“Cassie!” Eleri greeted her, offering a hand to spin her. “Look at you!” She suddenly felt shy in front of a human who probably knew how humans were supposed to dance.
“I’m not very good,” she said.
“Are you having fun?” Eleri asked.
She considered the question. No one had ever asked her that question before. She was. It was fun to move. It was fun to laugh.
“It’s fun,” Cassie confirmed. Eleri released her hand and spun back toward S’samph to grab his arm.
“Come dance with me, you scaly menace.”
S’samph’s frill rippled. “You want me to dance with you, pretty human?” His tail gripped Eleri’s waist, and he lifted her into his arms. “Let me show you how to dance then.”
The sound of Eleri’s laughter rang bright in her ears. Suddenly, Cassie’s arms were tugged in two different directions by Grora and Grumm, who wanted her to join their jumping competition. She held onto her circlet as she bounced with them, losing every time to the urtazi, but grinning all the same.
The lack of food started to catch up with her. A few berries with sugar syrup were enough for a quick burst of energy, but her stomach was starting to protest. She stepped out of the dancing circle, where Örim was waiting for her.
“I didn’t know you liked to dance. You can dance at home if you want. We can put on music.” He took her hand. Cassie smiled at his offer.
I didn’t know either.She rubbed her growling stomach.
“Let’s get you something more substantial to eat.” Örim towed her toward the rows of food stalls where she was bathed in the smell of more things than she knew what to do with. Cassie tapped her wrist.No credits.
“My credits are yours, Cassie. Get whatever you like.”
After deliberating, she settled on a bowl of spiced meat and cheese wrapped in dough. Something calledmerotmfrom Ita Ita. She savored the unfamiliar taste in her mouth. Maybe she’d learn how to cook. She had nothing but time, and Örim certainly had no idea what to do with human food. It was something to consider, once this had all blown over. Once she was safe. Then she could learn new things.
“Can we go home?” Cassie asked. She hadn’t forgotten the unspoken promise between them. The lingering heat simmering through the night. Emboldened by dancing and music and good food, Cassie was feeling brave enough to share her body.
CHAPTER 33
Örim
When they returned from the festival, the tension between their bodies threatened to superheat his core. Örim carried her inside their home, and she clung to him, her narrow frame pressed flush against his body as the door swung shut behind them.
He brought her into his room where the only proper bed was. Humans preferred intercourse in a bed, he’d learned. “I want to touch you, Cassie. Is that alright?”
Please touch me.
He ran his hands over her, feeling the lines of her body under the dress she wore. Her narrow hips. The elevation of her breasts. The cleft between her legs. She blushed when his fingertips brushed her there.
“Can we take this off?”
Cassie lifted her arms over her head, and he helped her remove the dress. Then her undergarments. Her clothes were puddled on the floor around her, and she stood bare in front of him. He wanted her. However she would have him. His energycore burned hotter than usual, filling him with the need to feel her. Örim undressed quickly, leaving his own clothing in a pile beside hers.
I’ve never done this before.Her knees were pressed together slightly, hiding her from his eyes. He wished she wouldn’t. He wanted to see everything.
“That makes two of us.” Örim was suddenly acutely aware of his own nudity in a way he had never been before. His mating node was hot enough to make him uncomfortable, and he hoped it wouldn’t be too warm for Cassie.
She reached out first, her warm fingertips against his chest. They remained like that, so Örim took the opportunity to draw her nearer until her body was against his.
“Can I turn all the lights out to see you properly? I’ll be able to read your hand signs without a problem.”
Cassie nodded. He pressed a control on his wrist interface, and the ambient lighting went out completely, leaving only his natural bioluminescence. Örim removed his eyestones, and there she was in full color. His Cassie. The puckered scar on her throat where her voicelock had imploded. The small, rounded breasts and erect nipples. The flat plane of her belly and the dark patch of hair over her genitals that he wanted to part and explore.
“You’re beautiful,aöseria.” The word came out without thought. He hadn’t asked her to be his. He hadn’t completed any of the ancient rites his ancestors might have done, but it felt correct.
Cassie tilted her head.What does that word mean? A-O-O-S-E-R-I-A?
