Lilac was a color he’d yet to unlock with his beiska.
“The frown on your face says otherwise,” Sila said.
“It’s not her,” he replied cryptically, not wanting to get into his playing for fear his friend would eventually recognize the truth Rabbit had so carefully and painstakingly hidden from the world. “She’s incredibly attractive. Anyone would be lucky to have a chance with her.”
“Except for you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“What if she doesn’t like me?”
“The real question,” Sila corrected, “is what if you don’t like her?”
His mother would be incredibly disappointed in him, that’s what. And she would retaliate.
“Let me guess,” his friend added, “this match was brought to your mother, not the other way around.”
“How’d you know?”
“She keeps you on a tight leash, Trace.” He smirked when Rabbit showed his surprise. “I don’t look like it, but I pay attention. She’d probably hate hearing that you and I eat lunch together, wouldn’t she. Would most likely say something about how you’re wasting precious time you could be scarfing something down and getting back to the practice room.”
“That’s uncanny.” She would tell him that verbatim.
But then she’d do something about it. December wasn’t all talk, and that was half the problem.
Sila leaned back in the booth and shrugged. “We come from similar backgrounds. My parents are insanely controlling too. Why do you think my brother and I chose to travel to a completely different galaxy?”
Tibera, his home world, was located in the Crystal Sea, whereas Vitality was a part of the Dual galaxy. Sila and his birthmate had come all the way here because they’d wanted to study different things and their parents had been strongly against the two of them separating. In the end, they’d agreed to allow it so long as they remained on the same planet as one another. Because of this, Sila was here at Vail University, and his twin attended the Academy on the other side of the city.
Rabbit hadn’t met his twin but Sila had told him in passing in the beginning of their friendship that they were identical, so it was easy to picture what Rin Varun might be like.
“So what’s the plan?” Sila set the can down. “You going to marry this girl if your mom tells you to?”
He already played beiska because she told him to, and she already controlled the trajectory of his life. She’d kept him so busy with it, in fact, that he’d never had the time to meet anyone he could even begin to consider a potential romantic partner. At twenty-two, Rabbit had never even been on a date, therefore he’d never gotten far enough for marriage to even be a thought crossing his mind.
His father had died when he was a baby and his mother had remarried a couple of times, the relationships never lasting. Everything he knew about the concept of romance came from outside sources, he had no personal experience with it himself.
Which meant to him, marriage was sadly nothing special. Another transaction made between two people.
“If I like her,” he said, lying through his teeth. He’d have to accept the proposal even if he didn’t. The alternative was too distressing. “I mean, I don’t want to be stuck with someone I don’t get along with for the rest of my life, but if we do? Sure. Why not? Our parents already approve.”
“Of course,” Sila drawled, “because this Zamir guy’s daughter is the one that suggested it and your mother already sees all the possible ways she can leech off of him and boost her own reputation.”
For the second time in this conversation, Rabbit blinked at him. He’d never openly discussed the relationship dynamics between himself and his mother, and yet Sila had hit that nail on the head seamlessly. Still…
“All I know is Bin Zamir is the one who brought the proposal to my mother,” he said. “I don’t know if Arlet asked him to do so. Why would she?”
“Because she’s seen you?” Sila said it like he thought Rabbit was an idiot for not having put that together himself. “And she’s most likely also seen you play. Who on this planet hasn’t?”
“You think she wants me for my music?” Rabbit’s chest constricted.
“Doesn’t everyone?”
He dropped his gaze.
“Hey,” seeming to realize his mistake, Sila shook his head, “I didn’t mean it like that. Look, you and I are friends and I couldn’t care less about music, remember? I only meant that she probably heard you and saw you and fell for you. That’s all. You’ve got to remember who you are. Rabbit Trace, beiska prodigy, rising intergalactic star, and son of one of the most famous and influential musicians of all time.”
