Silence fell, and Koradan concentrated on finishing his meal.
“I did have one other question. About something Sigmore said,” Lynette said, once more avoiding meeting his gaze.
“Oh?”
“He said, um… When you were talking about the obsidian gems. He said that… humans and salases aren’t ‘compatible’. What does that mean?”
Koradan stopped eating and swallowed hard. He’d been hoping no one had paid too much attention to Sigmore’s gaffe. He decided to go with the most straightforward explanation. “It means that humans and salases aren’t able to have sex with each other. A lot of the Chalandrian species are fairly similar to each other, but some have physical variations that make things a bit more complicated.” Gods, had he actually managed to say that without his horns melting? After years of being ignored by salas women, this was not the sort of conversation he’d ever thought he would be having.
Unfortunately, Lynette wasn’t quite ready to let the subject drop. “Okay, so… What specifically is the problem between salases and humans?” She was looking at him directly now, her earlier bashfulness forgotten.
Koradan stared at her, feeling his horns heat with embarrassment, even while he found himself unable to look away. “Uh… I actually don’t know,” he said awkwardly. “I don’t know much about human anatomy.”
“But you’ve been in both a human and a salas body. You must have noticed the differences.”
That much was true. But on the few brief occasions he’d had cause to look at his human genitals – namely when he’d had to relieve himself – he’d simply got the job done and not paid too much attention to the details.
Lynette looked down, and he wondered if she was going to drop the subject. “I don’t suppose it matters,” she said, and he experienced a brief moment of relief. But then she continued, “You have the obsidian gem now, after all. I was just... wondering. I mean, Sigmore and Hazel have… So I thought maybe…” She looked up at him again, her cheeks colouring pink. Was that the human equivalent of hot horns? “Paul likes you. And Mergh said she already sees you as his father.” Gods damn it, she hadn’t missed that part either. “And… well, I should probably just cut to the chase and stop prevaricating. The truth is… I like you as well.” She waited expectantly, but Koradan had no idea what to say. “I’m sorry, I haven’t had much practice at flirting in the last fifteen years. Maybe the human way of going about this wouldn’t mean anything to a salas anyway. I just… um…” She took a deep breath then looked him in the eye. “I like you. Very much. And I suppose I was wondering how you feel about me.”
Koradan felt poleaxed. Lynette couldn’t mean… But she’d referred to Sigmore and Hazel, who most definitely had a romantic connection going on. But there was no way in the world that Lynette would…
“I’m not sure I understand,” he said finally. Her meaning seemed to imply that she felt a strong affection for him, but after years of being rejected by salas women, the idea of it seemed so entirely unlikely that he thought he must surely be misunderstanding her.
Lynette looked down, fiddling with her fork, though she’d finished her meal. “You said that salases get married. I suppose I’m making a few assumptions about… I mean, are marriages allarranged, or do you get to choose your partners? Humans get to choose. And some people say that after a woman’s husband dies, she shouldn’t want another man, but…” She looked up again. “But I do.”
By all the gods in Efridor, she was actually suggesting… “You wantme?” he blurted out, so uncouthly that she would surely immediately change her mind.
A small, shy smile graced her lips. “Yeah. I do.”
Words failed him, so completely and utterly that her hopeful expression faded to embarrassment and disappointment. “I’m sorry. That was probably far too forward. Um… you don’t want me, do you.”
“No! I mean yes. I mean… gods, finding the right words would be good,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head. “I think you’re wonderful.” A moment after he’d said it, a frown creased his forehead and he glanced down at himself, his black skin, the claws on the end of his fingers. “I’m what you would have called a demon less than a week ago. Why would you…?”
“You’ve saved a good portion of our village,” she interrupted, before he could go on. “You’ve been more of a father to my son than he’s had in the past ten years. You’ve risked your life to help Markon. And you’re…” She trailed off, looking down at her plate again.
“I’m what?”
“Well actually, you’re… very handsome.”
Koradan’s thoughts ground to a halt. “No, I’m not.” She opened her mouth to object, but he rushed on before she could say anything. “As a salas, I’m monumentally ugly. No woman has bothered to come near me in over ten years. And I’m so very different from a human that there’s no way you could possibly think I’m attractive.”
◊ ◊ ◊
Lynette didn’t know what to say in response to Koradan’s emphatic denouncement. “I’m going to guess you don’t know much about human beauty standards,” she said. She didn’t mean to be rude, but he seemed so oblivious to his own appeal – particularly in his human form.
He shook his head. “No. What exactly do you look for in a mate? What are the standards of human beauty?”
“For men? Dark eyes. Strong jaw. Muscles.” Her gaze ran down his arms, his biceps visible from where the short sleeves of his shirt ended. “And you havea lotof those.” He blinked at her, his frown saying that he wasn’t quite processing her statement. “But aside from that, most human relationships aren’t just based on physical attraction. That’s a part of it, but it’s also about mutual respect, and common goals and interests. And you’ve proven to be more honourable than most humans I’ve ever met.”
“I havehorns,” Koradan insisted.
“Not when you’re in your human form, you don’t.” Realising that the comment could be taken the wrong way, Lynette added, “And I’ve really got used to them a lot quicker than I would have expected. Your face isn’t all that different when you use the necklace. Your skin colour changes, but that’s about it. And the horns disappear, obviously.”
“Your previous husband hunted my kind for a living.”
“And the gods forgive me for saying this,” she responded swiftly, “but he’s been dead for ten years. Aren’t I allowed to move on with my life?” When he didn’t reply, she sighed and shook her head again. So much for her attempt at a romantic interlude. “I’m sorry,” she apologised. “I’m not trying to shove any of this down your throat. I honestly thought you might be interested in…” She felt her face heat again, feeling more disappointed than embarrassed. Ten years of being overlooked as ‘the warrior’s widow’, and now she couldn’t even get a demon to notice her – and when she was all but throwing herself at him. Hastily, she gathered up the empty plates and took them back to the sink.
“You must be exhausted,” she said, as she gave them a quick scrub. “You hardly got any sleep last night. You can have Paul’s bed again, if he’s sleeping in the barn. Give me a few minutes and I’ll…” She trailed off, feeling Koradan’s hands on her arms as he came up behind her. Slowly and gently, he turned her around, and she peered up at him, his eyes dark in the dim light of the lantern.
