Page 106 of Tempting Fate

I watched her circle the room as I replied. “Of course they do. Yoria’s clearly in love already. I mean, they both are, but Vaenallra is a stubborn mare.” I shook my head. She needed to get over herself already. “The nebaru courting gifts are cute though.”

“They are.” He pulled me closer as the episode finished and the music played, the ethereal harmonies no longer strange to my ear but comforting. “Do you know how we would court on Orith?”

My breath hitched. “Go on.”

“Those from well-placed families would go to balls. People would dance.”

What, like in centuries-old period dramas? “That sounds like Old Earth hundreds of years ago.”

“Believe it or not, I was taught to dance,” he said, a trace of bitterness in his tone.

I turned in the circle of his arms. “Like in your morning training?”

“That is not dancing. No, I learned formal dances. The Ancestors’ Reel. Mistress Suzahi’s Fancy. The Chase.”

“The Chase?”

“Kri’ith mating ritual in dance form.” He winced, his attention straying to the window, rubbing his tusks. “I am kri’ith in many ways, but I do not feel drawn to chase or be chased.”

I gave a soft laugh. “That’s fine, I’m not exactly fond of running.”

He entwined his fingers with mine. “You see? We are a good match.”

Too good. “Did you enjoy dancing?”

Airida swallowed. “I thought it cruel that I was taught despite never needing to know it, never being allowed to use it. I was taught many things I would never need to know.” He stroked firm fingers over mine. “I questioned it once. Mother said I would be glad of the knowledge, ‘if by some strange chance of fate you outgrow this, or they find a cure.’ As if that were a possibility.”

My anger at his parents burned hotter. “I’m sorry, kitten.”

He rolled his head, a dark glint in his eyes. “I am here, am I not? Doing so many things I was told I’d never do, using knowledge and skills I never thought I’d need.”

“You are. And you’re doing great.” The change in him in only three weeks was incredible, from his health to his confidence to his self-esteem. I ran a hand down his ear ridge, cupping it in my palm. “Humans stopped doing fancy things like formal dances or calling it courting years ago.”

“Then what do you do?”

“Well, normally people spend time together, go on dates, get to know each other—” Convince me they’re wonderful, then show me who they really are.

“We know each other.”

I glared at him. “Don’t interrupt. Then maybe as feelings develop, they hold hands. Cuddle. Kiss.” Two out of three.

His nostrils flared. “What is a kiss?”

A delicious fluttering rose in my stomach. He doesn’t know what a kiss is? His lips were so close. I could show him. I wanted to. “Mouths on each other?”

Airida’s jaw dropped open, his long tongue flicking over his tusks. “Is that what it is called? Tongues and mouths like cocks and cunts. Vaenallra and Yoria did this once.”

“Yes. It’s called kissing.” And cuddling up watching Lovers of Lietan sounds very much like dating.

“I do not know if kri’ith do this thing. I have never seen it. But humans do it too?” His hands slid around my back, trapping me in the circle of his arms. “I would like to kiss you, Imani.”

It shouldn’t have made my stomach do flip flops, but around Airida, all my insides behaved like undisciplined brats. God, his eyes were so pretty. His lips looked so soft, his tusks so adorable, as was the way he caught them over his upper lip when he was uncertain. Like now.

I could kiss that uncertainty away, lose myself in him.

But I’d had exes be this sweet, this insistent, this charming. Pushing out of his embrace, I forced a sweet smile. “I bet you would, honey. Let’s keep things simple for now. Keep it to kalidi.”

He put his hands behind his head, regarding me with a satisfied smirk. “For now.”