Thrice Uncharmed (Wynne d’Arzon)

Thrice Uncharmed (Wynne d’Arzon) by Cara Lee Read Free Book Online

Book: Thrice Uncharmed (Wynne d’Arzon) by Cara Lee Read Free Book Online
Authors: Cara Lee
it."
    Her mother frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"
    "What are you talking about?" Wynne returned, bewildered. "Josiah just let me know that he's interested for debut — which is the first time it's been talked about, like, ever. So where's this coming from?"
    Her mother stared at her as if she were the insane one. "Josiah?"
    "Cleanuman? Comes in third in a few of my classes?"
    And a downright appalled expression appeared on her mother's face. "No. You are not taking up with some tier five—"
    "He's smart enough to test out of it, Mom—"
    " No ," her mother repeated, firmly. "You're too smart for the likes of him. There's only one young man who can keep up with that brain of yours, and he deserves a tier two wife."
    Hector. Wynne's mouth felt dry, and she was a little scared by how easily she followed what her mother was thinking. "Mom—"
    "You're plenty clever enough to join your paterline. You've already shown promise as an Imaguman."
    "Mom!" Wynne cut in. "I don't like Hector!"
    "Be reasonable," her mother retorted. "You're a smart girl, and you'll be dissatisfied with anything less than a smart man. Hector will be perfect for you. I'm sure his father will tell him the same thing."
    Probably already did, she thought, considering how Hector had been acting around her lately. She got a sudden mental image of her mother conspiring with his father, cackling about how they would set up their children as a couple.
    Of course, the governor could readily activate that 'for the good of the colony' proviso of the charter and bypass courtship altogether. Even Hector wouldn't be able to interfere with that, so far as she knew.
    "He's just waiting for the proper day to alert you to his interest."
    And taking every opportunity to warn me and scare my boots off.
    "Just remember, the third time's the charm. He'll have your heart by then, I'm sure, clever young man that he is. Now, for the dress — blue's his color, so which shade?" Her mother patted her on the arm.
    The next thing Wynne knew, she was in bed for the night, having picked ultramarine blue and the less disliked of the style options her mother had shown her, done her homework, and eaten supper.
    Despite all her reservations, despite his warnings, despite her conviction that she was fleeing the colony as soon as she could — she felt perfectly convinced that her mother was right: She was the perfect Partner for Hector.
    She didn't want to be his Partner. She didn't like him that way.
    She was afraid of him.
    But despite all her logic, intentions, convictions, and emotions that meant she saw Hector as a rival and only tentatively as an ally , she felt right for him.
    Just as her mother had said she was.
    He'd known she was curious about Instructor Smith, before she'd ever said anything or looked it up. He'd known , and he'd told her exactly what she'd needed to be able to find out.
    He'd been trying to tell her. The 'slip-ups', the answers to questions she'd thought but not asked, the fit of temper that she somehow now thought every bit as well-considered as everything else he'd said to her.
    The seizure, the freeze-ups, the non sequiturs …
    Psychic. He was psychic . And when he'd started saying something that someone else had thought too much, they'd triggered a seizure without touching him. Could've been tech or some kind of telepathy, but she found herself suspecting the latter, like that presumably forgotten 'appointment' had been preceded by his freeze-up in class. Getting a telepathic message, maybe?
    She still didn't like him, but…
    Wynne found herself wondering: How long until her mother made her feel that , too?

 
    Uncharmed
     
    Debut dawned like every day had since the night Wynne had become explicably, irrevocably terrified of everyone past Tetrad. In her head, not her tablet — never her tablet — she'd confirmed that many colonists died after age thirty-two, with some genders being more likely to survive in various families than others, so

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