“Toby and Lewis settled, they were best friends.” I stare at him, wondering how that went, since they hated each other in the end, or so I learned. “They built a cottage and from there, started a life together.”
“Romantically?” I gasp, covering my mouth. It doesn’t surprise me that there were gay people back in the day, but more like… how could gay men have a rule against being gay if they were gay in the first place?
He nods with a smile. “They fell in love and were growing a life together when they realized neither could birth kids. Well, they knew two men couldn’t, but realized they’d never be able to continue their bloodlines or their legacy without a woman.”
My mouth lays open because this information is insane. “They wanted to find a surrogate, though they called her a carrier in the journals. Each man wanted a child of separate bloodlines. Two babies. Two family names, raised together and mixed.’”
“So, they wanted a surrogate to birth them separate children who’d be raised as siblings?” I question aloud, thinking of how that’d work for that day and age.
He nods and continues. “The Grim family was established far before then. We have rules too. While ours is made of bigotry, it matches the Emeralds’. You’re not allowed to bed the same sex for lack of continuing the bloodline.”
Shaking my head, I rub the annoyance growing at my temples.
“They decided they wanted to grow a family and went into a village a long trek away. Once they got there, they met a woman. Isabella Hudson. A wealthy woman who wanted a man to take care of her but not the strings involved.”
I already feel like I know where this is heading, but nod for him to continue.
“They told her they wanted a family and she didn’t judge them for their sexual preferences as long as they took care of her. You see, she was a woman of wealth without the power to use it. She wanted the ability to be free and they offered that. Lewis impregnated Isabella first, deciding Toby would father the next child. She wanted nothing to do with the baby,” he finishes, but I wave my hand for him to continue. Amused with my obvious intrigue, he obliges.
“Lewis and Toby were ravenous after Isabella conceived. They spent most of their time in bed together. Lewis didn’t realize things were changing and one day, he found Toby and Isabella fornicating behind the horse stables when he’d gone into town for supplies and got back early.”
“Oh, shit,” I mutter, wishing I had popcorn, but biting my nails instead.
“Toby said seeing her round with his child opened his eyes. He explained they’d fallen in love and wanted to create a family together. Without Lewis.”
“But the baby was a Grim?” I ask, realizing she fell in love with the man who didn’t impregnate her. Which made no sense. Wouldn’t the one impregnating be more into sex with a woman than the other?
“He was, his name was Harris Grim,” he explains. “Lewis was heartbroken when this had happened. He’d written a journal about it in Italian, explaining why life was unfair and maybe it was his comeuppance for bedding a man in the first place.”
“This is insane,” Bridger interrupts, reminding me he’s still next to me. I’m too entranced with this saucy drama to pay attention.
“He kept bedding women,” Mortem says.
“Toby? Was preggo woman not enough?”
He shakes his head at me. “No, Lewis. After Toby broke his heart, he started making his rounds to all the women in the village. He wrote about how disgusting it made him feel, that he resorted to faceless intercourse to hide the fact that they weren’t the man he loved. Once he became a huge deal in the community, a bachelor god, they appointed him as a superstar.”
“Are we headed down some Jim Jones territory?” I joke, gripping the chair.
He smiles, looking at me with a keen sense of pride. “He had them all join his village… Arcadia was born in the end.”
“So, you’re telling me, they all hate each other because of cheating?” I muster.
“There’s more, but that’s what started it. Lewis eventually murdered Isabella, forcing Toby to watch Lewis raise their baby on his own. He went a little mad after that. Creating a doctrine where being gay wasn’t allowed and nine other rules.”
I nod, thinking of them. While at the Estate, they made me recite them over and over again until I could repeat them without hesitation.
No fornicating with the same sex.
No choosing love over prosperity.
No marrying outside the royal line.
No marring bloodlines.
No breaking blood oaths.
No marrying twice.
No bastard children.
No revealing Vestige rules.
No outsiders allowed.
I never understood how the first rule was one both my moms broke, yet they’re both alive.
“When he’d killed Isabella, her family traveled a long way to be a part of this community. He’d started a war between families and created a doctrine dictating everyone’s choices.”
“Why’d they follow him then?”
“He was powerful, handsome, and offered them a free home with food and water.”
“I can’t believe this,” I muster the words.
“Our family is way more fucked up than Lewis, baby girl.”
I stare at him, at those words leaving his lips, and don’t know how to react. Waving, I shut down the little part of me wishing I’d been raised by this man and not a heartless mother and her robotic doll. “Regardless, this is both fascinating and scary.”
“Most old ways are, it’s why being away is the best for us all.”
“Why’d you leave? Why was the Grim name eradicated?”
“When we have time, I’ll tell you all about it, but with the persistent chirping of my phone, I’m sure we’re needed elsewhere.”
After he escorts me to the kitchen for food and heads out, I wait for the information to overwhelm me.
Bridger
“Do you think someone would make me pizza?” she asks me after Mortem escorts us from his office. It’s insane that she doesn’t notice how her affinity for pizza has never differed but she hasn’t been on her pills for weeks. Does she not understand that they played her? Dosed her up with placebos and fucked with her head? It’s all like our childhood, the one she doesn’t remember.
Does she have extra memories?
Nightmares, maybe?
Will I ever get that part of her that loved me back?