“That’s good, because that’s what I was raised to be. I talked my mother into letting me come to the Academy,” Emily continued sadly. “I told her I wanted the chance to develop my abilities, to learn useful skills that could aid me in my marriage later on. I think that she felt sorry for me more than anything, but she talked my father into it anyway.”
Emily smiled at Alex, but the smile was painful.
“Do you know why I wanted to come to the Academy, Alex?” she asked, continuing on before Alex could have even attempted an answer, had he any. “I wanted some time, before I had to become a bargaining chip for my father, before I got bartered off to someone. A few years before that happened, to be myself.”
She was so accustomed to counterfeiting it that her smile hardly even looked false.
“I actually got to the point where I thought I’d accepted it,” she said lightly. “It didn’t bother me that much anymore. And then, a few days before the start of second session, I get a message from my father, and I have to go rushing back home to learn all about you.”
Alex could only stare at her in shock.
“Do you know how weird it is, Alex, when you’ve only seen your father at family events, to have him suddenly pulling you into his office for little chats with the cartel advisors? When they act like you’ve always been there with them, as if you’ve always been important?” Emily paused, and brushed her hair back from her eyes. When she spoke again, her voice was more composed. “But, I’m not saying it was all bad.”
She put the dish down in the rack with more force than she intended, and the clattering made Alex jump.
“All of a sudden, for the first time in my life, my father is taking an interest in me.” Emily laughed as if it were funny, sponging off the water on the countertop. “Now I have my mother doing my hair, and confiding with me about whether to seduce you, or to try and make you feel sorry for me, or both.”
Alex felt numb. He couldn’t think of anything to say.
“It doesn’t really matter how I feel about you, or how I’d feel about doing something like that, or how you’d feel about it. Not to my parents. That’s the world I was raised in.” Emily shook her head sadly. “None of that really bothers me. But, because you showed up Alex, now everything is different for me. I thought I had at least a few years, here at the Academy.”
The bottom fell out of Alex’s stomach. He hadn’t realized until now, but it was obvious — Emily had come to the Academy to put off her inevitable arranged marriage. But, she hadn’t even gotten a full year of school before he’d arrived, and…
“I’m really sorry, Emily,” Alex said quietly, ashamed.
“That’s sweet,” Emily said brightly. “But, what do you have to be sorry about? It’s not like you had any choice in the matter. You’re like me, Alex, do you realize that? We’re both pieces in a game that someone else is playing. Maybe I’m only a pawn, and maybe you’re something more useful. But we won’t ever get to make our own moves.”
Alex looked around at the living room around him, not sure what to say. Emily looked up at him expectantly a few times, but after he failed to meet her eyes or respond, she went back to finishing up the kitchen. After a moment, she leaned across the counter and handed Alex a half-full watering can.
“Can you water the plants for me, Alex?
He nodded and took the can gratefully, heading across the living room to the first bunch of very dry houseplants. In the cluster, he was fairly certain that the two nearer unidentifiable brown plants had given up the ghost, but he watered them anyway, gratefully to be doing something. The rubber plant and the ferns behind them appeared to be in somewhat better shape, and he gave them a more generous drink to reward their tenacity. He was still leaning over the last plant, tugging off some of the dead leaves, when he heard the front door open, and saw Emily go stiff as a board, her hands full of trash, hovering just over the garbage can.
“Emily?” The voice that drifted up from the entry way was unmistakably similar to Emily’s, but there was an edge to it that Emily’s voice never had. “Did you come home today?”
“I’m in the kitchen,” Emily called out to her, “and we have a guest, Therese.”
“Who’s that?”
The woman who emerged from the entryway stairwell was a bit older than he expected, probably somewhere in her late twenties. She had the same blonde hair as Emily, but she cut it short and had it tied back in a rather severe pony tail. She wore glasses and a well-tailored pant suit, and looked very much as if she might have just come from working in an office somewhere. Alex couldn’t help but find her appearance incongruous with their surroundings.
“This is Alex Warner, from my class. I told you about him. Alex, this is my sister, Therese,” Emily said, standing beside Alex and drying her hands with a kitchen towel. “Who, I might add, has abandoned all pretenses of housekeeping.”
“Nice to meet you,” Alex said, offering his hand and getting a polite handshake and a terse smile in return.
“And you too. You haven’t been at the Academy long, right? How do you like it?” Therese wandered into the kitchen, ignoring Emily’s work, and started digging through the refrigerator.
“I’m sorry,” Alex said reluctantly, “but do you know who I am already?”
“Sure,” Therese said, “didn’t Emily tell you? I’m the cartel liaison. I work in Operations. We’ve all heard about it, that incident with Aoki. Must have been a rough introduction. I’ve heard stories. People say she’s nuts.”
Therese emerged from the refrigerator with a can of coffee.
“What’s for dinner?”
“You can starve for all I care,” Emily said cheerfully, gathering the papers that covered much of the open space in the living room into one giant pile. “I’m definitely not making you dinner.”
“Don’t let her attitude fool you. She’s really an excellent cook,” Therese said to Alex conversationally. “You should try and get her to make us dinner.”
“I am making him dinner, Therese, not you,” Emily said huffily. “You’re on your own.”
“That’s mean,” Therese complained. “You’ve always been a mean sister.”
Finding no sympathy, she turned to Alex.
“Hey, Alex, you smoke?”
Alex shook his head.
“Well, I do,” Therese said, looking around for the purse she had dropped on her way in, “but when Emily is here, I have to go out on the balcony. So, come keep me company.”
Therese found her purse and started up the stairs, with Alex following, a bit reluctantly.
“Therese…”
Emily trailed off questioningly, the papers she had collected held bunched to her chest. She looked to Alex like she expected to be disappointed.
The look Therese shot Emily was disapproving.
“Don’t you worry about your big sister.” Therese’s tone was curt, dismissive. “I’m just going to have a quick smoke and a little chat with your friend here, and then I’ll get out of your hair.”
Alex was sure Emily would protest. He was certain that the fight that he’d felt coming since Therese had arrived was about to start. But Emily just watched, looking more frightened than anything, and then hurried back into the kitchen. Therese headed up the stairs, totally nonplussed. Alex looked after Emily, wondering about the fear he’d seen in her eyes, and then shrugged and followed Therese. He hadn’t known her very long, but she didn’t seem like the kind of person it was a good idea to argue with.
There were four rooms upstairs, but only Therese’s had the door open — or Alex guessed that it was hers, by the pile of clothes that covered the floor and spilled out into the hall. Alex followed the hall between the rooms, surprised at how small it all was, though the ceilings were abnormally tall. Despite the size of the buildings in Central, he was coming to realize, livable space was still at something of a premium.