"He knows my dad?" Priya asked.
"Probably." Zarek nodded, closing the door behind him as they entered their penthouse suite again.
"But what does that have to do with…" Priya tilted her head in confusion.
Zarek chuckled. "You're so blissfully unaware, it's cute. You know, as much as I butt heads with your dad, the man still has a bit of a spine, which is why I haven't punched his nose in yet."
"Hey! Don't say stuff like that." Priya spun around, a hint of real anger on her face.
To this, Zarek could only smile. Priya wouldn't know for a long while that Zarek was actually being quite nice with his words. The mistakes her father had made had cost her this pretty life of hers more than once.
"Think about it, Pri. Who do you think the most eligible bachelorette in the state is right now?"
Priya blinked. "Zarek, it's 2024. We're not in the Renaissance era."
"It's precisely because you think like that that I still have respect for your father. You're still so cutely naïve."
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child."
"Yes, ma'am!" Zarek stood up straight and held his hands up.
"Don't do that either. Be serious."
"Okay, alright. High society life isn't so simple, babe. Think about all the politicians you can. When's the last time you heard of any one of them getting divorced? Do you think that they're just better at staying together than the rest of us?"
Priya opened her mouth to rebut, but then she frowned. She really couldn't think of any examples. Even politicians that went through wild and very public adultery scandals somehow kept their wives and husbands.
"Things like arranged marriages, handshake deals, under-the-table black money, secret associations… these things are very real. With the apocalypse happening, they'll only get worse."
"And what does that have to do with me?"
"Your father is one of the four most powerful men in the state."
"Dad is just a mayor."
"He's the mayor of the city with the largest concentration of elites in the state. There's a reason our high school is there."
"Who are the most powerful?" Priya asked, still not convinced.
"Your father, the governor, the attorney general, and the head of the state police."
Priya still couldn't find a way to refute. She already had the answer in her mind, but she almost didn't want to accept that the world was so… disgusting.
"There's been a lot of people in high society paying attention to my sexy girlfriend. But I've been playing elite defense. You know I would have crushed it in a professional basketball league if all this didn't happen."
"Did you actually?" Priya's head snapped up.
Zarek grinned innocently. "I may have punched in a few noses. No big deal, no big deal."
"Who?!"
Zarek gasped. "Why are you so suddenly interested in other men? Are you two-timing me?"
"Zarek!"
"It's really no one important. Just the grandson of the governor… and the son of the attorney general… and maybe the son of the head of state police… and there may or may not have been a few others in there."
"My birthday party!" Priya suddenly shouted as though she realized when this happened.
Zarek coughed. "Oh look. The moon is coming out soon. Isn't it a beautiful red tonight? Looks like we should get to practicing."
"You're the reason they just disappeared?!"
"In my defense, what are those grown-ass men doing waiting in the wings for your 18th birthday like that? They deserved it. They're lucky I didn't crack a few eggs."
—
Note:
["Grown-ass men", "waiting in the wings". Sounds familiar.]
—
"Shut up, system." Zarek bit back.
"What?"
"Nothing, babe. Nothing at all."
"My dad was so mad at me that night and it was all because of you!"
Zarek coughed again and then sidestepped. "I'm just gonna go take a quick shower."
"You come back here, Zarek Ashborn!"
The chase continued all the way to the bathroom, until there was a squeal as Priya was pulled into the shower with him.
An hour later, Zarek sat in meditation again, looking out into the city. His mind was whirring with many thoughts.
One part of his mind was still somewhat focused on his earlier conversation with Priya. He had kept things very surface-level, but the situation was more serious than he let on.
In a world like this one, those powerful connections and hidden, underground currents would have the boldness to step out into the sunlight.
While Priya's father was a good man for shielding his daughter from all of this, his staunch, rigid personality also made him very susceptible to getting swallowed up by these currents.
The Sakks and Dalton Firm… it would probably rear its ugly head pretty soon. Until GFI rose up, they were the main players here, and that was because of their interconnected relationship with the state's attorney general.
Many lawyers in Sakks and Dalton had connections with the government and vice versa. They stepped between the worlds of corporate lawyership and government lawyership with an ease that made one's skin itch just thinking about all the corruption.
They almost certainly had the survivors of the prisons and police force of this city under their control, and their advantage would only become more obvious after the crimson rain.
And then there was another worry at the back of Zarek's mind. Just how much had his actions changed things this time? With Marx and Zade taking such a step this time, would they still stumble into that Godsfall Tear? Or would he have to find it on his own?
In this case, he was the pillar, not them. So things were bending and twisting around him in this region in ways even he couldn't fully account for.
Marx was simply far smarter than Zarek had given him credit for, but that actually made things harder, not easier. That was the irony of it all.
Zarek looked up at the moon.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the bare silhouette of Priya's back, her lower half wrapped by their sheets. She had sat up in meditation already, her diligence giving him a calming feeling.
Yes. There was only one way forward.
He had to grow even stronger than he already was.
Every step forward now would be even more difficult with how poor his Growth Potential was. But he knew that three days from now, the crimson rain would give him a chance at an accelerated advancement.
From now until then, he would focus on priming his body, allowing it to heal and massaging it until it was in a state ready for evolution.
He took a breath and exhaled slowly.
**
"Van Hollen."
A man looked up, an odd scene playing out around him. His torso was bare, and he wore a pair of pants so thin and comfy they looked like pajama bottoms.
This wasn't what was odd though, at least not on its own. He was standing on the tips of just one foot on top of a desk, his other foot raised to rest its side on his quad.
And there he balanced, the landscape of the entire city in the wide, panoramic windows behind him.
"What is it? The night is important for my practice."
"Mister Attorney General has sent word."
"What about?"
"There's an event we need to take advantage of in three days' time. There's a detailed plan of action here."
Van Hollen seemed uninterested, asking an unrelated question.
"Did you find who wiped out the toll booth guards?"
"Yes. An 18-year-old. But…"
"But?"
"Synghe's daughter is with him."
Van Hollen finally seemed to wake up.
"Now that… that is interesting."