Barbarian Alien(70)
But really, it’s all part of my plan. I’m going to be such an asshole until I get what I want, and what I want is Raahosh back.
He’s still hanging around outside, and there’s a fresh quill-beast for my breakfast every morning. Overall, though, the hunting has slowed and I hope he’s taking my advice and looking after himself.
“What are you up to, Liz?” Georgie asks, still following me as I wind my way through the caverns and head back to the bachelorette cave.
“Who, me?” My voice is sweet. Truth is, she’s right to be suspicious. I’m always up to something.
“Yes, you. You’re going to give Vektal an aneurysm if this attitude of yours keeps up.”
“Then both of us will be without our mates,” I say as I glance over my shoulder.
“Very funny,” she says, her black expression telling me that she doesn’t find it funny at all. “You just gave away a courting present and hurt Vaza’s feelings. Now Sevvah feels awkward because she feels like she is interfering.”
“Then you keep it,” I say to Georgie. “Lord knows I don’t want it. I have a mate, remember? No one seems to be remembering that part.”
“Yes, but he’s exiled,” Georgie says, moving forward and grabbing my arm. “Is that your goal, too? To be such a jerk that you get exiled also?”
“Oh come on,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Haeden’s a jerk and he’s not exiled. We both know that the only way you get exiled is to pull a stunt like Raahosh did….”
And then my plan blossoms into my brain.
I stare at Georgie, wide-eyed as she continued to talk, lecturing me about how we need to learn the rules of the sa-khui people and how to be good tribesmates and blah-blah. I’m not listening, because my mind is racing, instead.
Of course. Why didn’t I see this before?
I hug Georgie and cut her rant off mid-stream. “You’re the best, you know that?”
She blinks at me, surprised. “I am?” Her eyes narrow and for a moment she looks as suspicious of me as Vektal. “You’re not going to tell Stacy that they’re feeding her rats again, are you?”
“Moi?” I put a hand to my breast in mock-surprise. “And I didn’t tell her that they were rats. Just that they were like rats and they were doing it to see what humans would eat.”
“Uh huh,” Georgie says. “You realize she makes other people take a bite out of everything first now?”
Okay, so it wasn’t one of my finer moments. But in a sabotage campaign, a girl has to do some desperate things if she wants to get her mate back. And getting Raahosh back is my one and only goal.
• • •
It takes me a few hours to find the right time to implement my plan. I’m restless and wander through the caves, annoying everyone I run into until Kira takes pity on me. She hands me a woven basket. “Here. You can come with me to get more soap berries. We’re running low with all the new people in the caves.”
“You sure I can leave?” I give a pointed look over at Aehako, my ever-present guard. He stands a few feet away, whittling something out of bone with his knife. It looks a bit like a figure of a girl, but one side of her head has a blob on it that might be too obviously Kira. Interesting. The man’s making no bones about his interest in her, but Kira seems to be keeping him distant.
Not my problem at the moment.
She flushes and moves to Aehako’s side. “I’m taking Liz to go get soap berries. We’ll be in sight of the cave at all times. We won’t go far.”
He sheathes his knife, gets to his feet and stretches languidly, then rubs his stomach. “I’ll come with you.” I notice Kira’s gaze follows his hand.
My gaze follows his knife.
She makes a frustrated sound but Aehako won’t be deterred. We humans bundle up in cloaks and heavy boots, and then head out, baskets in hand. Aehako trails behind us a few steps, unobtrusive but always present. The day’s a bright one, with the twin suns high in the sky. They peek out behind the ever-present grey cloud cover and nearly give me snow-blindness with all the white around us. White hills of snow, white cliffs, white endless plains, white white white.
I see no Raahosh. It’s for the best if I’m implementing my plan, but I’m still hungry for a glimpse of his tall, lean body and scarred face.
I don’t feel whole without him.
Thinking about my exiled mate gives me the courage to implement my plan. It might backfire on me, but I’m running low on options and this is the best thing I can do to prove how serious I am about having him back. So as we go up the ridge, I pretend to stumble in the snow and fake having trouble getting up. I fling my basket to the side and watch with satisfaction as it rolls down a nearby snow bank. “Dang it.”