Chapter 7
Therxian watched the small human with amusement as she filled her hands with food and proceeded to stuff into her mouth as fast as she could.
It should have been disgusting watching her eat like a dantha, but he found it oddly endearing.
Not that she appeared to care what his opinion was.
While she frequently paused to peer curiously at each platter of food before eating from it, she did not even glance his way once while she ate.
It was peculiar. She could not be familiar with the food of the Aglatha.
Not even the Vehal would readily eat some of things savored by those who lived deep within the caverns.
Yet this small female ate confidently without balking.
It brought back an uncomfortable memory that he resolutely chased away.
“Are you familiar with our food?” he asked casually.
“Not really,” she commented between bites. “It makes little difference, though.”
That was not the answer he expected.
“Why?”
Alex paused, her gaze finally lifting to him as she focused on him with a look of surprise.
She set the food in her hands onto her plate and regarded him steadily as she finished chewing.
“Two reasons,” she replied, and she held up a single finger.
“One. I have been assigned to Darvel Corporation since I was twenty. You learn quickly not to be picky about your meals, and not to question what it might have once looked like. I have survived fourteen years stationed on numerous planets by eating when the opportunity presented itself.”
“And the second reason?” he murmured.
He did not really need it. The first reason was compelling enough.
When he had been discovered by the Vehal, he had been half starved and willing to eat anything if it meant chasing away the hunger in his belly.
He understood it all too well, though he never would have suspected.
The humans seemed to be a gentler species comparatively...
and yet his initial instinct had been correct.
She looked at him squarely, her eyes penetrating. “Because I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning. At this point, I’m ready to eat you.”
His eyes widened, his gavo lifting slightly with his surprise.
He had heard of cases of Seshanamitesh males eating humans caught in their caves, so he did not see an issue with things being reversed, even if he personally found the idea of eating a human repugnant.
But she was so tiny, and he was not a male of average size.
This small human would truly attempt to eat a larger male of royal lineage?
He could see an honest attempt made with one of the many smaller males who inhabited the shinara, but even still—
Her lips twitched as she peered at him. “Don’t get too excited. I wasn’t making an offer.”
And now he was confused. An offer? For what? Was she suggesting that he should make one of the males available for her to eat in exchange for some item of trade? But also revoking compensation suggested that he should offer it to her. It was equally disturbing as it was confusing.
It seemed that she was also not inclined to elaborate further, because she picked up her food once more and began to enthusiastically eat it.
He watched her silently, conflicted. Should he demand that she explain herself?
He was not unfamiliar with word games, especially after many revolutions of having human females among the Vehal, as they seemed particularly fond of it.
Everything had hidden layers of meaning among them.
It wase exhausting to listen to continuously, and he had little patience for indulging it.
He had always insisted that they speak clearly to him.
So why was he hesitating now with this female?
It was not only uncharacteristic of him, but it was infuriating.
The female’s eyes darted back up to him as she peeled the meat from the long bones of a sand vorsk with her teeth and looked at him curiously. “What? You are not eating?”
His tail twitched, the tip tapping the floor in a sign of impatience that he had thought he had long outgrown.
“I am eating,” he hissed in reply, and he snatched a bone thickly laden with meat from the platter. He tore a chunk from it with his teeth and glowered at her as he chewed. “Do you truly believe that you can eat even the smallest Seshanamitesh?”
She returned his stare, her mouth slowly dropping open. “You think that I would actually... is that what we are eating?” she demanded in a shrill voice as she whipped her arm in a panic and hurled the meat at him.
“Crazy female,” he spat, dodging the meat. “Why would I feed you my kin?”
“Why would you think that I would eat them?” she shot back, her tone nearly hysterical.
“The words came from your own mouth!”
Her lips twitched reluctantly. “You are right,” she replied as she slowly sat back down on the bench. “I wasn’t being serious. It was just an expression. It just means that I am hungry enough to eat something very large indiscriminately.”
He paused and slowly blinked at her. That was what she meant?
He gave her a wary look. He was still confused as to what they had to do with her second statement.
“Understood. But I do not understand what that has to do with you making an offer if you did not mean to offer some bribe to eat a Seshanamitesh. I would never take it of course,” he continued.
“To even entertain the thought is highly repugnant to me.”
A pink hue rushed into her cheeks that gradually began to shift to a darker stain.
Blushing, the humans called it. That was just as ambiguous among humans as their speech.
Redness flushing the face had myriad causes, the nuances of which he failed to understand, including the degrees on which it was visible on different humans.
They were such a difficult species. He was already regretting his decision to hide this particular human.
“Never mind. It was a joke, and one I sincerely wish never left my mouth,” she mumbled, her attention returning to the platter.
“Ah,” he rumbled to himself, his coiled tail shifting around him absently.
The sudden tension between them was uncomfortable.
He greatly disliked it. He hoped Kitanara was likewise uncomfortable with whatever she was currently doing to have cursed him this way.
He cleared his throat and nodded toward the platter of meat. “It is sand vorsk.”
“Sand vorsk,” she repeated. “I hope that isn’t another kind of relative.”
This time he caught the note of amusement in her voice, and he relaxed. “They are not. They are commonly hunted and enjoyed by both Seshanamitesh and the Vehal. If you wish me to describe them—”
“That’s ok,” she broke in hurriedly and picked up another meaty bone. “They say ignorance is bliss. When it comes to alien food, I am inclined to agree.”
The corner of his mouth curled in response. He could not blame her. Once in his youth he had questioned an Uralial male that he encountered about the food they shared with him, and he had afterwards regretted it.
“Do you never see the kills that the hunters bring to your Raza colony?” he asked as he, too, picked up another piece of meat.
Alex shook her head. “I am usually employed in the hangar doing repairs, which means that I thankfully do not have to witness their return or whatever they are bringing back with them. Combined with what the colony manages to produce, the original forms of my meals are wonderfully anonymous.”
Therxian reluctantly cracked a smile and shifted a bowl of stewed deep-cavern fungi toward her. Vehal refused to eat such things because of what the fungi grew from, but it was one of his favorite foods that he had longed for since leaving the Aglatha caverns. “Try this as well. You will enjoy it.”
She nodded eagerly as she reached for the bowl.
Lifting it, she sipped the stew. Lowering the bowl slightly, a thoughtful look cross her face as she considered the flavors but then suddenly she smiled and he was momentarily caught off guard by the sweetness of her expression before it disappeared completely as she tipped the bowl and began to suck the contents down with loud slurps that drew a hiss of amusement from him.
Setting the empty bowl to the side, she licked her lips contently before picking the meat up again. “That was really good.”
He nodded in agreement and picked up his own bowl.
Thankfully, his preference for the stew was well known in the palace, so no one questioned his desire for a double portion of it.
He nudged a bowl of chopped and fried fazthal mixed with fragrant jalhana blooms and roasted barlisks.
The sweet crunch of the barlisks—unrecognizable without their segmented stingers and wings—made the dish exceptionally delicious.
“This as well,” he prompted when she gave it a curious look.
“Looks like some kind of salad,” she observed as she picked up the nachel, a utensil that humans identified as similar to their spoon. She scooped up a small amount of the mixture into her mouth, and a look of pleasure crossed her face. “Holy fuck!”
He startled, his coil jerking in surprise.
Although this term had been explained to him by the humans, he still found it difficult to adjust to their free use of words describing intimate coitus so widely for everything.
But paired with the look of pleasure on her face, it was doing things to his primary sant.
The pressure as it slowly began to engorge was alarming.
There was a time that he had looked forward to feeling such a response as he had watched more and more human females carried into the nara, but he had barely felt more than the slightest change of pressure within it.
Yet now that his obligation lay elsewhere, this very small human was now awakening it with startling effectiveness.
This was very bad.
He swallowed hard, his eyes dropping to study his meat as he quickly picked up a large chunk and began to tear it vigorously with his teeth, enjoying every satisfying rip of the meat and the crack of the bone.
It was hardly normal eating behavior for him, but filling his stomach seemed to momentarily drown out the ache lower in his body, and the sound of the cracking bones disrupted those little sounds of pleasure Alex made.
Mother Shangla, give me strength.