’t let your reading get in the way of work. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re getting slammed out there.”
“When’s the help coming that you called Master Joe for? I thought you were going to get us an extra body on the floor this close to Peace Week.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Elle. The new waitress should be here already.” He turned his attention to Grettel, who was struggling with a pot a third of her size. “What’d I tell you about this pot? Let me lift the big ones.”
Grettel shied away from his reach, surrendering the vessel with a miniscule squeak.
Baird’s countenance darkened when he realized he was not forgiven for the altercation that morning. He ignored Grettel’s fear, hoping it would dissipate. “So what is Geometry, anyway?”
Elle laughed, which only brought back the scowl the man had been nursing for most of the morning. “You don’t even know what it is, but you forbade it? Ladies, I give you our fearless leader.” She lifted her hands and clapped in false appreciation.
“What?” He jutted his chin out to the mocking blonde, defending his ignorance. “I know it’s some kind of math.”
Blue did her best to explain what little she understood from the few minutes she’d been permitted to actually flip through the book. “I don’t know yet. It looks like putting numbers to angles and pictures so you can make them more perfectly.”
Baird scoffed. “Vemreaux are useless. They go to school to learn how to draw a line correctly?”
“It’s more than that. I’m just not good at explaining what I haven’t really studied.” Blue sucked in her lower lip before she spoke again. “Professor Standwicke said that he would help me through the book. Would you mind if I took a break tomorrow when he comes in? It’ll be a short one.”
Baird’s hesitation made Elle turn to the man murderously. “Oh, give the girl a break. You know she’s allowed to take a lunch, Baird. It’s not like she’s gonna go out drinking with the Vemreaux or something. She’s taking a short break at our slowest time of the day to study. Quit being so controlling.”
“If you can find time for it, then fine. But work comes first, you hear me?” He reminded her of this as if she was the irresponsible type that needed the extra instruction.
Sometimes Blue got the feeling that he just wanted someone to fight with. She was glad Elle took his grumblings as a coded form of foreplay and didn’t mind them so much.
“Nights are only gonna get busier, so I need you all on your game.” When Blue shot him a look that suggested he was underestimating her, he explained further. “The dignitaries and heads of military are all coming to Capital City in the next few nights with their entourages. The bar’s gonna be packed, so no Geometry at night.”
“Okay, Baird,” Blue conceded before Elle could start up again.
“Wow, are you two psychically seating people now?” he asked, motioning toward the door.
Elle wanted to argue, but Baird was right. The line at the hostess stand kept growing, and no matter how fast the girls were, and how many tables they turned over, they could barely keep up.
An hour later when the tension between the four dissipated, Elle stalked into the kitchen and thwapped her tray on the counter irritably. “Where is that third waitress? You have to tell Master Joe to find a third person to hostess, at least. I know you don’t like complaining to your master, Baird, but I don’t care!” Before he could respond, she hurried on. “Between Blue and I, I’m pretty sure we can keep the customers happy. We just can’t take the time to seat everyone and bus tables in between.”
“Elle, I don’t think…” Baird began with his token amount of resistance.
“I’m not asking you to think, Baird. I’m telling you I’m going to hit my limit mid-shift. Is that what you want?”
“So feisty,” he commented with a small smirk. Baird sighed. “Fine.”
“I don’t see you calling him,” Elle complained, tapping her foot impatiently.
“I talked to him half an hour ago. He’s sending help tomorrow. Something about getting the dates confused.”
Elle swore, and for a second, Baird was sure she was going to pick up her tray and throw it at him.
Chapter Thirteen
Responsible Liam
“Ronald Cho? That guy is such a snore!” Liam complained. “Why can’t we go swimming? That blonde from last night invited me to some lake with her friends.”
Alec took a breath and tried to count to ten, but only made it to four as he moved the vehicle to the left lane. “First of all, ‘that blonde’ isn’t all that descriptive. You made out with three last night. And ‘some lake’? Which one would that be?” He shook his head, trying to keep his irritation at bay. It was only ten in the morning. He’d have to ration out his frustration if he wanted to make it through the whole day without snapping. “And the owner of Amsteron is an important man that your father wants you to spend some time with. Build relations.”
“Not exactly the kind of relations I was hoping to have while on holiday,” Liam groaned. “I couldn’t have been more clear when I told Dad that I didn’t want to become emperor after him. That’s Killy’s job. I belong at the lake.”
“And which lake is that?”
“Quit being a smart alec, Alec.” Liam chuckled at his own joke. “Get it? Because your name’s Alec! I can’t believe I never thought of that one before.”
“Hilarious. Frederick knows that you want to waste your life on booze and women, and he’s made his peace with it. However, he asked you to do him a favor and keep things good between the royal family and one of the most powerful non-royals in the world. Since you’re both in town for the testing, you get to entertain him for the afternoon.”
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