Chapter Nineteen: A New Normal | Part 2
“Wait just a frac! If I could have everyone’s attention for a moment!” Farish had pushed his way to the front of the room and was holding up his hands as if to stop the Service Club from exiting.
Rhea crossed her arms. “Farish, if you had something to discuss, why didn’t you tell me so I could put it in the agenda?”
His responding grin was almost a sneer. “Because I’m done answering to you, princess.”
Farish turned his back on Rhea’s look of shock to address the room. “I want you all to watch for an invitation to a special meeting I’m planning for Thirspane. I spent Solstice break building a case for a vote of ‘no confidence’ in our current president, and as vice president, I have the unique authority to initiate that process.”
Mutters of shock rippled through the room. Thirtyx felt his own jaw drop. He couldn’t imagine what could possibly prompt the club to turn on Rhea until his gaze fell on the seal pelt tied around Farish’s waist.
The one he and Rhea had unsuccessfully plotted to steal before Solstice break.
It was tied the way he’d worn it before he attacked Thirtyx in his seal form and gotten it indelibly marked. That return to normal seemed to be boosting his confidence as he swaggered toward Rhea, who was now standing on her tiptoes to glare at him on eye level. “Why in the twin hells—”
“Besides you plotting to attack me—you all know that’s why she got suspended, right?—dethroning you is the only way to eject Venmy. Kicking him requires a 3/4 officer majority, and we all know you’ll vote in his favor.”
While Rhea’s speechless mouth opened and closed, Thirtyx stood. “If it’s me you have a problem with, just let me go quietly. If I step down, will you let Rhea stay president?”
“Thirtyx!” Rhea snapped over Farish’s chuckling.
“While I’m entertained by you pretending to protect someone whose father you’re working to overthrow, it won’t help. Friends, if Rhea Grimmary continues putting herself at risk by staying in Venmy’s presence, is that the sort of clouded judgment we want running this club?”
More murmuring. At least half sounded supportive of Farish’s point. “Just think about it,” Farish said with a nauseating air of innocence. “I’ll see you all on Thirspane.”
Thirtyx and Rhea let everyone else leave before they met in the center of the room, exchanging similar, hollow looks. “Well, that was a disaster,” Rhea huffed.
“You okay?”
Rhea laughed an unhinged sort of laugh. “Oh, I’m peachy. You know, what does it even matter what extracurriculars I have on my resume? Grimm’s the one who told me to do this, and if he doesn’t understand why it ended this way, we have far bigger problems.”
“Rhea…”
She stacked her books with excessive force. “No, I’m serious, Thirtyx. Service club. Like I’m not working in the background, giving all sorts of twice-damned service to this world every day— ungrateful brats. Maybe without this stupid distraction, I can do more for the palace. Help investigate who’s trying to kill Grimm. Fight for the Verith protection laws that three of the five states are now working to overturn. Service club! I’ll show them service!”
“Rhea, look!”
Seerla’s profile had appeared in the door’s narrow window. “I forgot my notebook! I’ll see you guys later!”
Thirtyx and Rhea exchanged a dumbfounded look. The door handle jiggled. Seerla opened the door just enough to squeeze through it before closing it behind her.
Then, she was flying, arms wide open, toward Thirtyx.
He scarcely had time to process before she collided with him. Anger and confusion swirled in his gut. What right did she have to hug him after the way she’d treated him today?
Rhea, always quicker on the uptake, stepped in to pull Seerla off of him. “What in the universe is wrong with you?”
“Sorry.” She sniffled, her scales streaked with tears. “Sorry. I just… I’m really, really sorry.”
“Sorry for what? Ignoring me all day?” Thirtyx tried to say it lightly, staring at the wall as he did so, but from the corner of his eye, he saw Seerla visibly deflate. His anger ebbed, replaced with guilt. Perhaps he should hear her out.
Rhea had yet to reach the same conclusion. “Ignoring all of us, for that matter! I couldn’t sleep last night wondering if you were dead, and now you’re here letting Farish walk all over me during a Service Club meeting before sobbing on Thirtyx’s tie. For the Twins’ sake, you’d better have a good explanation!”
Seerla sank into a desk chair and buried her face in her hands. Thirtyx pushed past Rhea to approach her with caution. “Alright. We said our piece. We’re ready to listen. And you clearly came back in here for a reason, so… are you ready to tell us what’s going on?”
Calley Jones 