AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was the one who’d turned me in, after all.
Cherry seemed content to focus on eating now. Following her lead, I did the same. When we’d finished, I grasped both the plates, taking them to the sink to wash them.
“Oh! I can do that,” Cherry said hurriedly.
“Why?” I asked with a frown. I’d washed these plates several times a day, every day, for cycles. “I don’t expect you to.”
“Is there anything… You know… You do expect?”
“No.”
She looked vaguely surprised by that. I could not blame her. I still was not entirely sure why I’d voted yes to the bridal program.
“Alright. Well. I guess I’ll get ready for bed, then.” She hesitated, biting her lip in a distracting way.
It took me far too long to realize that she was waiting for me to reply that I would do the same.
Normally, I would be getting ready for bed around this time. I rose early for chores and did not have anything specific to keep me awake or occupied in the evenings, other than trying to read that book from the human-Zabrian liaison.
It had been a long day. I really should be getting to bed…
With my wife.
I inhaled sharply, my tail going tight ’round its hook. “I… have more work to do.”
“Alright!” Cherry answered, her voice sounding higher than usual. “Goodnight, Silar!”
I left the house and let the door swing shut between us.
13
CHERRY
Iwashed my face and under my arms with frigid water in the kitchen, then cleaned my teeth and changed into a simple pyjama set that Tasha had provided. The PJs were soft and comfy, and in normal circumstances I’d consider them pretty darn cozy.
Except these weren’t normal circumstances.
Nope. These circumstances were fucking freezing.
I tossed and turned in the empty bed, trying every which way to get warm. None of them worked. Silar only had one thin blanket on the bed and it was doing absolutely zilch in the keep-Cherry-warm department. It got to the point that I was shivering so hard it physically hurt. Like my bones were trying to rattle themselves right out of my body.
I’d been a bit relieved when Silar had said he wasn’t coming to bed just yet. But now I was just lying here, miserably chilly, hoping he’d show up and share some goddamn body heat with his wife.
Eventually, when it felt like my teeth might crack from the force of all the chattering, I gave up on trying to sleep and sat up. I swung my legs around the side of the bed and slipped my feet into the boots I’d left beside it on the floor. I went out into the kitchen with the bed’s blanket wrapped around my shoulders. When I saw my scarf on the counter, I wrapped that around me, too, figuring the more layers, the better. I wonder when he took this off, I thought as I put it on. I hadn’t noticed earlier.
But even with the blanket, scarf, and movement now that I was walking, it wasn’t enough. My breath fogged, ghostly in the dark kitchen. I was used to the cold. Terratribe I was a frigid fucking ice-ball of a planet. But at least my apartment, as crappy as it was, had heat.
I couldn’t find anything that resembled a heating system in this house. There was the wood-burning oven, of course, but after trying and failing to figure out how to actually light a fire with the materials provided, I gave up on that idea pretty quick. A search around the place also didn’t turn up any extra blankets.
It didn’t turn up my husband, either.
Where the hell is he?
I’d lain in bed for at least an hour, maybe two. What could he possibly have been working on after working all afternoon already?
There was nothing for it. I’d just have to track him down and beg him to find me an extra blanket or something.
Decision made, I went out the back door.
