Graham's smile froze, and I could only imagine what my aura must have looked like to him in this moment. He had opened his mouth to greet me, but I turned my face away to ignore him.

I found it highly laughable that sweet Graham could ever have a crush on me. If he did, I would have to be merciful and make sure it died. After all, my father had to be the culprit in trying to pair us. Graham was too naive to see these plans being formed without our consent.

I attempted a quick breath to soothe my nerves, but it made it worse, gauging from his widened red eyes.

I looked between the two, sat down, and proceeded to make as much noise as possible as I filled up a plate of food.

My father continued to speak to Graham as if I hadn't entered. One could consider it rude, but my entrance was also disrespectful, and my stay was no better. I made as much noise with my fork scraping and doing everything but actually feeding my mouth.

"My mother is calling me, so I'll have to get back to you on that, Mr. Savage," Graham said as he looked at his phone.

"I'll see you at training this evening, Dolyn?" Graham said.

I could feel my resolve to be cruel weaken upon meeting his big red eyes. Why did he have to be so dang nice? I was being a bitch, and he was still looking forward to seeing me? I missed my chance to respond because he left quickly. I know things were strained between him and his mother, so that call must be important.

"Have you forgotten your manners, Dolyn?" My father's icy voice drew my gaze to him.

"Father, I have not. I had a dream that you were planning something nefarious."

My father set his fork down and gestured for me to continue.

"Are you seeking to arrange a marriage between Graham and me?" I held eye contact as I spoke.

"It's already in the works." My father said it casually as if he was saying, "You are my daughter."

"I refuse," I said, setting down my poor abused fork.

"Why?"

"I will never marry," I said.

"Graham is an ideal marriage candidate for you. A child between you two will also have extraordinary capabilities."

"You're better off having another kid if that's what you want," I said. "I can't drag Graham down with my antics. He's too good for me."

"Undervaluing yourself will not stop this marriage from occurring. I had planned to surprise you but should have anticipated your powers predicting this." He said.

"I will not marry him," I said. I was going to become a broken record at this point.

"If you can't give a valid reason, it will happen." My father said. This was not the first time his will attempted to override mine. I usually gave in but would not let it happen this time.

I was going to have to switch tactics. I bit my lip and looked down. When my voice was ready, I said, "In my dreams, I have another." An image of Adam came to mind, and unlike any other time, I embraced what rose with the memories. The contorting of my heart and the flush of emotions was a welcome respite from the hole his absence created. "And I can't have any other. If I do, unspeakable evils will occur." I wasn't lying or exaggerating as I was known to do. My ancestor would fly down from the heavens to mess with me for breaking my word. That dream was a reminder of his will being a constant watching eye upon me. Thankfully, I had powers to work around his inflexibility.

My father stared at me blankly and quietly for a long time after my words. I held his gaze as solemnly as possible, but it was impossible to outstare the master.

"I would love a little sister, though. So if you get married, then so shall I." I said with a bright, shit-eating grin to break the prolonged silence.

Repulsion at the idea of marriage flickered in his eyes, and I smirked. My father wouldn't do such a thing, so I was safe. He hated marriage more than I did.

Silence reigned supreme as my father's unbreakable will met my inexhaustible resolve.

It was too early to claim victory, but I'd thrown enough of a wrench in whatever my father planned that I left the home chipper. I say left, but I never left the perfectly air-controlled building. Anytime I left the hotel, I became sick. So, all I did was travel down to the Hub.

I had the day off from my studies because I finished this week's work last week. I was going to buckle down and work ahead again tomorrow, but I need a nice relaxing break now. I earned it.

The Hub was empty, which wasn't surprising. The seven of us kids were more often than not swamped with work. This was why we learned to party hard when the chance came.

My initial thought of showing up was to go straight to the library, but for some reason, I found my feet taking me toward the thirteenth floor, which was the movie theater floor. A strange urgency kept my feet moving toward the bathrooms.

I paused outside the door, unsure why I came here, but that urgent feeling pushed me to keep going, and so I did.

The sound of retching greeted me, and I flinched at it. There was a cry of pain mixed into it, and I looked at the stalls.

The door closed behind me, and there was a brief silence after the noise.

"Who's there?" A shaky, soft voice called out, and I could feel my heart clench at the fearful neediness of it.

"It's me," I said, stepping toward the only stall with the door closed.

The stall door opened, and a pale face with big brown eyes peered up at me. Regina was on the ground with outstretched hands.

Without thinking, I grabbed them and squeezed them lightly. I knew she was reaching up to open the door for me, but it also looked like a cry for help. She was reminiscent of me when I was pregnant and of a friend whom I lost…Lucia.

I used my free hand to pull a bottle of water from my spacial dimension for her.

She took it wordlessly, and I watched as she slowly wet her lips and mouth with it.

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I took it back when she was down and sat down on the ground with her. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head with a numb expression. Her deep brown eyes conveyed fear, joy, and pain.

"Do you want me to stay here with you?" I said, scanning her face and eyes.

She gave a jerky nod, and I pulled her into my arms. Regina was chill to the touch without the slightest hint of a fever. Her face was flushed, and I petted her head, which was soaking in her pain.

Several tears and a cup of cocoa later, she finally told me that she suspected she was pregnant. I knew she was with Saul, and the two were engaged to marry the following year when she joined him at age eighteen.

"Will you go with me to see a doctor?" Regina said with bright, imploring eyes.

"I will." Even if it made me sick going outside my ivory tower.

"It's going to be in a couple of days. I called it in already…"

"I'll go no matter the day," I said, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Thank you, Dolyn… I'm grateful that you found me."

Me too. I couldn't speak because my throat was tight. My gift led me here to help her; I'm grateful it did.

I helped her off the floor and took her home. I'd never been to Regina's home until today.

Her home was regal and shrouded in purple and silver. Dark ebony walls lined with family portraits and tasteful art decorated the entrance hall. Her living room was swank and looked like it came out of a catalog.

A few maids were on standby, but no one acknowledged us when we entered.

"Thank you, Dolyn," Regina said with a stronger smile. She had already replaced her fears and insecurity with a mask of control and decorum. This wasn't the same girl I met all those years ago. Clara's authoritarian nature had rubbed on her, and maybe some of my resilience had too.

I squeezed her hand. "Text me later, okay."

She nodded, and I turned around to leave.

I walked to the elevator to go down back to the Hub. This time, I was truly headed towards the library to relax in a comfy chair and read a good book.

The doors opened, and Graham was there instead of an empty steel box. My foot that moved to enter stopped midair, and I made a face at the sight of him.

"Dolyn? Are you getting on?" Graham's voice was steady and the same as usual.

How was it possible for him to be such a good guy? I was the absolute worst to him time and time again. Guilt warred with regret, and I ignored both of them when entering the elevator.

"Do you have time to talk?" I said.

"I do," Graham said.

I pushed the button for the fifteenth floor. It was the library, but a couple of private study rooms were soundproof.

I grabbed Graham's hand once we got off the elevator and led him to the furthest study room. There was no window on the door and a lock, so we'd have absolute privacy.

I closed the door, locked the two of us in, and turned to look at him immediately.

"First, I need to say I'm sorry."

Graham started to open his mouth, and I knew he would say it was fine without my gift.

"It's not okay. Graham, you need to be less forgiving of rude people." My hands were on my hips for some reason, and I could feel something akin to anger bubbling in my gut. I wasn't mad at him per say…just frustrated at everything.

"Not rude people, just you, Dolyn." Graham's voice was so sweet I almost hiccuped.

"I'm not worth the generosity. You deserve someone good." Which was the perfect segue to tell him we needed to cancel this engagement, our parents decided.

"Dolyn, I think you undervalue yourself too much." Graham's words were far too similar to what my father said. Both were in the habit of looking at me with undeserved affection.

"I can't be engaged to you. I'm not allowed to fall in love. I'll lose everything if I do. My father doesn't quite believe me." I said, recalling his expression that said he would humor me for now when I told him.

"I believe you," Graham said with his soft voice, proving once again he's far too good for this world. Any warm, gushy feelings towards him were zliched upon his next words, "We can't cancel this engagement though. My mother's business is riding on connecting with your father's. We're running out of money due to my father's debts. My father passed, but his company is now hers, and it's going under."

There was pain in his gaze, and I softened at the sight of it. If I get engaged to Graham, would I get punished if I didn't fall in love with him? What if we never went through with a wedding? Could we only have a long engagement until the world ended? What were Mordecai's limits?

My mouth parted, but no words came out. I had no idea what to say. I expected him to be opposed to it as well. Not as vehemently as me because he was kind. It turned out that he needed it more than I expected.

"If we go through the engagement, maybe we can just keep it as an engagement," I said as my thoughts went to the party in my dream. Mordecai visited, and so did Adam. If we have the party, what if both actually showed up?

"That might not be enough," Graham said ever the voice of calm collected reason.

"Graham, if we actually get married, that's only holding you back from finding someone you can love."

"I love my mother too much to let her down, and I care about you too, Dolyn. Romantic love is a luxury I can't afford." Graham's red eyes deepened with an unknown emotion, and I stared at him, curious as his face darkened.

This was a new side to Graham that I had never seen before.

Still I needed to persist and be a voice of caution. "I also care for you, so I think we should plan for every possibility. If you fall in love with someone, I'll step out of the way, so you have to tell me. This will work if we can openly communicate."

"And you? What if you fall in love?" Graham said as he stepped forward, and I took a step back. The atmosphere was strange, and I gulped as I took another step back. I considered his words and ignored his actions.

Love? That was also a luxury I could never afford to know, let alone taste again. I shook my head and said, "I'll never fall in love again." Again had come out, and I covered my mouth at the admission.

Graham's lips broke into a smile, and it felt like the first rays of sunlight, "Sounds like we're perfect for each other then." He said.

Luckily, he didn't persist in finding out who my love was. Graham and I had been together for years now as friends. Given my procilivties to never leaving my father's hotel and how my only friends were known by him…it was just good that he didn't seem to catch that slip.

Things were settled, but it didn't feel right, no matter how we rationalized it. Here, we are technically teenagers making a deal for a future. That by now, the world has taught me would ultimately be out of our control.

"Rory Stanley?" A feminine voice called out, and Regina's hand tightened on mine. We were at the doctor's, and her alias was Rory Stanley. We were even wearing face altering masks.

Our palms were sweaty as we followed the woman to the back. The check up was rather brisk. The pee test for pregnancy was relatively straightforward, and the results were just as quick.

Regina was pregnant. She was still shell shocked as we rode back to the hotel.

"I have to tell Saul, and we'll have to move up the wedding," Regina said. She started to rattle off many things, and I sat next to her in the backseat, watching her wring her hands.

"Breathe," I said, holding her face between my hands when she paused to inhale for breath. "Relax."

I recognized this happy panic, and my heart shook in pain even as it felt joy for her.

"Everything will work out for you." Just never for me. The selfish thought was luckily finished inside my head.

I spent the next few days with a headache and cough. This hothouse body was going to be my undoing. Luckily, I would be gone before the zombies, but if time taught me anything, nothing went exactly as planned. Strengthening this body seemed impossible, so I was trapped in bed.

I had visitors come to me to quench the boredom. Regina came, and later, she visited with Saul, and I was able to help them from my bed.

I spent so much time helping Regina and Saul that I forgot one crucial thing: My father was making plans behind my back. This lapse in memory would come to bite me in the butt at dinner soon.

"Father, who is this?" I asked as politely as possible.

My father calmly took a bite of his steak and chewed it. I could see him taking his time as I all but squirmed in my seat.

We usually ate dinner alone, yet here we are with a third wheel at our table.

She was a beautiful woman who looked to be in her late twenties. Her lush dark hair was swept up into a neat bun, and her purple eyes held a strange ambiguity. That strangeness was directed at my father as if they shared the world's greatest joke.

"My fiance." My father said with a small smile.

I could feel the blood drain out of my face as I looked between her and him.

"We're going to be married in six months." My father's eyes held humor as he spoke.

"You'll make a wonderful flower girl." The lady who hadn't been named said to me with a soft, almost believable sincere smile.

I did the only thing I could to get out of this moment. I faked a fainting spell and crashed into my plate face forward.

Everyone but my father around me panicked and seemed to believe it; after all, I am a weak girl who just recovered from a cold. But as I looked at everyone from underneath my eyelashes, I could see my father's dark smile grace his face. His gaze was all but shining down upon me.

Maybe I didn't inherit my abilities from whomever my mother was. Perhaps they came from my father.