Culling

Part II • Chapter XIII

Lucas and Roman were already present and waiting. They stood up as we entered the room.

"Hello, boys." Roman greeted us and Lucas nodded in our direction. Sean and I returned the welcome. Roman made a sweeping motion with his hand, and we all sat. As an elder he had taken up a position behind the desk, while the rest of us took seats around the room. It had been a long day for Roman Gentreau, and the weariness showed on his face.

"So, I take it that a few complications have come up regarding your current mission." Roman said.

He was just going to dive right on into it, wasn't he?

Sean let out a short laugh, "If you are talking about Sang, then yes, she was unexpected. But never a complication." He looked at me, waiting for me to ask the question that was on both of our minds.

I probably shouldn't ask but, "Are you sure that you are alright with this?" I blurted out.

Roman exchanged a glance with Lucas before he looked back at me and tilted his head. "Alright with what, Owen?"

He had to have been joking. Of course, he had to know exactly what I was talking about. "The fact that we are going to marry your granddaughter."

"Well, it was my idea-"

Lucas coughed and gave his father a pointed look.

"Well, it was Isabelle's idea actually." Roman rolled his eyes. "I'm not happy about it, in an old man's opinion it is too soon. I regret that none of you have had a normal courtship. However, there are more things to be hung up over, like her being involved in these stupid games."

He paused, then continued. "I'm more concerned that Sang, apparently, has been through years of abuse and neglect. I'm also disturbed as to why she had been hidden from us in the first place. I haven't spoken to a Sorenson in years. However, now it seems as though the entire Sorenson clan seems to have fallen off the face of the earth despite our best resources searching for them. I don't like having loose ends."

That was new. I had known that Maro and Mrs Sorenson had disappeared, but now the entire Sorenson family?

"Unfortunately," Lucas cut in, breaking my train of thought. "We cannot send anyone else into the arena itself, the tributes have already been selected. President Hendricks is very aware of his staff, so it would difficult to add in anyone new at this point as well. That being said, he does have a lot on his mind at the moment. You know, since he has lost his head gamemaker not only in name, but now also in body as well. We will see if we can come up with something."

"McCoy is gone?" Sean spoke up, concerned. "Are you saying that we should we be watching for him as well?"

"I didn't say that," Lucas had a telltale glint in his eyes now. "I said that Hendricks lost him. The Academy might have picked him up somewhere, maybe."

Oh. Well, that was unfortunate. For McCoy.

"Don't worry," he said as he watched for my reaction, but I wasn't going to give away my real feelings on the matter. "We'll keep him safe for you."

Good. I wanted him still around when I got back.

"Back to the topic of your impending nuptials." Roman began in a foreboding tone.

I fought against the urge to panic, this was it. He already said he wasn't happy about it. My father had been right about one thing; the Gentreau family had resisted joining the main branches of their family tree with both Blackbourne and Hendricks for a very, very long time. I was certain that if it had not been for the blood binding, Roman Gentreau would never have considered allowing this.