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“Gewell, you will relieve me mid night-cycle,” he shot over his shoulder.
He savored the male’s quiet groan of disappointment as he stepped out into the hall. Gewell, being a senior officer than many of the others clearly had thought that he would be able to enjoy a full night-cycle of sleep. Let that remind the male that few things were rarely as one expected. A wise male observed everything and tempered his expectations accordingly without assumption. He may have earned a senior rank outside of Jornesh and himself, but he was still a young male with much in life still to learn if he wished to survive departing from the Calysii Empire.
ChapterEleven
Varik scowled at the exposed platters as he watched the officers lift the domes one by one and inspect the food. It seemed that he had arrived just in time. The room service had not yet had the opportunity to move beyond the suite’s security antechamber. His eyes narrowed on some sort of roast beast and leaned forward to take a cautious sniff for any possibly laced poisons when one of his males cleared his throat.
“Captain. You might want to look at this.”
Straightening, Varik moved over to the male’s side, his eyes dropping to the large bowl of fruit his officer gestured to. His gaze flicked over the contents, lingering on a few concerning items, and he frowned. What was all of this? Only a portion of it appeared remotely edible for humans. His eyes snapped toward one the servers and the male’s red skin paled.
“What is this?” he growled, nudging a vivid purple fruit with his claw.
“Gaix’s room service,” the male replied, his thin tail twitching nervously behind him. “Complimentary of Resort Efkalad. That would be a promilin.”
He squinted at the fruit and sliced into it with his claw, his nostrils flaring for a moment as the thick purple juice spurted and dripped around it. He slowly lifted his gaze, pinning the male with a menacing look.
“I know what it is. I want to know why something toxic to humans would have been brought up here?”
“Humans?” The server paled further and shook his head rapidly. “We had no knowledge that the order was for humans. You must be mistaken. The prince commed the kitchen and placed the order himself. While we are not fully informed as to every species’ dietary needs, we would never intentionally poison guests.”
Varik hummed softly to himself and shook his head, his vibinum prickling as he considered the matter. His overly cautious nature was suspicious of everything, but he had to admit that such carelessness did track with what he knew of Prince Gaix. The male was notorious for his cavalier attitude toward anything that he considered was the responsibility of his staff. He likely did not even know what was or was not safe for his human mates. It was reckless but it was probable that there was nothing more insidious going on than that. He would have to insist that the gonsi place any orders in the future.
Fortunately, he did not have to wait long to address the issue. An apprehensive look crossed the servant’s face and the Kadesh male bowed when the door leading into the suite opened behind Varik and a distinct scent faintly masked with perfumes and lotions met Varik’s nose. It was promptly followed by the rustle of fabric from a long robe and two sets of footsteps that alerted him the presence of the prince and his servant as the males swept in.
“What is taking so long—” Gaix grumbled. “Ah, good, it is here!” His steps hurried forward eagerly but then slowed as his expression dropped into a puzzled frown. He glanced down at the ruined promilin as Varik dropped it back into the bowl. “Captain, is there a reason that you are ruining perfectly good fruit? My fruit?”
Straightening, Varik wiped the juice from his hand and turned toward the prince. “I would not be in such a rush to call it ‘good fruit.’” His gaze cut past the prince to the gonsi and he gestured to the promilin. “Athdar, do you see anything here that you would object to having around the females entrusted under your care?”
The male’s eyes flicked to the bowl and among the platters and he shrugged. “I would not know, captain. The palace kitchen staff see to the various dietary needs of the females. To my understanding they were cleared to eat most of what we eat on Caysta.”
Varik nodded. Miraculously, Lorgoon and Caysta somehow were among very few planets that did not possess foods that were dangerous to humans. The promilin, however, was a fruit native of Kaidava, and was definitely not safe. It was truly a wonder that none of the females he took off planet turned up accidentally poisoned. That not even the gonsi bothered to educate himself on the matter before leaving Caysta with nineteen vulnerable females made Varik’s blood boil.
“I see. Allow me to point out that no less than three types of fruits you have here are highly toxic to humans—especially the promilin—several beans in some of these dishes are likewise problematic, and the roast is questionable considering that the beast releases certain enzymes into its tissue on death that cooking fails to entirely destroy and have made some humans sick from what I recall. You have ordered a feast that likely would have poisoned every single human female present.”
Gaix drew back, his eyes widening in shock before turning an accusatory look on the servers. “This is unacceptable! I will be lodging a complaint with the intergalactic hospitality commission. My reservation included nineteen humans—my mates—and your carelessness would have killed them all,” he seethed.
The Kadesh male shrank back, the floating tendrils of his hair flattening as he clasped his hands together nervously. “But Prince Gaix, you ordered from the menu yourself. We had no knowledge that?—”
“It does not matter,” Gaix snapped. “The staff here should have anticipated that anything I order would have needed to be suitable too for human consumption and made substitutions as necessary.” His cold gaze turned toward Varik and he nodded toward the food. “If you could… please remove the things that would be harmful to my mates and put it on the hover cart so these… males… can remove it at once.”
Dipping his head in agreement, Varik removed several items, leaving only the roast beast behind as its enzymes were not lethal and very seldom caused an issue—and an upset stomach could be dealt with easily enough by the resort’s med unit. Considering how much on the platters was nutritionally empty fluff, in this case he considered better for the females to be able to eat a proper filling meal. He supervised the movement of the dishes and all the toxic fruit until he was satisfied that it was all loaded onto the hover cart and turned toward the prince, tipping his head to convey that he was done.
Gaix huffed and flicked his fingers in annoyance at the servers who promptly fled with the hover cart and smiled serenely at Varik. “I thank you for pointing out this oversight. I was not aware that you were so familiar with humans.”
Varik flicked his tail casually as he gave the prince a flat look. “A mere chance of a hobby proving to be useful,” he replied.
His nostrils flared, drawing in a sweet feminine scent as the door to the inner suite slid open, revealing the females clustered near it. And among them… Stacey. He caught her watching and held her gaze as he slowly dragged in her scent again. Her face pinkened and sent his hunger crawling anew through him despite the intentional way she looked away from him and toward the food that the officer brought in. His brow dipped a little and the prince chuckled at his side as the male turned and glanced back at his mates, a satisfied smile crossing his face.
His gaze shifted back to Varik, and he smirked. “Do not look so worried, Varik. I assure you that this incident willnothappen again. Once again, you have my appreciation. Now, enjoy your well-earned rest. I believe that you are accompanying us in the morning, and it would not do to not have you at your best.”
Inclining his head regally, the prince flicked the sleeves of his robe, adjusting them, and sailed back into the room, the door closing shut behind him. Varik stared at the closed door, the scales at the back of his neck itching in their unsettling way. He suddenly was very uncomfortable having human women on a planet with a clueless and inept male certain to witlessly endanger his mate at any given moment.
Huffing quietly to himself, he headed for the door and stopped beside the guard standing attentively there.
“If anything strikes you as odd or amiss—comm me immediately. I do not care what hour of the night it is. Do not allow harm to come to those females due to some foolishness.”
The male nodded, his mouth tightening as he stared at the prince’s closed door. Satisfied that he had some precaution in place, Varik left the room to rejoin the males off shift. He would not rest easy until they left Kaidava behind. Gaix never should have brought them there.
