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That night, our host fed us the strangest, most exotic meal for supper.
“Lobster,” he announced on a proud grin. “It blew my wig back when I learned all y'all Outer Realms people hadn’t partaken of crab and lobster before I arrived. But, boy, you are in for a treat now. Just wait until you taste this, my friends. Mmm-mmm, it’s going to change your life. I promise.”
As he dug in, ripping the white meat from a boiled lobster’s back, I glanced sideways at Nicolette sitting next to me. Her face was progressively growing greener.
“Th-these are lobsters?” she asked slowly. Having never lived by a sea, she knew nothing of the creatures that dwelled there. “They look similar to scorpions, don’t they?”
Knowing what she thought of her friends she’d made in the Vast Desert, I realized she couldn’t bear to eat what resembled her beloved scorpion companions.
“Yeah, a bit, I guess.” His cheek full as he chewed, Bison pointed his fork toward a tiny bowl of soupy yellow sauce sitting in the center of the table. “Dip the meat in that garlic butter there. Trust me on this.”
Nicolette sent him a sharp frown for that term. Trust me. She hadn’t had much luck with trust lately.
My stomach went sour.
It was my fault, too.
I couldn’t handle the hardened cynicism on her face. I’d ruined all her innocence and sweet gullibility. In some ways, that might be a good thing, but in others, it was just sad. The pure, cheerful Nicolette I’d met in the woods beside her iron castle had changed.
Taking her plate, I slid it to me and fished out the meat from inside, mimicking Bison’s moves. Once the lobster’s innards were scraped free from its exoskeleton, I transferred the shell to my plate and pushed the meat alone back to Nicolette so it would no longer even remotely resemble a scorpion.
She glanced at me with immense relief, gushing, “Thank you.” After taking a timid nibble, she brightened. “Oh! This isn’t so bad at all.”
“Damn excellent, is what we call it back home,” Bison agreed on a nod.
After the meal, Bison gave Nicolette the only bed in the cottage, and then he, Indigo, and I camped out on the floor in the front room.
Our host fell asleep almost immediately, snoring softly across the room as Nicolette’s bodyguard turned on his side from his pallet to face me.
Moonlight drifted into the room through an open window, where the curtain blew gently in the sea breeze and the sound of waves lulled Bison into a deeper snore.
Indigo met
my gaze and sighed. “We haven’t had a moment to speak alone since meeting, have we?”
My jaw tensed as I braced myself for a brotherly lecture. “No,” I agreed. “We haven’t.”
I’d been jealous of this man from the moment I’d heard Nicolette say his name. She spoke of him with such open adoration. He was important to her in a way I knew I never could be.
But since meeting him earlier, I was just glad he was here for her.
I mean, it helped that there didn’t seem to be even a spark of romantic chemistry between them in the least. But I would’ve dealt with the agony of that if there had been. Whatever she needed, I wanted her to have.
“I still haven’t made up my mind about you yet,” he said. “You seem like a decent enough fellow. So far, you’ve treated Nicolette with the deference and respect she deserves. And your fighting skills are superb. But…” Shaking his head, he let out a low whistle. “What you did to her with all the kidnapping and lying and—”
“I know.” Voice going hoarse, I regretfully added, “Trust me, I know.”
Indigo was quiet for a while before he released a breath. “If I’d been in your shoes, and Nicolette had been where your sister was, I can’t say I wouldn’t have tried everything exactly as you did to save her. But Nicolette wasn’t in her shoes, and if you ever hurt her like that again, I’ll slaughter you. I swear it.”
“Don’t worry,” I promised. “I’d slaughter myself first.”
“Good,” he murmured before belatedly adding, “And sorry about Sable. I regret that we didn’t get there in time to help.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, closing my eyes. “Me too.”
An antsy restlessness scurried through me. I opened my lashes and glanced longingly toward the door that led into the room where Nicolette lay. “Do you think she’s asleep yet?”
Indigo went still. “Why? You thinking about going in there?”
