Page 71 of Tempting Fate

A rush of homesickness swallowed me. All those plants I’d left behind, the vines and bushes I’d cultivated, the herbs and flowers.

The male turned, offering a smile. “Airida, it is good to see you up and about.”

I wished my mind hadn’t been so full of fog these last weeks. “I am sorry, could you remind me of your name?”

Not a trace of irritation showed on his face. “Of course. I’m Bekatal. The haze is the worst, isn’t it? Are you coming out of it?”

“It is, and yes, thank Kri, I am. It is good to properly meet you, Bekatal.” I gestured at the ground, where seven uniform holes had been dug. “What are you planting?”

“Strayberries. We’re trying to grow more food. This was an ornamental bed but none of the flowers seemed to like it here, so we’re hoping fruit bushes will instead.”

Casting my eyes over the vicinity, I pointed at the tall hypra tree, its boughs still heavy with spent flowers and buds ready to bloom, as it would have been all summer. “It’s the proximity to the hypra. The roots compete for nutrients more than most. You’d be better with some ornamental grasses here, and planting the berries further away.”

It made sense they’d brought plenty of Orithian plants with them. It was no coincidence many were those that grew plentiful in the uninhabitable zone where the colonies were located, but hypra were cultivated and didn’t often grow wild. He couldn’t have known,

Bekatal wiped his hands on his loose breeches as he straightened up. “You know plants?”

“Only from before, but yes.” I was not supposed to speak of Orith, but… “My garden was one of the only good things I had.”

Bekatal’s face broke into a bright smile. “Fantastic. Now you’re starting to feel better, do you want to help with the garden here? As you’ve probably gathered, most things in Zyamzh are a joint project.”

A slow, steady warmth began in my solar plexus, rising to my chest. “I would like that very much. And cooking. I wish to help with the cooking.”

“That is good. Not too much at first, though, you don’t want to overdo things—though we all did, you know?”

Like how I’d pushed myself with work and research so much I still needed regular rest? And how, despite Tokki saying my muscle aches should have dispersed by now, they still came and went? Oh, I knew. But tendrils of information had begun to stand out, and my knowledge of how things worked was improving. Importantly, I better understood the workings of the Hunters’ Guild and the intricacies of taking out a contract.

We knelt in the dirt, so different to Orith, yet still familiar, and I imagined the planet’s life-force connecting with my palms. This is home now.

Bekatal chattered as we worked, about life on Vadias, some idle gossip from the town, the shaa male he was bedding.

“Sorry,” he said after he’d spoken at length about how pretty his lover’s eyes were. “Shouldn’t talk about this while you’re in kalidi. You must be through the worst of it now, though?”

To go from a society—or, at least, a family—that didn't talk about mating, to a culture who were so strangely open about it, was the very definition of culture shock, but with all I’d experienced so far, I understood why; it was such an intrinsic part of becoming truly shaa’ith. “It’s easier than it was, though this damn thing has a mind of its own,” I said, gesturing at my crotch. “Is it always like that?”

Bekatal chuckled. “For a while, it is. We’re horny like youths even though we’re fully grown adults. It’s why we’re building a liaison hall along with the new accommodation. Let everyone go and skik like nevvets, get it out of their systems.”

“I beg your pardon?” My brows rose so high, my ridges ached from the stretch. A dedicated place for sexual liaisons?

He rubbed his temple, leaving a smudge of dirt. “I forget you’re from an enclave. Slightly different there, eh?”

“You really don’t care about waiting for your mate or visiting a licenced worker?”

“Why would we? With everything we’ve been denied, we want to seize life by the spines. Let yourself go, and you can experience that freedom too. Get your cock wet a few times.”

The memory of Imani’s wet hand and the scent of her arousal flooded my senses.

“Sorry, brother. That was thoughtless of me.”

“It is well enough.” Was this how one made friends? Talking of all manner of things, mundane and profane? “Does anyone ever wish to partake of those things… with their kalidi partner?”

He gave a lascivious grin that set my spines on edge. “I don’t know how you got the attention of that cute little thing, but I don’t blame you.”

An unfamiliar, deep sound rumbled in my chest.

Bekatal’s face took a stern cast. “Be careful getting involved with someone making you this possessive, brother.”

“And why is that?” I snarled.