Series: Charmaine Pauls
Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Her smile is serene. “Welcome to your new home.” She reaches for my hand, but Aruan yanks me away, startling both his mother and me as he places himself like a wall between us.
She lowers her arm to her side with a sad little smile. “If you need anything—”
“Her needs are my concern,” Aruan says in a harsh voice.
From the center of the table, Gaia lowers her eyes. Vitai looks sympathetic, and Kian is difficult to read. Their father observes us, perched like a falcon on the edge of his seat.
The queen sits down with a wounded air, but her back remains stiff and proud.
Aruan takes my elbow and guides me back to my chair. Once he’s seated me, servers approach with platters that they set down in the center of the table. One of the dishes resembles a roasted bird, but the rest is anyone’s guess.
Gaia must see the apprehension on my face because she leans forward and whispers, “You only have to pick at your food and pretend to eat. Aruan knew you’d probably be too nervous to enjoy the meal. That’s why he made sure you ate well earlier.”
I offer her a weak smile. How the fuck am I going to get myself out of here? The guards have formed a circle around our table. Worse, more guards entered during the introductions and are now standing at attention along the walls.
Can I leave the hall with the excuse of needing a bathroom break? Will they let me go alone? Probably not, but I have to try.
Aruan seats himself on my left. There’s enough space at the main table. We’re not crowded like the people below, but when he spreads out his powerful legs, his thigh brushes against mine.
A jolt of electricity runs up my leg. My stomach clenches, and a feverish heat warms my skin. I slam my knees together, breaking the unsettling contact.
A flash of knowledge passes through his eyes as he turns his face toward me, but then the blond man on my right says, “Hello, Elsie. I’m Suno, Aruan’s cousin.”
I look at him. He has green, friendly eyes and a lively smile.
“Pleased to meet you,” I say automatically.
“I hear you’re from Earth,” he says through the side of his mouth.
The words are obviously meant for my ears only.
“How extraordinary.” His eyes sparkle. “Someday, I’d like to hear about your life in that world.” He’s quick to add, “If you’ll indulge me, of course.”
“Um, sure,” I say even though I have no intention of staying on this weird planet that long.
A pretty girl with a blond ponytail comes forward, carrying a crystal carafe with translucent purple liquid. She’s walking as if on a tightrope, careful not to spill a drop.
When she reaches Aruan’s side, he says something I can’t hear over the loud chatter that has taken over the room. Now that the food has been served, everyone is helping themselves to the dishes while staring at our table with perverse curiosity.
“Hello,” the man sitting next to Suno says.
I turn my face his way. It’s the man with the mousy hair. He has homely features with bushy eyebrows and brown eyes. Of everyone at the main table, he’s the least striking in appearance.
He leans over Suno and holds out his wrist. “I’m Tarix, Aruan’s cousin on the queen’s side.”
I look at his wrist, expecting a tribal tattoo or something that depicts his heritage, but only pale skin shows from under his sleeve.
Tarix frowns. “It’s polite to return a greeting, unless you consider the person an enemy.”
Huh?
I glance at Aruan, but he’s preoccupied with pouring the purple liquid from the carafe into my goblet.
Gaia comes to my rescue. “Here in Lona, the formal greeting is done like this.” She stretches her arm over the table and presses her wrist against Tarix’s. “It’s a sign of amiability and hospitality.”
“Oh.” Following her example, I do the same. Now I understand why she reacted so strangely when I wanted to shake her hand. “On Earth, we do it like this.” I hold out my hand to show them.
Gaia’s eyes grow round. She gives a quick shake of her head while glancing around the table. “We don’t talk about Earth here. It’s a forbidden subject.”
“But Suno just said—”
Suno shoves a plate toward me full of greenish balls covered in a yellow sauce with blue speckles. “You should try the egox. The roots were dug out only this morning. They’re still fresh.”
Right. He doesn’t want Gaia to know he proposed discussing a forbidden subject with me.
My stomach roils as I take in the rubbery balls drifting in the gel-like liquid. “I’m not hungry, but thanks anyway.”
He opens his mouth as if to argue, but just at that moment, a dark shadow flies through the hall.
Startled, I turn my attention that way, expecting a bird or a bat, and then my jaw drops.