“Yes, really.”
Margot felt a warm flutter of affection in her chest. He wanted to know things. Things about her and her life. Her world. And unlike so many men she’d gone on a first—andlast—date with, he was actually listening. Like,reallylistening, engaged and curious, asking questions with no ulterior motive but to learn more.
It was utterly refreshing, and the two wound up deep in discussion the rest of the day, the conversation not lagging at alleven through his cooking of their meat, and well into the night, until, finally, they drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Margot and Braxxos rose early, their conversation picking up where it had naturally ended the night prior as they drifted off to sleep. Margot couldn’t help but liken it to the old sleepovers she used to have as a girl, staying up late and gossiping, swapping stories and talking about boys. But in this instance, the person she’d been sharing her thoughts with until the wee hours was not a girlfriend but the quite masculine opposite.
“Is it to your liking?” he asked as she ate the little spread of fresh fruits, berries, and even hand-squeezed juice he’d prepared for her.
“It’s delicious. Thank you.”
“I’m glad you are enjoying it,” he replied with a happy grin.
She didn’t have the heart to tell him just how much she was craving pancakes or maybe some oatmeal. Anything hot, really. But this was a simple life, and after their roasted Sweesik skewers the night before, a light breakfast was probably the best option anyhow.
They talked over their morning meal, the casual, slow pace a refreshing way to start the day off on the right foot. But, finally, itwas time to do more than just sit around. Braxxos cleared away his homemade dishes and rinsed up then headed to the door.
“Come with me. Given your aptitude for learning what would normally be a challenge for other people, especially those starting from the disadvantage of not even being part of the Dotharian Conglomerate, I think you’re ready to start learning some of the more challenging things.”
“Challenging?”
“You’ll see,” he said with a gleam in his eye as he descended the ladder.
“Okay. Show me what you’ve got.”
As it turned out, today’s lesson really was challenging, but in an entirely novel sort of way. There was danger involved, though Braxxos made sure to keep it at a minimum as she was still just a beginner.
“There,” he said, pointing to a patch of open ground between two bushes.
“Where?”
“Right there. Do you see it?”
“See what? There’s nothing there, just leaves and dirt.”
“Exactly.”
Margot cocked her head at that. “What do you mean?”
“I mean it is just leaves and dirt. But look at the base of the plants. What do you see?”
“A little bit of that purple grass. And some—oh!”
It hit her all at once. Now that she saw it, it was so obvious.
“The ground doesn’t quite match. And the borders are the wrong color, though they covered it up with fallen leaves as best they could.”
“Yes! Well done, Margot. You’ve got an eye for this after all.”
Braxxos moved ahead and used the stick he’d been carrying to gently lift the edge of the camouflage mat covering the hidden pit. There weren’t any spikes in this one, but it was deep, and itflared out wider underground. Whatever fell inside would have a very, very hard time getting out. But now it was exposed, allowing any hapless animal to avoid the danger.
They headed off to the left this time, veering toward the border of a grassy area along the tree line. “Let us continue.”
He had been teaching her about the traps the trackers had been setting all over the area, explaining the difference between their new ones and the more primitive ones some other normal hunter types used on the rare occasions they passed through this region.
Hunters weren’t an issue. They came for a few days, hunted, then left. Gromm’s people, on the other hand, were excessive. They set far too many traps to be able to properly keep track of, and as a result there was no telling how many innocent animals had fallen victim, many left to starve to death or be eaten by other predators.
