CHAPTER 41
“You are very talented,” Dakleth began. “There is no reason why you cannot do that here. I believe my father is correct that there would be widespread interest in your human music.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I never thought about being a solo artist. My specialty was what we call musical theater, with a group of players.”
“I see,” he said. “I confess I do not know much about such things. Our court musicians might know of how you can harness your talent in a way that makes you happy here. I want you to be happy, Andie,” he said, looking at me intently.
“I know, and I appreciate that. Everyone here has been very kind. Leo has helped me see how lucky I was to land on Ptekennan. Things could have been much worse for me as a human woman offplanet.”
“Sadly, that is correct,” he agreed. “Come, let us sit and have lunch.”
“Oh! I have human food on my replicator at home! Is it possible to access that here?” I asked.
“Yes, you can access your own replicator and comms panel from anywhere on the planet. How is it that you have human food in your replicator’s programming?” he asked.
“You won’t believe this! When Leo was kidnapped, he had a bag of garbage with him, and the guy who bought him scanned in all the contents.”
“That is remarkable foresight,” Dakelth commented.
“He thought Leo was an exotic animal. He has a zoo, evidently, so he thought it best to have Leo’s native food available to him for his care.
It’s super weird, but it worked out, and now I have so many things to eat!
I’ve been living off ovina eggs and Oonag.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten used to it, but having food from home has been ah-mazing. ”
“I can imagine,” the Prince agreed. “At the prison camp we were fed a bowl of gruel at morning and midday. It grew very monotonous. I gorged myself my first week back home.” He grinned.
His face when he smiled really was handsome.
I had a hard time seeing the Ptexari that way, but his features were perfectly symmetrical.
His cheekbones and jawline were wickedly sharp.
His bare torso was strongly muscled, and his gray skin and wings gleamed with recent oiling.
He really was an impressive specimen of a male.
My libido had taken a complete nosedive last year.
Between the assault, my depression, and the overwhelming adjustment of learning to live on a new planet, I simply hadn’t thought of sex or romantic relationships.
Leo’s arrival had sparked that long-dormant interest in me, and I found my eye roving over Prince Dakleth’s muscular physique with appreciation.
He noticed my perusal and lifted a brow. “Do you like what you see, mate? It is yours for the taking,” he practically purred at me.
I cleared my throat. “I’ve asked you not to call me that. And I wasn’t thinking of that. Let me see what’s available for lunch. Do you want to try some human food?”
Dakleth’s smirk let me know he didn’t believe me, but he let it slide. “Yes, I would like to try your human food. Select something for me, brighteyes.”
“Don’t call me that, either,” I snapped. “My name is Andie.”
“But Leo calls you brighteyes, and it is true. Your eyes are as blue as the summer sky. I have never seen eyes as beautiful as yours. He also calls you huera, but I don’t know what that means.”
“It’s a name his people have for a woman with blonde hair and pale skin, like me.”
“A fitting term. Your hair is like liquid sunlight. Your skin is the moonlight made flesh. Your eyes are the color of the heavens. If celestial goddesses exist, surely they must look like you,” he said.
I was floored. I could tell this man was completely serious. He just dripped compliments on me like it was nothing. “Um, thank you,” I managed, as I busied myself with the replicator.
He tilted his head, accepting a steak and baked potato plate from me.
“You are still my mate, Andie. That is hard for you to accept, given how it came to pass. I understand that, and will apologize for the act I perpetrated against you for all of my days. But I do not regret the tie I have to you, and I will not hide my desire for you. I will call you whatever you ask. I will follow you wherever you wish to go. I will eat whatever you serve. I will do anything you ask. But know that in my hearts, I call you mine. I will never give up on you. Or on us.”
Well, shit, I thought. I had thought during our lunch before the harvest festival that we were on the same page.
We were starting over as strangers, barely acquaintances.
I was willing to forgive what he did, but I didn’t think of us as being in any sort of relationship.
More importantly, I didn’t think I would ever want that with him.
“Okay,” I said with a heavy exhale. “Thank you for clarifying your feelings. Unfortunately, I don’t share them.
” God, this was awkward. “You seem like a nice enough person. I know you regret what you did, and I’m coming to terms with that.
But, we’re not really mates. You’re basically still a stranger to me.
I’m willing to try to be friends, but I don’t want anything more than that. ”
“Friends,” he said thoughtfully.
“Yes, friends,” I said, flatly.
“You are friends with Leo,” he said.
“Yes, we are friends.”
“You hug Leo frequently. You touch him casually and laugh with him. You are relaxed in his presence. You spend time with him and plan to dance with him. You will correspond with him when he leaves.”
“Um, yes, that’s right.”
“Very well. I will accept this level of friends. I want all of those things with you,” Dakleth declared.
I wasn’t sure how to explain that we weren’t really in the same place as Leo and me. “Ah, I’m not sure you and I will get to that same level of friendship. We don’t know each other like that.”
“You have known Leo only two days,” he pointed out.
“Yes, well, we are both human. We have a common background. We bonded pretty quickly because of that.”
“You are not bonded to him!” he said, very agitated. He stood up and began to pace.
“Figure of speech. It’s not a mate bond. It just means that we became close very quickly due to our shared circumstances.”
“You became close because you spent the day together. All day,” he said.
“Yes, I suppose that’s also true.”
“You will do this with me. We will spend a day together,” he declared.
This was going sideways fast. “I don’t know that we’re ready for that,” I said.
He sat back down and took my hand. “Friends can touch hands, yes?”
I was a little taken aback, but I was having a hard time explaining this.
Leo and I had a level of comfort. I knew that Leo would take our relationship further if I wanted to, but I also knew that he accepted my friendship boundary.
He wasn’t going to push for more. Dakleth was going to be pushy about it, I just knew it.
“Friends can touch hands as long as it’s a friendly touch with no romantic intentions,” I said, slowly.
He looked at my hand in his. Of course, his hand swallowed mine.
“I like this,” he said. “I like being with you. I want to spend more time with you, as you did with Leo. I do not understand what you mean about being ready. We do not need to ‘be ready,’ we will simply do it. I will take you to the Ptexari ruins on the outskirts of the city tomorrow. You will learn more of our history and culture. There is a lake nearby, and we will have lunch at the floating market.”
I had heard of the ruins and floating market, but I hadn’t visited.
Finetta had shown me some photos and diagrams during our history lessons, and I had been meaning to go see it.
But I didn’t want a romantic relationship with Dakleth, and I didn’t want to lead him on.
“Maybe Kashtinela or Leo would like to go with us,” I suggested.
“They will both be in meetings with my father and the Coromonn ambassador tomorrow,” he said.
“Why aren’t you in those meetings?” I asked.
“I said I was going to spend time with you, and they agreed,” he shrugged. Ugh, they were all conspiring against me.
“Ok,” I said. “We’ll go to the ruins and market tomorrow. As friends and nothing more,” I emphasized, pulling my hand from his.
“Good, it’s settled,” he said. He sat back, picked up his fork, and took a bite of the steak. “Now, what am I eating, and why is it so salty?”