Shadowed(72)

“So I see. Uh…I’ll take savory,” he decided.

“Great! Hand me your bowl, and I’ll fix it up.” She took his bowl and started sprinkling different toppings on it. “Now this one tastes kind of like barbequed potato chips. And this one kind of reminds me of fried catfish…”

Reddix watched as she fixed his bowl, grateful that she was being so gracious after his angry words during the shave. Shouldn’t have yelled at her like that, he thought, still upset with himself. She’s been nothing but kind to me, and I’m such a prickly, ungrateful bastard. She deserves the truth—all of it.

But he couldn’t bear to tell her what had really happened the night he’d gotten the scars on his face. Or the deeper, darker truth about why he had kidnapped her in the first place.

How can I take her to the swamp witch? he thought, glancing at the lthss which had grown longer, encircling half his wrist now. But then again, how could he not? Time was running out. Because despite the fact that he had found a woman he could touch and who seemed to suppress his RTS when she touched him, he still needed a long term cure for it if he was going to do what was expected of him back home.

If only I could take Nina as my mate—declare her as my female and bond her to me, he thought longingly. Of course, that was impossible on many levels. Other than the fact that he had an inverted Touch Sense and couldn’t bond any female to him at all, his people were also traditionalists. They wouldn’t accept him as ruler if he married outside the Touch Kindred Clans. Any child born of such a union     would be considered a half-breed bastard…an interloper.

Not that Nina would have him if he ever asked her…though the very idea of being able to claim her as his female made blood surge to his shaft and his throat tight with longing. Gods, she was perfect. Gorgeous, kind, and touchable. So incredibly touchable. Reddix’s hands itched to explore her curvy body, to cup her full breasts and generous ass. His mouth watered to taste her sweet pussy while she called his name and begged for more…

“Oh, and this one is the best. It tastes almost exactly like Mehoo-Jimmy’s frybread…” Nina frowned and looked up at him. “Are you hearing anything I’m saying? You have this faraway look in your eyes.”

“Forgive me,” Reddix said roughly. He reached out a hand to accept the bowl she was holding out to her. “I’m sure it’s all delicious.”

“It is—mostly,” she said, smiling. “Although I haven’t had the nerve to try the chu-chu bugs yet,” she added, nodding to the small bowl of tiny, many-legged creatures that had been dried until they were stiff and crispy.

Reddix made a face. “Ugh. Well, they don’t look very fucking appetizing.”

“No bugs do—at least to me. I know lots of other cultures eat them but I’m just not brave enough.” Nina finished fixing her own bowl and then dug in with a strange lumpy implement that looked a little like long handled a spoon with multiple rounded bowls all up and down its stem.

“What’s this thing?” Reddix asked, picking up a similar implement himself.

“Oh—that’s an edible spoon. It’s really good. You bite off a piece with each scoop of nutra-mush you eat.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Nutra-mush?”

She smiled and shrugged. “That’s kind of my name for it. According to Healing One, it’s a natural completely balanced meal with everything you need in it. At least, everything the Feeling People need. Though so far I feel fine eating it too.” She scooped up some mush and bit down on the spoon, biting off the bottommost bowl with a crunching sound.

“Let’s hope it has everything Kindred and Earthlings need as well,” Reddix muttered and followed her example. To his surprise, the flavor was quite good. The mush had a smooth texture offset by the crunchiness of the spoon which had a mild, nutty flavor. The taste of the mush was harder to describe. Reddix had never tasted any of the Earth foods Nina had talked about as she flavored the stuff, but the different toppings reminded him of flavors from his own planet as well. He especially liked the section of mush Nina had said tasted like her grandmother’s fly bread—whatever that was. He quickly ate it all and asked for more.

“See—I told you its’ good,” Nina said, scooping out some more mush as well as the dry topping which flavored it.

“And you said it tastes like fly bread?” Reddix asked, taking the bowl back from her. “But I thought a fly was an Earth insect, and you said you don’t eat insects—not that I blame you.” He took a big bite.