Chapter Nine: Lockdown | Part 4
Thirtyx spent the rest of the day repeating his assertion that he did not, in fact, have a crush on Seerla—in more mental channels, out loud, and using several different phrasings. He knew they were mostly doing it to annoy him, but there were far worse things they could be harping on. Like his career chances. Or who attacked Grimmary.
Fortieth bar found him in the library, so engrossed in rehearsing his lesson that, when Seerla first arrived, he didn’t immediately notice that she’d been crying.
“Okay, you make it look so easy when you re-explain things from a new angle. But I’ve never done it before, and I’m starting to think this could be a disas… ter. Seerla, what’s wrong?”
She shook her head and looked away. “It’s nothing.”
Thirtyx didn’t need the influx of energy to tell him she was lying, but he wasn’t sure whether to push the issue. “Okay. Are… you sure you’re still up to this tonight?”
“Of course I am,” she snapped. “Just had a little fight with Nephrie is all. Everyone’s tensions are really high with Comps coming up. People saying things they don’t mean… or at least, that I hope they don’t mean.”
Thirtyx tilted his head, partly out of curiosity and partly out of sympathy. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, no—I’m not too worried about it.” Seerla waved her hand dismissively, but she was clearly more bothered than she let on. “She’ll get over it, or she won’t. I’ll need to take my Comp either way, so let’s talk about the Fozier regime instead.”
She made a show of taking out her political science textbook and rifling through it to the chapter in question. Thirtyx was pretty sure he saw another tear escape, but he thought better of mentioning it. “Okay. Um. Let’s start by you telling me what you know about the legal structure of the Fozier regime.”
“Well, it was a mess, wasn’t it? Different laws applied to people with different blood types. Some criminals were punished by bloodletting, but if convicted, you could often skirt your sentence by being turned into a vampire. And then there was that ridiculous lottery system they used when the blood supply was running low. It was chaos.”
Thirtyx chuckled. “Believe it or not, the chaos was intentional. They made the laws confusing because crimes were punishable by bloodletting. If no one understands the laws, they’re harder to follow, and the ruling party can enforce them as they see fit.”
“That’s so barbaric.”
“Yeah, but it’s not far off from how the Veriths have run things—even recently. When they’ve had the throne, they’ve usually stripped the laws to their barest bones and made them deliberately ambiguous, because it stimulates more secrecy and lies. It’s a wonder no one’s wiped us out like they did the vampires.”
“Is it, though?” Seerla tapped a finger against her chin. “Now, I’m not a history minor, but I know the vampires were eventually defeated by cutting off their supply of blood and other resources. But you can’t withhold food from Veriths unless you put them all in solitary confinement, separated by really impractical distances and…”
Although Thirtyx was intrigued by her point, she trailed off, staring over his shoulder. A glower momentarily marred her face before she wrestled her expression back into something that could pass as pleasant. “Uh, Veriths are really stealthy too, aren’t they? You guys have all the right combat advantages.”
Thirtyx chanced a glance over his shoulder that was anything but stealthy. Seerla’s typical study group was at the large round table doing quite a bit of the muttering and whispering Thirtyx had witnessed over the past couple of weeks.
“Ignore them,” Seerla growled. “They’re still laughing at me for not understanding this.”
“I’m… pretty sure that isn’t true. Seerla, are your friends being mean to you for helping me out?”
“No, of course not—”
“I don’t know why I worded that as a question, because I know they are.”
Calley Jones 