Page 46 of Outfoxed

“Does this contract bar her from doing that?”

“Actually, no. It doesn’t. She would have to pay a penalty for doing it, which would be paid out to you, plus she would have to pay you the same sum as the other courtesan’s market value, and she would become responsible for you, as you were in a provisional contract with me. It would become very complicated legally. My mother would have to decide which uncontested courtesan would become the matron of our household and my wife, and she’d have a war on numerous fronts. If she picks you, she’ll have to pay off the other uncontested courtesan. It would create problems. Which is why as soon as we’ve finalized the paperwork, I will be notifying her by phone there is an active provisional contract in place. That should discourage her.”

“And your mother can legally do this? Pick a wife for you, I mean.”

“She can.” Sandro shrugged. “Her generation made the system, my generation is stuck with it, and they outnumber us right now. I don’t see the system changing anytime soon, because the system is rigged against those who might want to change it—and there are enough incentives for those trapped in it to keep it that way, especially among the uncontested courtesans, who do maintain their right to vote.”

“Wait, the other courtesans can’t vote?”

“It’s not quite that simple. They can vote, assuming they’re American citizens, but they can only vote if they jump through a lot of hoops. They need special paperwork, which is often difficult or expensive to get, unless the household they belong to provides the documentation for them. Those changes were ratified during the last election.”

At a complete loss of words, I stared at Sandro, my mouth open.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He shrugged. “And enough rich people got together, somehow convinced those under them this was a good idea, so here we are. And so freedom died, not with a bang, a scream, or war, but in silence. It died in its sleep. Those of us with intact moral compasses do the best we can to help those we can. I’ve decided I’m helping you.”

“Just because I told you no to your face and gave you the slip?”

“You’re also pretty to go with being smart and stubborn. You’re also kind, which is a major factor. That you’re capable and independent will create a lot of problems for me, I’m sure, but I won’t worry about you going out by yourself. As I am a quadrant master, you’ll be able to come with me, too.”

As I technically classified as a quadrant master, too, I understood why he would care about that. The boundaries showed no mercy, and unless taking a train to get through it as quickly as possible, the transition between quadrants caused enough problems that every train station near the boundaries had permanent medical facilities to help people with the transition as needed.

Quadrant masters rarely needed help at all, although I tended to feel under the weather for a few days after crossing.

“Foxes do have an easier time of it,” I admitted, as foxes didn’t change forms when crossing through the boundary. Other varieties of shapeshifters went through hell, as a song sparrow from the Alley might become a blue crab in the East, and nothing confused a body quite like transforming from an avian to a crustacean. As such, the blue crabs tended to stay in the East so they didn’t get a rude surprise. If they got lucky, they could go to the South and become a crawdad, although magic rarely cooperated how most shifters would like.

Sandro chuckled. “You have no idea how right you are. One of my friends wants to leave the East because he hates his shape, but he’s a full shifter, so he’d have a rough time getting through the boundary. He needs a nice person with a bucket of saltwater to get him over unless he’s on the train, and even then, it’s annoying for the full shifters who can’t control their shifting. They sometimes make him ride in cargo.”

“Into the Alley?”

“Yes.”

I could only think of one Alley shifter species they’d force into cargo if he couldn’t control his magic: elks. Nothing made a mess of a cabin quite like an angry elk popping up from where there’d once been a blue crab. “Is he one of the ones who panics when his biology gets completely rewritten by the boundary magic?”

“He is.”

“No wonder they put him in cargo. I’m surprised they don’t just put him on top of the train and chain him down.”

“If you use a big enough cage, it’ll hold a pissed-off elk. Most trains now have cages set up for the shifters who can’t be easily contained.”

“Beats becoming a bird after being a crab,” I muttered.

“The bird shifters are big problems, because they freak out, fly around the cabin, and really don’t want to be caught. And losing a bird in the boundary? That’s a quick way to die. The new birds have zero survival instincts.”

“They really don’t,” I agreed. “And you’re a mage?”

“I’m a mage,” he confirmed. “While there are a few witches in my family, most of us are mages. We are good at fashioning talismans, but we don’t need to use them to control our magic. We tend to be a little more flexible than other mages, so as long as the magic is somewhat related to our mastered form, we can usually make it work.”

Huh. That put Sandro and his family in the upper brackets of magic users. “Your family actually crafts talismans? But there are no talisman mage types in the East; East mages are either limited evokers or deal in curses.”

“We’re polarized curse casters, although I am capable of tossing curses and evocations as I see fit. And I can reverse curses and even toss some blessings while I’m at it. We’ve always tested the limits of magic, and we’ve found ways to work around some of the constraints some believe exist.”

Great. If he found out I was a witch on top of being a shapeshifter, we’d probably end up battling each other.

Toxin witches like me didn’t like curse mages like him. We stepped on each other’s toes, and we often got saddled with trying to undo their workings, as our control of toxins allowed us to reverse them—and most curse mages lacked the ability to revoke the curses they cast, leaving witches like me to clean up their messes. I frowned. “You can reverse your curses?”

“Not all curse mages are irresponsible with their magic. My family teaches curse reversal before we’re taught how to toss curses at people. It’s really embarrassing to cast a curse you can’t reverse. Really, we’re not all bad, and I’m disgusted that curse mages have such a poor reputation even in the Alley.”

“Well, nobody wants to be cursed,” I reminded him.