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“Your mom has most of this place bugged,” Sandy continued, oblivious to the dark feelings consuming him. “So, she heard me say it, because she definitely wasn’t leaving me alone with her, but she can’t do anything about it. We’re not mated, which means I’m considered a legal adult by telfay standards. So, her holding onto me like this is kidnapping. And she knows that. According to Drevor, that is a very high crime.”
“It is,” Rane said numbly, suddenly understanding.
It didn’t matter how much wealth or power his mother wielded. If she was hit with accusations of kidnapping a human, she wouldn’t be able to escape the consequences. And there was plenty of evidence.
Basically, Sandy had his mother by the throat.
That was why she was able to walk around freely. That was why she was able to order Orza and Kirs around like they worked for her. They had no choice. If they stopped Sandy from talking to Lisra, or if they let her tell Lisra to contact the embassy anyway, it would be all over.
Just like that. So simply, Sandy bucked Elffa’s authority and reclaimed her independence.
Seeing how easy she made it only made Rane think he really must be a child. If Sandy was able to reclaim her freedom within just a few days, how come he wasn’t able to do so in all the years he’d been trapped like this?
“Of course, we still have to deal with her,” Sandy sighed, annoyed. “She still has guardianship over you, and she knows it. We’re at an impasse.”
“What?”
“Yeah. If we were mated, I’d be able to claim guardianship over you in her place and set you free. But if we mate, I’m suddenly bound by telfay laws of adulthood, and she gets de facto guardianship over me. And you can bet if that happens, she’ll do whatever it takes to keep it. So, we’re kind of at a standstill right now.”
“No, I mean… Why didn’t you just leave?”
“I can’t leave without you.”
Something like a blow, a punch directly to his chest, left Rane breathless. She spoke with that same careless confidence that she addressed everything. Like no one could bother or annoy her because she was in control of everything. Like every word she spoke was truth, simply because she had declared it to be so.
She smiled softly, reaching for him. Clasping his head in her hands. The heels on her feet elevated her up, but she was still so much smaller than him. How could someone so slight have so much power? He didn’t feel worthy of her. And at the same time, he wanted to yank her into his arms, sink his teeth into her neck, mark her, and never let her go.
“You can escape from here,” he said anyway. Because deeper than the choking need to grab onto her and hold was the desperate desire to keep her safe.
“But you can’t,” she refuted, wrapping her arms around his neck. He hesitated, but slowly allowed his arms to encircle her waist in turn. “Even if I escape, you’re still stuck with your mother. And what happens to you if she suddenly has to go to prison for kidnapping?”
He hesitated. He had dreamed about what it would be like to escape his mother’s clutches for a long time. He knew the laws around adult guardianship better than most at this point. If his mother was taken to prison, his guardianship would have to transfer. Since his father had been forced to surrender his claim on Rane thanks to Elffa, the only option he had left was the government. The very tribunal that had condemned him to this life would be his new guardian. And he doubted that Orza and Kirs’ payments would stop, so their devotion to their task wouldn’t either. Which would no doubt mean that Rane would still be caught high or drunk or coming out of clubs. Anything to continue making him look bad so that his adulthood would never be granted.
But…
“I’m used to that, Sandy,” he said, rubbing the small of her back. “You can get away from this place. You can get out.”
“No,” she refuted firmly, cute little fuzzy brows furrowing in displeasure. “Not without you.”
“Sandy-”
“I’ll figure something out,” she declared. “She has to let out some control now. We struck up a deal. I play nice, and she lets us be normal. Well, mostly normal. She’ll still control you and your money, but I at least convinced her to give you the thousand credz a day, not just make it a cap. That way, you can start saving it up.”
“How did you convince her to do that?” He asked, surprised. His mother loved money. He couldn’t imagine her willingly parting with it.
“Oh, that,” she chuckled. “Well, Drevor very helpfully informed me that she’s required to give you spending funds as part of the adult guardianship thing. A thousand is the minimum she was given considering how much you make. I just told her that she would be losing a thousand dollars either way. So, she could either give it to you outright, or I could make sure every day I buy the ugliest, most outrageous things possible, and make them her problem. I said I was going to start by buying a bunch of penis décor and putting them up in the yard and telling everyone that, as a sexually degenerate human, such displays were part of my culture.”
Rane couldn’t stop the laughter that burst out of him making his broken ribs ache. Sandy just smiled. “I imagine she hated that.”
“She puckered her lips so hard, it looked like an anus on her face.”
He laughed again. Delighted by this little human and her wild thoughts. “So, I get a thousand credz a day. Just like that?”
“Well, she controls the account it’s going in, unfortunately. But for now, the threat of everything I could start doing with it as a filthy human has her under control. I think she got the point when my new clothes came in. That’s when she finally agreed to the rest of my demands.”
“The rest?”
“Yeah.” She drew her hand down his chest, frowning at the myriad of marks marring his skin. “We’re allowed out during the day. We can do what we want, so long as you still go to your games and practice and any professional obligations. But we always have to return here at night. You have a curfew. That’s mandated by law, apparently. So, I couldn’t get around that.”
