Betrothed Episode One (5 page)

Then I
turned on my heel and began to walk away.

“
Wait,” he commanded.

Despite
myself, I stopped, as if his words were like chains that locked me
to the spot.

“
You have forgotten your contract.” Without turning to me, he
took something off the alien, then tossed it onto the ground by my
feet.

Oddly,
it was parchment paper.

Or at
least I thought it was paper.

As I leaned down to pick it up, feeling sick from his
dismissive behavior, I saw it was different to the parchment paper
I was accustomed to.

It was
flexible and light, but extremely strong. It was also embedded with
holographic symbols, and as soon as I touched it, I could feel it
was made of some unusual substance.

“
It cannot be destroyed,” the man said without turning to me,
“but it can be ignored.”

And with
that, he ignored me.

I
thought of turning around and giving him another serve, telling him
that no matter how important he thought he was, he didn’t earn the
right to treat people like that.

I
didn’t.

I was
hot in the face from embarrassment, and I could see the
Illuminate’s entourage by the door shooting me death
glares.

So I
walked away.

I made
my way through the judging crowd, and slowly ascended the winding
staircases until I made it to the main floor.

As time
passed, and my initial shock at his reaction faded, the reality of
the situation set in.

My
nerves started to mount, climbing up my back and diving into my
chest with jolts like electric shocks.

By the
time I made it through the labyrinthine building and out into the
light, I was a wreck. My heart felt like it had switched places
with a flighty bird.

Clamping
a hand on my stomach, I had to force myself to breathe.

I walked
over to the jutting platform that commanded a view of the sprawling
city below. I clamped my hands on the smooth white rails, digging
my fingernails into the metal.

Then I
closed my eyes and tried to process what I’d just
learnt.

Ever
since I’d woken up as a newfound one, there’d been a lot to learn.
Life in the future wasn’t easy. But this … this was different. This
was horrible.

I was
betrothed.

Shaking,
I brought the contract up and stared at it. At first my eyes got
stuck on a slowly spinning holographic symbol in the upper right
corner. The blues and whites and golds of the Foundation insignia
lulled my mind, but it couldn’t distract me forever.

With
another rattling gulp, I jerked my gaze down to stare at the text.
Betrothed was written in great big bold letters, it was even
underlined.

Under
that was a bunch of gibberish. Letters and numbers – strings of
symbols I didn’t understand.

Apparently, if I took it to the identity office, they’d let
me know who exactly I was betrothed to.

Which
was a thought I hadn’t let into my mind until now.

Somewhere out there was someone for me. It wasn’t destiny,
though. It was a contract. A contract bound me to them and them to
me for the rest of our lives.

I
crumpled a hand over my mouth, my lips indenting against my fingers
as another wave of nausea and emotion washed over me.

Before I
could tumble to my knees, I thought of what the Illuminate had
said. I could ignore this. The arrogant jerk had pretty much told
me that whoever I was betrothed to wouldn’t want me.

So what
was the harm of walking away?

Sure, if
I didn’t satisfy the betrothal, I’d never get a job with the
government, but surely there were other things I could do in this
universe?

Or maybe there was some way to annul the betrothal. There had
to be legal loopholes. All I needed to do was calm down and think
this through logically.

Oh, and
tell somebody I could trust.

Mark.

It
didn’t take too long until I unwrapped my hands from that metal
railing and rubbed the fingernail marks from my palms.

Then I
walked away.

I called
Mark. Before I could break down and tell him what happened, he
casually mentioned he was on the same planet I was.

We
decided to meet up for a drink. It would be easier to tell him in
person. I could show him the damn betrothal contract. Otherwise it
was so ridiculous I doubted he’d believe me.

I used
the implant in my neck to help me navigate to the bar Mark had
suggested.

This
planet was beautiful. Away from the Contracts Office, the city was
denser, tall buildings leading up to the horizon line, connected
with sky bridges and platforms thronging with aliens staring at the
view.

I walked
amongst them, head still in the clouds.

I found
the right bar, a cozy looking affair sunk into the floor like a
basement. I walked inside to wait, finding a table next to the
wall, far away from the view, but far away from people’s enquiring
glances too.

I wanted
to be alone right now.

There
was a holo television above the bar, showing footage of the
news.

As I
looked up from inspecting my hands for about the hundredth time, I
saw a familiar face.

That
Illuminate.

I wanted
to ignore him – hell, I never wanted to see or hear about that man
again.

I
couldn’t stop my hand from walking up my neck and tapping my
implant though.

It
automatically caught the audio feed of the televised broadcast and
played it directly into my mind.

“
Central saw a rare visit from Illuminate Hart today. A
precursor to the upcoming Illuminate wedding – the event of the
century – rumor had it he visited the contract building, possibly
to find out what lucky person is betrothed to him.”

I
stiffened on that word and my fingernails curled in until they dug
hard against my palms.

So he
was betrothed too, ha?

That
probably explained why he’d been in the betrothal office with me.
It didn’t, however, explain why he was such a jerk and why people
obviously had no problem with this.

Who was
this man that his wedding would be the event of the
century?

I
stopped fuming long enough to tune back into the televised
broadcast. An alien of some indefinite gender tittered loudly and
shot onto the holographic screen in front of the picture of a
scowling Hart. “Details of the betrothal will be revealed in the
coming days. Whoever is betrothed to Illuminate Hart will enter
into one of the most important families in the universe. An
Illuminate wedding is a rare event, and allows us, the ordinary
public, a brief glimpse into the mysterious lives of the universal
protectors.”

Universal protectors?

What the
heck?

Hart
didn’t look like he could protect anyone; that hateful, judgmental
gaze could only do damage.

Though
the broadcast was making me progressively angrier, I didn’t get to
see the end.

I got a
message from Mark saying he’d just arrived.

I stood
up to see him walk down the stairs and into the bar.

“
Hey, kid.” Mark ducked his head down to avoid hitting the low
ceiling and plucked a hand from his pocket to wave casually at
me.

I
smiled. Despite everything, I still managed the smallest of
friendly greetings.

His
eyebrows dug low into his eyes. “What’s the matter? You look
tired.”

“
I’m not tired,” I said. Technically it was a lie – my day had
drained me. But my fatigue had nothing to do with my washed out
expression.

“
You okay?” His eyebrows peaked together.

“
Ah ... I found out what my contract is,” my voice barely
registered above a whisper.

“
Don’t sweat it, Annie – if you didn’t inherit that much, I
can pay for the drinks.” He shrugged a shoulder towards the
bar.

I didn’t
move.

“
Drinks are this way.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of
his trim navy blue uniform and angled his head towards the
bar.

“
Ah, can we maybe go outside? I want some air.” Before he had
a chance to answer, I turned and walked through the
door.

He shot
me an odd look and followed.

I made
it all the way out to one of the platforms that offered a panoramic
view of the city below. Ships darted in and out of tall sleek
buildings, the lights of their exhausts like fireflies in the
dark.

I leaned
against a railing, a strong wind ruffling my hair.

Mark
walked up beside me and silently rested an elbow on the railing.
After a few seconds of staring at the same view, he swiveled his
head to face me. A tiny smile crept across his lips. “You’re not
about to have another rant, are you?”

I didn’t
react.

“
Annie, it was just a joke. Tell me what happened,
kid.”

“
Why do you always call me kid?” I suddenly asked, latching
onto that because it was a hell of a lot easier than admitting what
my real problem was.

He ran a
hand over the back of his head then shrugged. “I guess because you
were woken up after me. You’re a little like the little sister I
never had.”

I
nodded. It was a slight move, and I kept my gaze fixed on the view
as I did.

“
Ah, Annie, what’s going on?”

“
I’m betrothed.” I pulled the document out of my pocket and
handed it to him.

I
couldn’t stop my hand from shaking.

He
looked from my hand, to the document, then up to my deadened
expression. “You’re kidding right?” His mouth crumpled into an
amused smile.

I stared
past him, my wide-open eyes locking onto the view. “No,” I said in
a dead voice.

He
stiffened, that smile melting away. “Annie, there has to have been
a mistake. You can’t be betrothed. You’re a newfound one. There’s
no way that could work. You were born over 400 years ago. If for
some insane reason you were betrothed back then, the person you
were betrothed to would be dead by now. There has to have been a
mistake.”

I darted
my eyes over to him and swallowed.

“
We’ll go back to the Contracts Office, and we’ll sort this
out.” He let a commiserating smile crumple his lips and it extended
up to his piercing blue eyes.

Even
though that smile should have washed away my every concern, it
didn’t.

I shook
my head. “I already told the guy at the Contracts Office I’m a
newfound one. He said it didn’t matter. I’m still betrothed,” I
could barely speak now. My voice was a stuttering squeak, like
rubber soled shoes running quickly over marble.

Mark
blinked back his surprise. His usually dark cheeks paled. “There
has to be some kind of mistake.”

I shook
my head, bringing up two sweaty fingers and pressing them against
my lips. “There’s no mistake, Mark. I’ve got the contract.” I
pushed the contract towards him.

Mark
took it off me and his eyes darted from the holographic symbol in
the upper right corner to the enormous underlined betrothed in the
middle.

A few
seconds later, he met my gaze.

He looked like I felt. “This is impossible,” he said softly,
but the
conviction
was gone from his voice.

I took a
step back, pressed my lips against my teeth, and shook my head
bitterly. “I sure do hope it is, but unless there’s been a
monumental cock up, it’s real.”

“
But how? You were born 400 years ago,” he
repeated.

I
shrugged my shoulders. It wasn’t an apathetic move; it was
defeated. I was defeated.

Maybe my
surrender was obvious, because Mark took a quick step towards me.
He angled his head down until he caught my gaze. “Hey, this ain’t
over, kid. There’ll be something we can do. Trust me.”

“
It’s a binding contract through time and space.” I pushed a
hand down my face, trying to hide my emotion.

He
reached out a hand and locked it on my shoulder. “Don’t give up
yet. Look, even if this is real,” he gestured with the paper, “it
clearly hasn’t come into effect yet.”

I looked up at him,
an iota
of hope kindling in my gaze. “What do you
mean?”

“
I mean you’re still here, Annie. I mean your betrothed –
whoever the hell they are – clearly doesn’t know about you, or …”
he trailed off with a shrug.

“
Or what?”

“
Or – and this is going to sound harsh – they don’t care about
you.”

My brow
crumpled. “What do you mean?”