She stared dumbly at him with her mouth open wordlessly and fingers splayed in shock, or…pleasure.
“I told you,” he said, “that you smell good enough to eat. Did I not?”
“You were just being cheeky.”
“I rarely make statements I do not mean.”
“You really want to eat me?”
“Particular parts of you.”
She snatched her arm away, and not because she wanted to, but because she felt like she should have. She was a respectable adult who made good decisions and didn’t fall for lines, and especially not lines from men she’d known in person for less than a day.
But, somehow, her hand was in his again. He rubbed his thumb over the back of hers and met her gaze unflinchingly. “Why do you object? Does our kind not seek touch when we need comfort?”
“That’s really more of an Afótama hang-up than a tendency of the people out here.”
“Is it?”
“You know it is. We have playground songs we sing that mock them for being weak and clingy.”
“Yes, I know those songs.” He kept rubbing her with his thumb.
She didn’t know why, but the small gesture was soothing. She could have been atop a massage table with a trained masseuse worrying at her tired frame and wouldn’t have felt nearly as relaxed.
He canted his head again. “Do you really think they’re fair?”
“Who? The Afótama?”
“No, sweet Mary, the songs.”
“Oh. Well, no. I don’t. Not anymore, anyway.”
“You don’t believe what the people say about the Afótama, then? About Queen Contessa and Oliver and the rest?”
“Why? You want to spread rumors about me being a traitor or a sympathizer?” She chuckled. “That’s basically the nastiest thing you can say about someone around here.”
“Answer the question.”
“Will you do the same for me?”
“Are we back to that again? An eye for an eye?” he asked.
“No, but that would be fair, right? You can’t leave me dangling. You wouldn’t be able
to make me give you more information than you’re willing to give me in return.”
“Are you so interested in fairness?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
“Interesting.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because the people we are descended from were not ones to concern themselves with fairness. They were raiders and soldiers, who cared only about their next piece of coin, their next fight, their next fuck.” He stood quickly, taking away his hand and his warmth, and she wanted it back—wanted him back.
Come back.