I pull my shoulder from his touch. “Leave now or face punishment.”
“Punishment!” exclaims Perdiccus. “For what?” He’s truly baffled. He continues to grope for Nadia even as he says this. “We’ve done nothing wrong. We’re just having fun.”
I hop off the table and walk toward him. His face registers confusion as I grab his hand, take hold of one of his fingers, and yank violently. There is a snap of bone. He cries out. He tries to hit me with his other hand, but I hit him first. He crashes to the floor.
“What’s wrong with you, Ed? First Sigurd, now me? We’re companions. You’re going to give that up for this?” He flicks his gaze, indicating Nadia.
“Any member of House Julii still on the isle after an hour’s passing forfeits his life!” I respond.
The Julii coterie gather on one side of the room. Islanders instinctively gather behind me on the other. We’re not a strong group. We’re not fighters, but we do outnumber them.
Phaestion takes his place at the head of his line. “You’ve made a terrible mistake.” His voice is calm. He stands barely half a meter from me. He looks beautiful, more vivid in this moment than I’ve seen him before. He speaks as if his words were prepared.
In another lifetime, we could have just been ourselves together. We would always be friends, but not here or now. I can’t love him like he craves. His is an unending desire to have everyone adore him—male, female, it doesn’t matter. His instinct is to covet. His will is to dominate, grasp all those around him, and contain them in a bottle.
“With a word, I could sack this island and kill all of its inhabitants. End their little lives. You know this,” he says calmly.
He’s right. The men behind him are warriors with weapons. It would be a bloodbath.
“My father might have something to say about an attack on his property,” I counter. Two can play politics.
“Because of our past friendship and the love I bear you, we will honor your wishes,” Phaestion says, finishing with his eyes narrowed.
Our past friendship, he says. He reaches a hand out to me.
“Goodbye, Phaestion,” I say gently before he can touch me again. He nods and turns. His group follows.
Alberich lingers, shaking his head. “Edmon, I understand, but you must also understand—this will complicate things. You’ve forced House Leontes into conflict with House Julii, without regard to your father’s position. He will take umbrage. It may not be tomorrow, but the hammer will fall. I hope you’re prepared.”
So do I. “Go,” I say. Alberich follows, leaving with the others. The Maestro also turns to go. “Maestro,” I call out. He looks back at me. “If you stay, you will be welcome here, but you may never be able to return to Lyria again.”
The old man is caught between the two groups and the choice between his old home and what he knows to be right. “My boy,” he says as he steps beside me, “we’ll train every day from now on if that’s what you wish. And we will record. They will hear your music across the stars, I swear. Most of the galaxy’s finest musicians don’t have a degree from any university. Even Andreas Catalano dropped out before graduating, you know. Besides, I doubt there are any at the Sophia School who could boast having the full private instruction of Maestro Bertinelli.” I put a hand on his shoulder. He smiles. “I’m proud of you, my boy. And so are they.”
He gestures to the crowd of islanders remaining in the hall, who nod at me in solidarity. Nadia clutches at the torn fabric of her dress, holding it together. She stares straight ahead, defiant and proud. My mother, scarred and vacant-eyed, sits with no expression on her face at all, but I know she, too, is with me.
The breeze lifts Nadia’s dark hair from her shoulders. It fans the white linen tatters of her dress. She stands at the cliffs overlooking the ocean.
“Here again?” I ask.
“We’re always here, aren’t we?” she replies softly as I approach.
I don’t know all they did to her. I only hope I stopped it in time. I had lost sight of her when the crowd dispersed. I knew she couldn’t have gone far. I knew we would come back to this place.
“You want to be alone,” I say. I turn to leave, but she lunges and grabs for me, burying her face in my chest.
When did she become so much shorter than me?
“They forced me to dance for them. I fought, but they were too many and too strong. I felt helpless, Edmon. They were going to do more, if you hadn’t been there . . .” Her words pour out.
“I’m sorry.” I pet her hair. “I tried to be who you wanted me to be. I wasn’t fast enough.”
My excuses fall like Meridian twilight, never reaching their destination. She looks up at me, and her soft lips find mine, and there are no more words. She kisses again and again. She smells of the dirt and dust of the island. The clean salt of the sea. It’s familiar and exotic all at once. I feel her lips part. The gentle tip of her tongue grazes mine.
How does she know to do that?
The blood rises in my face, hot and red. I feel myself stirring below. An ache and hardness and panic. I’ve not kissed a girl before. Not like this.
She pulls away and brushes the hair from her face. She clutches the broken strap of her dress. My eyes lock on her smooth, tanned skin, then drift down to the curve of her full breasts hinted at beneath the torn linen. She catches my look. I turn away, ashamed at my transgression.
“It’s okay. You can look if you want.” Her voice is husky and calming.
My body reaches forward. It’s all I can do to stop myself from reaching down to hide the sight of it thrumming against my leggings.
“I should go,” I say, my voice cracking.
“Wait.”
I’m desperate to leave, more desperate to stay. I don’t know what I should be feeling. What would a warrior do?
“What’s happening to us, Edmon?”
She embraces me again. I turn so she can’t feel my arousal. This only upsets her.
“Forget it,” she says. “Go.” She pulls away brusquely.
I feel terrible. I’ve rejected her. I’m so confused. I grab her hastily and kiss her again, hard and clumsy. She laughs. “I’m sorry,” I say. I’m not sure what I’ve done that’s funny.
“You kiss like an ox fish,” she says, snorting.
I feel the red in my face. “I’ve never done it before,” I admit.
“Liar,” she teases.
“Well, Phaestion kissed me at the beach,” I stammer. “But that was just today and—”
“You kissed Phaestion today?” Her brow furrows. “I didn’t think you—”
“It’s not like that. I mean, he’s beautiful. When you get near him—”
“There’s something different about him, I know,” she says, cutting me off. “He has some power. Something that makes people want to be near and love him. It’s intoxicating.”