“Do your…” I swallowed away the concern that he’d react poorly to my question. “Does your mood change the color on your wings?”
He paused, then trilled. Unlike Junyv, his trill was deep, a rumble through his chest.
“Vash’taen.” I murmured.Thank you.
His eyes flashed and he leaned forward, looking at me intensely. “You speak vorikaan?” The idea seemed to upset him, as more of his fangs showed.
“As I told you, I’ve studied language and culture for many years. I’ve caught a couple of words. But your sentence structure is too complex for me to understand anything besides words I keep hearing in a certain context.”
He narrowed his eyes in thought, then sat back. “Well then, you can share your wisdom with our children.”
I frowned and my eyes darted between his as I tried to read him. “What?”
“I’m having you go to a class to give our little flyers the experience of interacting with an alien species. You will go on a trip into the jungle with them and their teacher and use your knowledge to show them a different perspective.” His eyes glinted. “And you will use your understanding of culture to figure out how to communicate with them.”
Was this a test? It sounded like some strange type of interview.
He tilted his head, an amused look on his handsome face. “Is there a problem?”
“No, I just…I’m surprised you’d let me near your children.”
He smiled, though it looked more like a baring of his fangs. “You won’t be alone with them, so don’t get any ideas.”
My wary look turned into a glare as my frustration bubbled over. “I would never hurt a child. I would never hurt anyone, I’m not the one who tears people apart like some beast!” I realized my mistake too late and lunged to my feet, stumbling backward over my chair as he rounded the table faster than I could blink.
My back hit the wall and he caged my head in with his hands, claws digging into the wood.
Tilting his head down, he leaned so close we were barely a breath apart. He was breathing hard, anger shimmering in his eyes. “You would do well, human, to remember thatyour peoplewere the first to kill ours. The greed of your species stains your souls.”
I couldn’t control my trembling, but I met his gaze, pushing back the instinct to shove against him and try to get away. “Our media said that vorpyr were the first to attack, they show us the results of skirmishes with your species, which are horrifying to see, and you want me to believeyousaying that my species is to blame?”
His eyes grew hooded and my skin tingled with awareness of his overpowering presence pressing against me. One claw traced along my throat, down to where my pulse fluttered wildly. Still holding my gaze captive with his, he caressed his thumb back and forth over my throbbing pulse.
“We…” my voice came out breathy and I forced myself to speak strongly. “Can we not see each other as individuals instead of holding the sins of our peoples?”
He straightened, his eyes shadowing again. “I have more questions for you. Sit back down.” I didn’t argue and stepped past him. “And you would do well never to disparage my vorpyrren again, or I will show you personally how frightening we can be.”
“Haven’t you already?” I went to the chair and righted it.
“From the way you talk back I would assume not.” he sounded so cranky about it I almost laughed.Do not laugh at the annoyed vorpyr.Maybe the stress was getting to me.
I spent another couple of hours with him, explaining the basics of our business language, how humans typically do business, and anything else he asked. I tried to keep what I said general and not feel like I was losing my soul for telling the enemy anything. By the time he stood I was emotionally exhausted.
“Are you making me go back to the dark shed?” I hated the vulnerability in my voice. I couldn’t bear the thought of being chained in that building again.
He paused and something unreadable flashed across his face. “No, you will not have to go back. You and your other humans will stay here.”
I closed my eyes in relief. The thump of his boots on the floor told me he’d gone to the door.
“One more thing.” He rumbled. I turned to meet his gaze. “Doanythingquestionable and out of line, and it will be your companions who suffer.”
I felt the color leave my face at his threat, vividly remembering Jaron held far above the ground. With that he left, sliding the door, and something else thatclunked,shut. I assumed he’d locked me in, but I checked anyway. The door didn’t budge.
Looking around, I discovered that this was a nicely appointed home, with two bedrooms, comfortable chairs in what I would call the living room, and a kitchen with appliances I couldn’t even guess at. I hadn’t noticed before, but the bedroom with the master bath had two beds pushed against opposite walls. There were two chests at the foot of the beds and one had clothes in it.
Jaron and Tatiana joined me after several minutes.
“I’m so glad they’re letting you join us here.” Tatiana said.
