He smirks. “I didn’t say that. I just said we don’t get attached to each other. Nothing serious.”

I want to tell him that’s crazy, but given my own dating history, I don’t have a leg to stand on. “So then has your Family already picked someone out for you?” I say jokingly, but he doesn’t smile in return.

“Layla and I are also the firstborn of the leaders in our Family.” From the expression on his face, it’s obvious he has mixed feelings about that. “The alliances Lay and I make here will definitely influence my Family’s decision. But yes, they have been narrowing down the possibilities ever since we were kids. Being the firstborn has its benefits, but also its obligations.”

No wonder Brendan and the other guys give Layla such a hard time. If she’s also in line to lead her Family, it’s less that she’s an outcast and more that she’s a rival. “Are they trying to match you with another firstborn?” I ask.

“No. Never. Firstborns are required to stay with their Families. We tend to marry someone with good skills and a lesser station in another Family who is willing to join ours and relinquish theirs. Both Families benefit from the improved relationship.”

My eyebrows push together. “Give up your Family? Why would anyone ever do that? And how could giving up your Family even be enforced?”

“With penalty of death,” he says, and I lean back.

“You kill people for not having perfect loyalty to their new Family?” The astonishment in my voice is obvious. “What if you wanted to marry someone who isn’t Strategia?”

“Unless that person is previously approved by your Family, it’s forbidden. And if you go ahead and do it anyway, then…the penalty is death.”

Did I just find out that the only people I can marry are either in this school or need to be approved by some Strategia in Europe I don’t even know? This isn’t happening. “What if someone wants to stop being a Strategia?”

He looks at me in almost a compassionate way. “Also forbidden.”

I can’t think of a single thing to say that doesn’t involve panic. All this time I’ve been thinking that this was something I could walk away from, that I would have a choice. After I dodged a bullet this morning, I thought that if I just learned enough to blend in and stayed quiet, I would make it out of this school and never come back.

“Here, let me show you some kicks before I have to leave,” Ash says, and by the look on his face I can tell that I’m not hiding my emotions at all.

Chapter Twenty-three