“A few kisses!” Elli exclaimed.
Her raised voice drew the attention of several well-dressed women in the corner, who looked down their noses at her. Taking a deep breath, Elli tried again in a lower tone.
“It was more than a few kisses and you know it,” she murmured, glaring at the big warrior. “You…you touched me! Worse, you made me want your touch.”
“Yes, you were quite eager as I recall,” he drawled, raising his eyebrows at her.
“Because you drugged me!” Elli snapped. “I would never have…have acted that way otherwise!”
He grew suddenly sober.
“Forgive me. I had no idea that the drug I put in the punch would be so strong or the effects so immediate.”
“Why did you drug the punch, anyway?” Elli demanded. “On the Mother Ship they think it was some kind of espionage plot.”
Roke snorted.
“Nothing of the kind. It was a lovesick young warrior who approached me. He said he was in love with one of the human females but she wouldn’t give him the time of day. He’d gotten a potion he’d been told was sure to make her fall madly and desperately in love with him and he was willing to pay a premium price for me to slip it into the punch.”
“And you agreed?” Elli couldn’t believe the irresponsibility of his act. “Why, there could have been anything in there! It could have been poison!”
He frowned. “I’m not a fool—I had it analyzed first to be sure there were no poisonous compounds in it. The chemist I brought it to said it would cause intense desire in females but nothing else.”
“Did you know that it also caused guilt and shame and depression after the initial desire wore off?” Elli demanded. “And did you have any idea what it would do to me to break my vows of chastity? Did you even care?”
Roke looked startled.
“No—nothing was said about any after-effects. And it’s not like we actually made love, so you didn’t truly break your vows.”
“I broke them the moment I let lust into my heart,” Elli said, repeating what the Ascending Priestess Superior had told her. “If you had…had touched and kissed me against my will, I would have remained chaste.” She felt her cheeks heating as she spoke but she pushed on. “But that filthy drug you put in the punch and then made me drink, it made me want what you did. It made me beg you to…to…”
She broke off, unable to go on for the crushing weight of shame that had fallen on her shoulders.
“Gods…” Roke’s face was ashen and his deep voice was quiet. “I had no idea, Ellilah. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s too late for ‘sorry’ now.” Elli lifted her chin and swiped at the hot tears of shame which had come to her eyes. She sniffed, attempting to regain her calm. “Now I’m on a quest. And maybe—just maybe—if I fulfill it, the Goddess can forgive me and I’ll be allowed to go back to the Sacred Grove and drink of the cup of Mortem Amore, to cool all the wrong thoughts and desires forever.”
Roke frowned.
“But why would you want to go back to being a priestess? I’m sorry if this sounds rude, but you seem a lot happier when you’re working with zorels. You seem more…in your element. More at home.”
“Well, this is my home—sort of,” Elli said. “I come from Torl Prime and Pok is its second moon. So most of the people here come from my home world. Well, other than the Tenebrians.”
At that moment, a plump waitress with rosy cheeks came up and asked for their order.
Roke made an expansive gesture to Elli.
“The lady will be ordering for both of us,” he said. “She knows the local cuisine much better than I do.”
Elli was surprised but pleased.
“Do you have honey cakes?” she asked the waitress, who nodded. “And teezle berry sparkle?”
“Don’t have no teezle berry at the moment but we’ve got roozle sparkle,” the girl offered.
“That sounds nice.” Elli nodded. “Two plates of honey cakes with lots of gorze-nut chutney and two glasses of roozle sparkle, please.”
“Right away,” the girl said and bustled away to the kitchen.
“Whatever it is that you ordered, it sounds delicious,” Roke remarked, one corner of his mouth quirking up in a smile.
“I hope so.” Elli sighed. “It was always my favorite food down on Torl Prime. I hope they do it right here.” She licked her lips in anticipation. “It will be good to eat something besides plain laba wafers and ualla bread soup.”
Roke frowned.
“Is that all you get to eat aboard the Mother Ship? It doesn’t sound very good.”
“It’s not,” Elli admitted reluctantly. “That’s one of the reasons I snuck out to see the humans’ Christmas party that night. I wanted to try something new and I’d heard they had all kinds of strange and delicious holiday foods.”