6.34 – Keep The Story Straight

6.34 – Keep The Story Straight

It took nearly two full hours of Zoey idling inside her bed chamber, waiting for Rosalie while unsuccessfully trying to fill her time with alchemy study, for her girlfriend to finally arrive. After a polite knock and a "come in!", the blonde walked inside, her slumped posture looking nearly harried—an uncharacteristic sight that instantly worried Zoey.

Meeting her eyes, Rosalie let out a deep sigh. "You would not believe how exhausting that was."

Setting aside her alchemy book and rising from the bed she'd been stressfully lounging on, Zoey walked over and scooped her girlfriend into a hug. Rosalie melted into her.

"I bet," Zoey said. "Your dad seems like a pretty intense dude."

"That's one word that could be used to describe him," she huffed. "If insufficient. But I meant more, keeping everything straight was the hard part."

"Oh?" Zoey asked, pulling back to look at Rosalie. "You didn't just tell him the truth?"

"I told him ... some of the truth," Rosalie settled on after a moment. "Where's Delta?"

"Ah," Zoey replied. "She, uh, got antsy. Not here right now. Headed out into the city, I think. Said she wouldn't be gone for long, since she wants to talk to you, but she had to clear her head first. You know her, doesn't handle sitting around well."

Rosalie grimaced. "I should've just told her when I had the chance."Th.ê most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m

"Hardly your fault Lucinda fell out of the sky to stop you."

"I had plenty of opportunity to earlier."

"You didn't want to mess up the delve. And after that, we were hiking through the wilderness. You were obviously waiting for a private moment."

"Stop making excuses for me."

"Nope. That's my job. Girlfriends, remember?"

Rosalie pressed her forehead into Zoey's chest. Zoey hugged her for a few moments.

"Is she mad at me?" Rosalie mumbled.

Zoey chewed over how to reply. "I think you two just need to talk," she settled on. "She's more confused and disoriented than mad, though. It was a lot to take in. And sudden."

Rosalie sighed. After a few more moments of staying in Zoey's embrace, she finally pulled away, withdrawing from her brief show of weakness. Her shoulders pulled back into their proper posture, and she wiped away the exhaustion.

"So. We have a few things to discuss."

"Since you apparently didn't tell your dad everything?"

"Yes. Which means we need to keep our story straight."

"Let me guess. You didn't go in-depth on how my skills work?"

"No, I didn't," Rosalie said, seeming a mixture of amused and unamused by the concept. "But I did tell him about Ephy. Your relation to her. The shard eaters. And," she said carefully, "I told him that your bonds are permanent and irrevocable, since he wasn't thrilled about me ... forgoing his other choices of teammates. But that ties his hands on the matter."

"I think he dropped the phrase 'worthy of my daughter' enough for me to get the message," Zoey said wryly.

"Also," Rosalie said, hesitating. "I didn't tell him the two of us are dating."

Zoey went quiet. For her own part, she had avoided revealing that tidbit because she suspected Rosalie would want to deliver the news herself. Or possibly even hide it. But that didn't mean she was pleased by Rosalie's decision.

"S-Shut up. But yes." Rosalie shook her head. "Also, there's plenty of other announcements. I kind of wanted to go over them as a team, but maybe with you first is fine, too."

"Oh?"

"The most important is our fifth team member. Father wants a say in who it is." Rosalie scrunched her nose. "Or more bluntly, he will be choosing them. I can't deny him that."

"You can't?"

"It wouldn't be worth the friction. He's already being ... open-minded. About everything. Letting me have all but free reign."

"That's what you call this?" Zoey asked dryly.

"As much as a man like him can allow," Rosalie conceded. "To refuse him even a say in our last teammate would cause more problems than it's worth, I believe."

"Okay..." Zoey said slowly. "But what if we don't like her? What if she's not cool with my class?" She paused. "What if she's not a her at all? That'd be a problem for me, you know." The requirements of Zoey's class were rather particular.

"I'm hoping things will just work out," Rosalie said. "But if the worst happens, then I can discuss alternatives with him." She chewed her lip. "Or possibly, we don't even go on those types of shard explorations with them."

"Huh?"

"Assuming the shard stabilizer works how it sounds."

"Oh." Zoey blinked. "So we'd just do normal shards with them."

"You mentioned wanting to, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I did."

"Though having the option to do both with our fifth is ideal," Rosalie said. "But I can't imagine a rational reason to tell Father our fifth has to be a woman, much less one sexually compatible with you," she added dryly. "So I think we're going to have to see how things go."

"And only risk upsetting him if we have to."

"Yeah."

Zoey shrugged. Like the other aspects of this situation Zoey didn't like, Rosalie's reasoning unfortunately made sense. "Wish we could have picked them out ourselves, though."

"Life is compromise. Much less for people in positions like ours."

"Ours?"

"You're the champion of a goddess, Zoey. I dare say my own status is no heavier than your own." She frowned. "You need to come to terms with that."

Yeah. Again, Rosalie was right. In a continuing trend, Zoey just wasn't thrilled about it.

"Besides," Rosalie said. "Whoever Father picks, they're going to be good at what they do. And it'll open up further political connections."

"More connections than the d'Celestins already have?"

"We're one of the eminent families, Zoey, but no single individual, or group of individuals, holds all power. And our goal is preventing the destruction of the world. We need as much as we can get."

"Fair enough."

Rosalie sighed. "I need a moment to sit down." She eyed the bed. "I'm not just mentally exhausted. Do you have any idea what sparring with an eighth advancement wayfarer is like? Especially one trying to throw you off? Not pleasant, I can assure you."