Page 64 of The Champion
Linea reached out and touched his elbow with a sympathetic smile. “I’m so happy for you both, but what will you do if your government refuses to accept that you’re with Freya?”
“We’re starting a new country where people are allowed to live as they please.”
“Will your country let you go?” Linea’s worried expression brought me down from the high I’d been on a minute ago.
Victor shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “I won’t give them a choice. They rely on my work, and I’ll give them an ultimatum that I’ll stop working unless they let me move. Freya suggested that I fly in to work with my team a few times a week. I think it could work.”
“Oh, I see.” She let go of his elbow and straightened up. “In that case you have nothing to worry about. I just wanted to be among the first to congratulate you. It’s a wonderful thing that you’re together.”
“Not if you ask my brother.” My gaze went to Thor who stood in a serious conversation with my father, cousins, and uncle.
“Don’t mind Thor. He’s not as traditional as your father. He’s just confused because he didn’t understand the nature of your relationship the way I did. At least he understands and respects love.” Linea looked to Victor. “I’m not sure your countrymen will get that part.”
“No, they won’t.”
“Hmm.” Linea tilted her head. “It will be interesting to see how they react. With the way they’ve built you up, you’ve got a long way to fall. Can you handle that?”
Victor squeezed my hand. “As long as they accept my decision, I don’t care what they think of me.”
When Victor said those words, I felt my stomach freeze up. I had been so focused on my battle with my family that I hadn’t stopped to consider that in Victor’s case he would have to go against his country’s laws. There was a real possibility that the people in charge would deny him permission to move out of the country. Then what?
CHAPTER 16
Madness
Victor
When I walked into the weekly meeting with the three representatives from the parliament, the atmosphere started out as jovial. Celeste wasn’t here this morning and Frédéric, Zola, and Joseph wouldn’t be able to tell how I had dreaded this meeting and how my heart was pumping twice as fast as normal. Hiding my emotions was something I had perfected since I was a child.
In the past, I’d never been able to articulate what weighed so heavily on my soul. Now that Freya had showed me what it was like to feel deeply connected to someone else, I understood that despite the many people around me, I had felt lonely for most of my life.
The caretakers that raised me were warm and wonderful, but the standard was one caretaker per eight children, which never left time for much one-on-one time with an adult.
My teachers had loved my intellect and pushed me to develop as fast as possible. By the time I was six and winning competitions, there was no more time for playing with children my age.
I had always felt honored that I’d been able to make a difference for my nation. But the intense pressure kept growing for me to save my nation and miraculously bring everyone into apartments above ground with access to nature and fresh air. For as long as I could remember, I had worked myself to exhaustion.
I had a reputation of being grumpy, and short with my colleagues and staff. It wasn’t a deliberate thing, but a side effect from being overworked, sleep deprived, and disillusioned.
The part that tripped me up was that everyone seemed to think that because I had the adoration of a nation, I had an easy life. Maybe that was part of why I had felt so lost for years. On paper I had everything and yet I found myself longing for more.
Over the years, I had learned that no matter what amazing results I created, it would never be enough. The reaction from people was always the same: what’s next and when can we have everyone living above ground?
With Freya, my life suddenly felt balanced and fun. She was everything I needed wrapped up in one person. An intellectual I could spar with, a friend I could talk to for hours, and a playmate that I could chase through the apartment and tease until her laughter healed my lonely heart. And on top of all that, she had taught me what making love felt like. It was unexpected that a man with as much sexual experience as I had could learn anything from a virgin. With other women, sex had always been about physical needs, but with Freya it was more than that. Freya opened herself to me and expected me to do the same. She whispered words that were forbidden in France and made me feel cherished in a way I never had before. Entangling my body with hers soothed something inside me and maybe that was part of why I couldn’t get enough of making love to her. Every one of Freya’s orgasms felt like a personal victory to me. With other women it had been about my reputation as a great lover. I was competitive and had to be a champion at everything.
Freya didn’t sleep with me to brag about it to her friends. Satisfying her sexually gave me deep pleasure. It was a small way for me to repay her for making me the happiest I’d ever been in my life.
The scary thought that the three members of Parliament in this meeting room held the power to destroy our happiness made me nervous.
“How was your trip to the Northlands?” Zola asked with a broad smile. “We’ve been excited for you to come home and report on your adventure.”
“It was different.”
They all laughed, which showed me that they assumed that I meant different in a bad way.
“Did they give you shit like they always do?” Frédéric asked. He was older than me with dark circles under his eyes and eyebrows that needed trimming.
“Of course. This time more than ever, but Freya had my back and, overall, it was an amazing trip.”
