Rogue of Taurus

Chapter 7

Livia was quickly bored and occupied herself with studying the vegetation and looking for animals. They were being too loud to see anything good but she saw a few birds--a hawk flying overhead, and a couple of sparrows, even a black-billed magpie.

"Would you make out with Oliver?" Felicity asked.

Livia snapped back into the conversation. "What?"

Okay, she could have not sounded so...offended.

There was a beat of silence.

"So, you don't like him?" Terrance asked.

Livia answered. "Look, I told him I wasn't into dating right now and I meant it. So that'd be kind of cruel if I made out with him."

"So, say it's non-committal," Felicity said.

Livia laughed. "Right. Cause he'd take me seriously after that."

Corvin chuckled behind her.

Terrance took that as an opening. "What about you, Cor? Any hot girls catch your eye?"

"Not that I'm willing to talk about," he said.

"I think if you liked Oliver enough you'd date him," Felicity said looking back at Livia. "You must not click well even if he is a nice guy."

Livia sighed. "I am not interested in dating."

"Did you ever get together with anyone after Arik?" Terrance asked.

"No."

He made a thoughtful sound. "Interesting."

Oh, now she was being analyzed by a Rattus. That was never a good position to be in. Next thing Livia knew he'd either be spewing psychological advice or making drama-filled assumptions to spread to his friends. She almost groaned out loud. Who even knew what type of empath he was? The best defense was an offense.

"When was your last relationship, Terrance?" Livia asked.

He laughed. "You're feisty, Liv. I was together with an Aquila house girl until I came out here. We decided to break up instead of doing a long-distance relationship."

Now Livia felt guilty. "Sorry," she muttered. "That's no fun."

"Yeah, but it was time," Terrance said. "We weren't going to last. She was Patrician class and even though being related to Corvin raises my status I'm plebeian. Plebeian males never marry Patrician females."

"Why not?" Livia asked.

Felicity gasped. "You dated Arik. You had to have known that."

That had been a huge issue in why their relationship ended. Livia was one of the only Patrician class Taurus house members left. The rest of the house were Plebeians. Livia had never grown up with the class distinction and so she'd refused to abide by the rules that made the groups distinct.

"I disagree with it," Livia said. "It makes no sense. It's stupid."

There was silence.

Felicity asked, "So, you did...break all those rules on purpose?"

"Yep," Livia said.

Terrance sucked air into his cheeks. "Wow. Arik must have been...frustrated."

Looking back, Livia hadn't listened to his objections. That would have meant agreeing that they couldn't be together because of arbitrary societal rules. In Livia's mind, she had to prove to him she was willing to break the rules. Then, he'd believe they could stay together but Caesarea had won. Arik had abandoned her.