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Her fingers ghosted over the back of his hand, exploring the texture of his scales, as he fought not to react. Did she even realize how her words could be interpreted? Perhaps not - she had a surprising degree of innocence for someone who had worked in the kind of tavern where he’d found her.
“I expected your skin to be rougher.”
Her exploration grew bolder, her fingers sliding up his forearm and tracing the darker pattern there.
“It is not as smooth as yours.”
As he spoke, he captured her hand and turned it palm up, using one finger to lightly trace a circle on the soft skin. He knew he should stop, but he couldn’t resist.
“So soft.” he murmured, and she shivered.
“I never realized my palm was so sensitive. But then I don’t think I ever really paid much attention.”
“I think I would enjoy paying attention to every inch of your skin.”
The words emerged before he could stop them and she gave him a startled look, her lips parted and her cheeks flushed. Despite the warning voice in his head, he slowly bent down towards her, but just before their lips met, Raja gave a plaintive little squeak and she jerked back, looking flustered.
He growled under his breath, and placed the wandering hand back in her lap and removed the ladle from her other hand.
“Our meal is ready,” he said tightly, lifting the pot from the fire. “We should eat now.”
She didn’t respond as she collected bowls and utensils from the wagon, her movements jerky. What was going through that pretty little head? Was she regretting her decision to accompany him? But she gave him a shy smile as she returned to his side and he relaxed as he dished out the stew.
After she took her bowl, she handed him a small additional plate she’d brought for Raja.
“I didn’t plan on feeding the rodent,” he grumbled as he ladled some stew onto the plate.
Ignoring him, she stirred it until it was cool, then placed it on the ground in front of the kedji. Only then did she pick up her own bowl and take an appreciative bite.
“This is very good. How did you learn to do all this?”
“How did I learn to cook?”
“Yes, but the rest of it as well - gathering wood and building a fire.”
Because I had no choice. Images of smoke-filled skies and devastated countryside flashed through his mind. He could also smell the smoke - not the clean woodsmoke of a campfire, but the burning of buildings and farms and bodies. Conditions on Vizal during the last years of the war had been so bad, the warriors so poorly supplied, that they’d had to learn how to live off the land or die. Then the two competing forces reached an agreement which essentially returned everything to the way it had been before the war and he’d realized that all that pain and suffering had been for nothing.
“While I was in the military,” he said briefly, concentrating on his own bowl.
Perhaps something in his voice gave him away because she reached over and touched his hand again briefly, not in exploration this time but as a gesture of comfort. Her eyes were full of sympathy, but thankfully she didn’t pursue the matter.
Instead she smiled down at Raja and the now empty plate.
“I was worried about what to feed him, but he seems to like everything.”
“I believe they are good hunters as well. They have a reputation for catching vermin on the ships.”
“I hope there aren’t any vermin out here.” She shuddered, then cast a nervous glance at the darkness beneath the trees. “Or anything else. Do we need to worry about wild animals?”
“Not here. The only natural predators of any size on Cresca are the adyani and they live high in the mountains.”
“I think I remember hearing about them - but not down here?”
“No, my flower. And even if they were, I would protect you.”
Her gaze traveled over his chest and shoulders before she blushed and dropped her eyes.
“I know you would.”
