Page 29 of Seducing Jenny
“You’re staring again,” she teased, her voice lilting with amusement.
“Sorry, yeah, uh…” I shot my eyes straight forward out the cockpit window.
“You were saying something about meeting old people,” she prompted me, absently petting her new tail. “Before you were distracted.”
“Right.” I cleared my throat and kept my mind on the mission ahead of us and not how muchIwanted to stroke that tail. “If you’re going to be Edict Malongwah’s daughter, Jade, then this piece of information is critical. Unless Volatile offers you something truly abhorrent, the answer is yes. Always yes.”
She tilted her head. “What kind of offers are we talking about here?”
“Could be anything,” I said. “If he offers you water with herbs,yes. If he offers you a place to rest for the night,yes. If he asks for your tunic,yes.”
Her eyes widened. “Wait, he might ask me to undress? He’s myfather.”
“I’ve seen it before, and Volatile doesn’t know that you’re related,” I said, meeting her shocked gaze. “Though that was with two men, so it’s not likely, but that’s my point. Elders sometimes like to see how far they can push a young person into doing their bidding. They get what they want, as a matter of proper culture. Now, because your story is that you were raised off-world, you can get away withsomemissteps. Silence was smart about who she picked for you to be.”
Jenny sighed. “This is so weird. I’m meeting my dad and he won’t even know it.” Her voice wavered on the last words.
I reached over and covered her hand with mine. “You don’thaveto meet him as Jade. There’s still time to change your mind.”
She shook her head. “The visitation request was already sent to Volatile and accepted with me as Jade, so I don’t think that’s a good idea. Changing things up now would look suspicious. Besides, I’m not ready for him to meet the real me yet. Sarah, Elizabeth and I agreed to meet him for the first time together.” She gave me a soft smile. “But thank you.”
“Whatever you need, Jenny. I know this is a lot to take on—”
“It’s not about whateverIneed, Tiger,” she said, her voice suddenly laced with steel and determination. “It’s about whateverMalneeds. I can do this for him.”
I nodded once, quieted by the force of her conviction. Then I pointed ahead. “There’s his island.”
She leaned forward in her seat to get a better look. “It’s so strange to me that artificial islands are such a popular place to retire on Orhon.”
“If you have the money, why not build your own paradise and never leave?”
“I guess,” she said, and shrugged. “But I can’t picture retiring, either.”
“Do you often think of your future?” I asked curiously. “What it might look like?”Am I in it?
Her lips curved thoughtfully. “Not really. Until Sarah’s abduction-slash-recruitment to Halla happened, I had always figured I’d be the little old hippie lady working at a coffeeshop who has great stories about her travels. I’d work until I couldn’t any longer, no big deal. You?”
“Retirement isn’t something that the unclassed usually think about. Work until you die, usually, unless your employer is particularly kind. For the Orne clan, though, a lot of people won’t even hire us, so—”
“Why not?”
“Our clan structure makes people think we’re more loyal to each other than to employers,” I said. “So they don’t want the risk.”
She looked appalled. “That’s ridiculous. Youshouldbe more loyal to your family than to your boss.”
I gave her a wry smile. “That’s not how things work for Ladrians on the surface. In practice, sure, but it’s all about optics. And politics. It’s complicated.”
“Sounds like it.”
I landedCheesecakeon the empty lift next to what I assumed was Volatile’s personal vessel. The ship was sleek, polished, and far too luxurious to belong to his employees. The lift lot looked like a botanical garden and was as lush as the rest of the island. Jenny’s ship was surrounded by broad-leafed plants and flowered trees.
She smiled at the surroundings as she stepped out of the ship. “It’s so pretty here.”
“Makes retirement seem not so bad, huh,Jade?” I said, testing out her new name.
She giggled then rolled her eyes. “Right. Jade Malongwah. God, that name is a mouthful.”
“The Malongwahs are an old family, like Deacon’s mother’s family, the Sellacs,” I told her. “Very proper and formal, so don’t forget it.”
