Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Seventeen (Part 2 of 2)

Joshua Holden returned back to town hall. The rising heat of the afternoon had already begun to materialize on his brow. He was sure to dab it off with his handkerchief before he entered the parlor. His father was reading the Dead Man's Sentinel when he saw Holden. Father Zephram laid the paper on the coffee table. He leaned back and propped his legs up.

"Good afternoon," Holden loosened his cravat. His neck ached. He pushed his fingers deep into the tissue to relieve his tension.

"Good afternoon, son." Zephram waited for his son to finish settling into the house. He cracked his knuckles. "I heard you were at that girl's house."

"Indeed I was. I'm engaged," Holden tried to smile, but he was only feeling the bile at the back of his throat. He stepped over to where his father sat. The coffee table was the only separation between him and his father's unfeeling stance. It was unusual. Zephram and him had such a close bond.

"I always support you, Joshua," he said. Holden smiled. "But this is stupid, borderline obscene."

Holden drew back. Silence gripped the room. His footsteps sounded as loud as cathedral bells in the parlor. "There's only a week until I take office. I thought you'd be proud that I've found a wife."

Zephram massaged his forehead with his fingers. He whipped his head in a sudden bite of passion. "Not her! She can't be your wife, this is..." he struggled for words. "Obscene! It's obscene!" Yet, he stayed seated, and somehow, he held the power. He had always been like that. Zephram had the face of one million different people, which was why it was so hard to tell his emotion by his countenance. His face was irrelevant. Power was in his fingers--it was merely a way of life, not anything else. Holden so desperately admired that.

"Obscene, Mayor? How is that so?"

He gripped a pillow tight to his stomach until he was twisting the fabric in his hands. "This whole town has seen her wayward heart. You can't tame her, you foolish ass. She's not your pet." He threw the pillow. It hit the cabinet hard. The Shanyingyan plates tottered. One fell and shattered. Zephram paid no attention.

"I have thought this over. I owe it to Isabella Soledad Wagner. She deserves to rest easy knowing her daughter is safe."

"Isabella Soledad Wager! The town slommack!" his father shouted. He finally sat up. He kicked the coffee table. "She's dead and her daughter's just as filthy and disease-ridden as her!"

"Don't you dare. Isabella Soledad had a good heart."

"Last I say it, son." Zephram stood up and circled his son. Holden felt a tremble in his chest. "This woman will let you rot. She'll pick at your bones. She'll pull you out of her teeth and love the taste. If you think you can fall in love with her, it's your mistake to make. Just tell me how it feels when she lands for her fist peck at the carrion."

Holden exhaled. The breath shuddered in his mouth, desperation moving it like boiling water. He straightened his stance. His feet were of iron, he imagined. After closing his eyes for a moment and trying to visualize it, Holden shrugged "It won't happen. I'm marrying her."

"Well," Zephram wiped his hands off and dropped the fictitious dirt at Holden's feet. He laughed, swiping a forearm across his mouth. "Congratulations! Your mother cannot wait to hear the news."