Killing Time (7 page)

“Would you drop the camouflage when we’re in private? Every time I look at you, it’s like I can’t focus.”

“You can see it?” I asked, startled.

“It’s like there’s a filmy gauze over you.”

“Because of your bindings?” It was strange knowing someone could see through the glamour.

“No. Because of what I am.”

Feeling unaccountably shy, I admitted, “I was keeping up the camouflage because I thought if I looked like a Round Ear, it would make you more comfortable.”

He quirked a brow. “Round Ear?”

“It’s what bitterns call humans. Knowing how you feel about fae, I figured—”

“As you’ve told me repeatedly, you are not fae.”

“As you’ve told me repeatedly, you don’t believe me.”

Koda gave me a look I couldn’t decipher, but he didn’t respond.

Staring off into the night, I debated furiously with myself before letting my camouflage fall. It was strange, but I felt exposed before him in a way I’d never experienced.

Koda’s warm gaze roved across my features. “Much better.”

My hand strayed to my hair, pulling it down over my pointed ears. Desperate to change the subject, I returned to our earlier discussion. “Midnight sky is
h-lai giit.
”

His eyes darkened as he looked at me. A spark of humor glinted in their depths, along with unexpected gentleness. I covered my surprise by correcting his pronunciation as he repeated the words a few times and he surprised me even more by accepting the corrections with patient good humor.

Purposely exaggerating the first syllable, he said, “Sounds like I’m choking on a chicken bone.”

Despite myself, I smiled. “Yeah, it does.” I lifted my sock-covered feet onto the fountain’s wall and wrapped my arms around my knees. “The closest word for ‘friend’ is
étawis.
”

“So that would be my name if I were bittern?” he asked, sounding amused.

I rested my chin on my arms. “No. The word does not apply to us.”

Koda opened his mouth to say something when there was a knock at the suite’s outer door. I shot to my feet, drawing both daggers smoothly and shading on the same breath.

“It’s all right, Sephti,” Koda said. His hands framed my shoulders as he ignored the proximity of my blades to his belly, making my heart thud painfully at his lack of caution. “I called room service when I got out of the shower.”

Sheathing the daggers, I solidified my form. “Room service?”

He headed back into the suite. “Dinner. Food.”

Working to calm myself took some effort, since adrenaline was flooding my system, and with it, the ever-present threat of a frenzy. Dimly, I heard Koda talking with another male, but didn’t bother focusing to make out their words. Breathing the garden’s floral perfume deep into my lungs, I extended my awareness in search of the serenity I’d experienced earlier. Slowly, it crept into my senses, easing the adrenaline shakes and soothing the rage’s sharp edges. Rolling my shoulders to release the tension, I’d just gotten myself centered when I heard the sound of the outer door closing.

Warm, mouth-watering scents overrode the flowers’ fragrance and I hustled into the suite’s dining area to find Koda inspecting an astonishing number of covered dishes.

He looked at my face and did a double take. “I noticed the soot when we were outside but didn’t realize how much there was.” I flushed at what else he’d noticed and his eyes danced with laughter. “Unless you’re planning on leading a war party tonight, you might want to shower before we eat. The food will stay warm if you don’t take too long.”

Beating a hasty retreat to the bathroom, I closed the door and leaned on it as I surveyed the gleaming marble and brass. Remembering Koda’s description of endless hot water and sweet shampoo that hotels like this were supposed to have, I went to the shower, but couldn’t find a faucet—just a panel and a digital screen. Perplexed, I started pushing buttons and almost jumped out of my skin when water exploded from four showerheads, all at once.

Grinning hugely—I’d come to love gadgets in my brief time among humans—I experimented and quickly figured out how the controls worked. At least, I thought I did. I parbroiled my hand when I stuck it under the water’s flow. Sucking on my burned fingers, I pushed some more buttons with my other hand, and through careful trial and error, set the digital display to read “103”—hot enough to sting in a hurts-so-good kinda way.

Shucking my filthy clothes on the floor, I stepped into the blissful torrent of water cascading from the showerheads. I’d never imagined such hedonistic luxury and tilted my head back, basking in the sensory indulgence. Four jets pounded my skin, the hot water soothing away the aches and pains and nasty grime of weeks of hard travel, sleeping in cheap motels and hand-to-hand fighting. A wide grin stretched my lips as I marveled at how very different my current circumstances were from, well, pretty much everything I’d ever experienced. Exhilaration in this unexpected indulgence shivered through me. The experience was so…so…uncomplicated, wholly delightful and startlingly…
feminine.

Seeing the little bottles lined up on a built-in shelf, I opened their tops until I found the shampoo. Almost swooning from its sweet fragrance, I dumped the whole thing on my head, relishing the thick bubbles I kneaded through my hair. As the shower rinsed me off, I identified and used the conditioner, relishing its scent and laughing aloud. I knew I was being a goof, but in that moment didn’t care.

There was a knock at the door and Koda said something, but with my head under the pounding water, I couldn’t make out his words. I was pretty much finished anyway, so I turned off the shower and rubbed my eyes clear, realizing only then that I’d left my towel on the other side of the bathroom. Squeezing the water from my hair before stepping onto the floor, I looked up to see Koda stick his head around the door.

Giving him a bright smile, I said, “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.” As I crossed the room, it seemed he’d been rendered speechless. When I bent over to towel-dry my hair upside-down, he made a strange choking sound. Lifting the towel out of the way, I glanced at him guiltily. “You were right about the hot water. And the shampoo,” I added, trying to figure out his odd expression. “Sorry I wasn’t faster. Has the food gone cold already?”

His jaw was rigid. “You are naked.”

I glanced down at myself and then back at him. “I just took a shower.”

Color tinged his cheeks and he snapped with sudden anger, “Do you think I’m some kind of eunuch?”

Since I had no idea what a eunuch was, I bought some time by standing upright and finger-combing my hair back from my face. “You’re the one who came in the bathroom, Koda. If you don’t like the view…” Trailing off, I tipped my chin at the door.

His nostrils flared and he lowered his head in an almost predatorial way. When he spoke, his voice had a lot of growl in it. “I’ve no complaints about the view as long as you have no complaints about being viewed.”

I snorted. “I lived in a bittern stable. Twenty-five people, one small room, zero privacy.”

Koda’s hot-eyed gaze traveled across my body. “I have no trouble imagining your effect on the males.” His power flared, filling the bathroom and dancing across my skin with tantalizing heat.

Astonished, my pulse leaping, I looked more closely at him. And he looked right back.

Dark flames kindled to life in his eyes, a sudden flare of lust lighting their stygian depths. My body clenched in instant response and I trembled at both its strength and at the knowledge that Koda wasn’t nearly as distant as I’d thought. As he’d led me to think.

And yet…and yet, a reserve still existed within him, betrayed by the fists held rigid at his sides, the tension in his square jaw, the tiny tic beneath his right eye.

Habitual caution kept me back from him, the room’s width between us nowhere near enough for my sanity as my rampant hormones howled at me to take him. Like magnets, we attracted and repelled, the air between us crackling with energy.

In a faint voice, I finally managed to respond. “Because of my rank, males didn’t express such things. They didn’t even look at me without my permission.”

“I can’t take my eyes off you.” Koda lifted a challenging brow. “Should I be worried?”

I debated answering him, but his eyebrow cranked higher at my extended silence. Hoping to deflect the sensual tension, I gave a short laugh. “Fae geneticists have a lot in common with horny teenage boys. If they’d made our boobs any bigger, it would be damn near impossible to draw a bow or swing a sword. Embarrassing, too.” In a weak attempt at self-deprecation, I put my hands on my slim waist and struck a comical chest out, pin-up girl pose.

Koda inhaled sharply and his fists went white-knuckled.

Startled by his emphatic reaction and by the growing heat doing a slow, hot burn low in my belly, I picked up the discarded towel and held it against my chest. Ignoring his wry chuckle at my sudden modesty, I cast a disgusted look at my grungy clothes on the floor. The idea of putting them back on was vastly unappealing, but I was having difficulty breathing under Koda’s carnal appraisal. I needed something covering my body. Something between my increasingly needy flesh and his hungry eyes.

When he spoke, breaking the loaded silence, I jumped. “Do bitterns believe in ritualistic scarring?” His voice had a rough, erotic edge to it.

His words were far more effective than any plunge into icy water.

Cringing inwardly, I wished the towel was larger. Wished it could hide the countless silvery scars covering my body. Unable to think of a response that wouldn’t lead to an appalling discussion, I shook my head and looked away. I didn’t want to see Koda’s expression when it morphed into pity. Something that would happen if he learned how the marks had been made.

Crossing the room, he bent to pull a robe out from under the counter. In a soft tone, he said, “Here. You can put this on. The hotel supplies them.”

I took the knee-length terry cover-up he handed me, doing my best not to react to the warmth of his skin as our fingertips briefly touched. When I closed the robe over my body, he sighed—a sound I wasn’t sure he even knew he’d made. Despite my discomfort, I smiled behind a curtain of hair.

Hesitantly, I told him, “I have the impression that nudity bothers some humans. Does it bother you?” Keeping my gaze focused on the belt at my waist as I tied it, I could practically feel his scowl.

“If you’re finished in here, dinner is waiting.”

Noting that he’d refused to answer my question, I schooled my expression and gestured for him to precede me out the door.

His eyes glinted stubbornly. “Lady first.”

My breath caught. Lady?
Me?

Seeing this, the corner of his mouth twitched as he waited for me to go out the bathroom door ahead of him. Putting up my chin and with a little frisson of feminine triumph, I cinched my belt tighter and sailed out to the dining area with Koda by my elbow. He pulled a chair out from under the table as I reached for another, freezing when he cleared his throat. I looked at him holding his chair and he looked at me holding mine. Unsure why we were at an impasse, I started to sit down, freezing once more when he shook his head.

“This is your chair,” he murmured.

“But
you’re
holding it.”

“For you.”

“What?” I asked, perplexed.

“I’m holding it for you.”

“But why?” I cocked my head at him. “There’s no one else here to take it.”

“Manners, Sephti,” he said gently. “A gentleman holds a chair for a lady.”

I tipped my head the other way, considering his words. “You’re not teasing?”

He kept his expression serene. “No.”

“Well…okay.” Still dubious, I sat.

Taking the seat beside me, Koda asked, “I should have checked before I ordered dinner, but what kinds of food do you like?”

Inhaling the delicious meaty aromas made me almost delirious with hunger. “Double cheeseburgers.”

He waited a tick as if expecting more. “That’s it?”

“I’ve also discovered bacon. It’s wonderful, especially when it’s crisp.” I beamed at him. He glowered back, but his irritation seemed to not be focused on me so I didn’t pay him any mind.

“No burgers or bacon on the menu, sorry.” Koda reached for a serving dish. “You’ve a choice of filet, venison and pheasant.”

I tried not to look disappointed, since I sensed he’d gone to some effort to figure out what to order. Anyway, whatever the things were, they smelled heavenly, so maybe I’d discover new foods that I liked as much.

Not wasting time, I half-stood and reached for a plate. Koda got to it first and I had to quell the urge to knock him aside. While logic told me there was plenty of food, my instincts insisted that I grab what I could, while I could.

I sank back onto my chair as Koda, at what seemed a snail’s pace, put a startling variety of meat on my plate. With the intoxicating fragrance making me giddy from hunger, my instincts and empty stomach conspired to undo my self-restraint.

When he set the food in front of me, the easiest item to eat was an oval-shaped, one-inch thick darkish slab. Despite Koda’s concern and my lengthy shower, the thing was still warm. Delectable juices dripped onto the plate as I lifted the hunk of meaty goodness to my lips. My sharp teeth were more than adequate to the task as I bit into the thing, moaning with pleasure. Chewing happily and swallowing, I glanced at Koda and froze midbite. “What?”

Rather than answer, he lifted a knife and a pointy utensil. Burying the latter in his food, he sliced off a piece and used the utensil to raise it to his mouth. Chewing slowly, his dark eyes were on me all the while as he watched me watching him.

I bared my wicked teeth at him. “Not all of us need knives or those pointy things. Your way of eating takes too long.”

“This is a—” He reached a hand toward my plate. Reflexively, a warning growl rumbled in my chest and I leaned forward, aggression clear in my posture and my hands fisted on the table’s edge. Lifting a brow, he touched the utensil with his index finger. “Fork.”

Words failed me at what I’d just done.

His expression softened. He sat back in his chair and the way he looked at me told me he saw too much—an impression his next words confirmed. “You don’t have to compete for food anymore, Sephti. You can eat your fill and at your leisure.”

Images of the bloody fights at feeding time filled my mind. We were given only enough to sustain us, never enough to satisfy—the lord’s goal was to keep us hungry and edgy, making our susceptibility to the uncontrollable rages that much greater. It made our stable-mates competitors for survival and ensured that only the most ruthless, the most determined and the fittest would survive. Those who didn’t fight for every last bite of food didn’t make it to the next mealtime. Their bodies went into the bittern coma and they literally starved to death in a matter of hours. Making us slaves to food, knowing we had no chance to find it on our own, I always figured was a fail-safe to ensure we didn’t run away. Or, if we managed it, that escapees wouldn’t survive.

A vicious smile twisted my lips to have proven them wrong.

Hard on the heels of that thought was the realization that I was free and still behaving no better than a ravenous beast. I refused to give myself the excuse that this was the first time I’d eaten with anyone since escaping. More importantly, it was the first time I’d eaten at a table, in mannered company.

Bad enough Koda hated fae. It was humiliating that I’d confirmed his negative impression of all creatures related to them.

That I’d confirmed his initial reaction
to me.

Dropping the meat to my plate, I wiped my hands on a square of cloth at my elbow. Bowing my head, I lifted my fists to chin level and pressed the knuckles together in a warrior’s salute. “
Nish’ttalos, yeamu d’olai. Weítae mec—
”

Koda’s warm hand on mine stopped me. “I don’t understand.”

I drew a shaky breath. Still a newcomer to the mortal plane, I wasn’t sure of the proper gesture to make, the correct way to express awareness of my transgression. “I was apologizing for having gave…given grave offense. English is too informal to do it properly.”

The
hiss crack
of a descending whip echoed through my mind and I flinched at the remembered agony of split-open flesh. It wasn’t the first time I’d violated etiquette and the steel-tipped punishment had left scars on more than my back.