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“Gladly, Pretty Abbey! The Perfumer is tall and skinny with orange and blue skin and he wears clothes that are also orange and blue,” Spex reported. “He is standing in front of a counter with hundreds of glass bottles lined up in rows. He takes first one and then another…he sniffs them and if he likes them, he adds a little drippy drop of the scent to a glass tube he holds in his hand.”
Abbey could practically see the scene in her head and she thought again how useful it was to have a guide who could see and talk to her right on her shoulder. As much as she’d loved Major, he never could have described what was going on the way Spex could.
“I hope he doesn’t change your natural scent,” Solon growled from beside her. “You already smell perfect to me, lelka.” He took Abbey’s hand in his much larger one and squeezed gently.
“I feel the same way about your scent,” Abbey told him. “It’s amazing.”
“Well, thank you, lelka but it’s likely you’re smelling my Bonding Scent,” he rumbled. “My body makes it just for you, to bring you to me.”
“Wait…it does?” Abbey frowned. “You never told me that before! All this time I’ve been wanting to be close to you because you smell so good and now you tell me you’re doing it on purpose?”
She wasn’t sure how to feel about that—it seemed somehow disingenuous.
“I don’t make my Bonding Scent on purpose,” Solon protested. “My body does it naturally when I’m in the presence of the female I want to mate and Bond with. I can’t help it—all Kindred and Monstrum make Bonding Scents for their females.”
“They do?” Abbey asked. “Why haven’t I heard of this before?”
“I don’t know.” The golden blur beside her moved and she pictured Solon shrugging his broad shoulders. “Maybe because it isn’t spoken of much. The humans might think we had an unfair advantage if we advertised the fact that our bodies make a special scent just for the female we wish to Bond with.”
Abbey wasn’t sure what to say to that, but just then the Royal Perfumer spoke to her.
“Lady Abbey, I do believe I have just the right scent for you. Please come forward and try it.”
“Go six steps forward and the Perfumer’s counter will be right in front of Pretty Abbey,” Spex squeaked in her ear.
Abbey did as he said and then held out her arm, wrist up so the Perfumer could place a drop of the new scent on her pulse point. She felt a droplet of moisture on the underside of her wrist and then the Perfumer said.
“Good. Now rub your wrists together lightly and inhale your new fragrance.”
Abbey did as he said and then lifted her wrist to her nose…only to smell nothing.
“Oh, er…” She sniffed again, but there was nothing but the normal scent of her skin. “I’m sorry—I don’t smell anything,” she said apologetically.
“Of course you don’t! None of us can smell our own scent,” the Royal Perfumer snapped. “The fact that you smell nothing proves I have done my job to perfection. Now let your spouse smell your wrist and see what he thinks.”
Abbey didn’t bother to correct him. She only held out her wrist for Solon, who came forward and sniffed it.
“Mmm, delicious!” he growled and Abbey could hear the sudden lust in his voice. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to smell more appealing, lelka but somehow you do.”
“I’m glad you approve, Commander Solon,” the Perfumer sniffed. “Now come forward yourself so that I may make you a scent as well.”
Solon stepped forward and the Perfumer smelled him for quite some time.
“Hmm…fur and leather and some kind of fragrant wood,” he mused. “Some wilder notes too—almost beastly!”
“Well, I am a Monstrum Kindred,” Solon rumbled. “Which means I am covered in fur—that might be what you’re smelling.”
“Oh, are you? May I touch your hand?” the Perfumer asked, sounding interested.
“Certainly,” Solon said.
“Spex, tell me what’s happening,” Abbey murmured.
“The fur-man is holding out his hand and the Perfumer is feeling his hand and arm all over,” the little Eye-pet whispered in her ear. “He’s rubbing the fur-man’s fur—he seems to like it.”
“Well—I can tell this scent is going to be a challenge to make!” the Perfumer said at last. He spent quite some time mixing and matching—Abbey could hear the faint tinkle of his hundreds of glass bottles. Finally, however, he finished and told Solon to come forward again.
“Now then, as you’re covered in fur almost everywhere, I’m going to be a droplet on your palm, which isn’t furry,” he told the big Monstrum. “Then you can rub your palms together and rub them over your neck and arms as well to spread the scent.”
