AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She does not know, Fallon.”
“She does not know what?”
“She does not know.”
Fallon glowered at me, dragging his bloody fingers absentmindedly across his throat. Then, all at once, it hit him. I watched understanding, then horror, dawn on his face.
“She does not know? That you… That we…” His voice lowered to a hissing whisper. “She does not know about the convictions?”
“No. And you don’t need to whisper like that. She’ll never hear us through the door.”
Fallon’s head whipped towards the door then back to me in alarm.
“Her hearing isn’t good,” I explained.
“It isn’t?”
“I think it is a human thing.”
“Oh,” Fallon said, his white eyes bouncing back and forth between the door and me. “Oh… Oh my cursed cattle… Alright… So…”
“So,” I cut him off, “you will keep your mouth closed for once. It seems as though my wife wishes to greet you. Therefore, you will sit down, shut up, and take whatever generosity she chooses to bestow upon you because the Empire knows that I have none. And Fallon,” I added on a dangerous growl, “if you breathe one word about my murder conviction to her then I vow to you, that breath will be your last.”
21
CHERRY
Silar and Fallon didn’t come in right away. They lingered outside by the door for a minute, and then they went around to side of the house and the hose to get their worn-out mounts some water after all the running the poor creatures had done. I watched through the kitchen’s back window as they eventually brought the two shuldu, one black and one rust-red, towards Silar’s stalls. They’d be able to rest and have a munchy little snack in there.
I used that time to collect myself, trying to keep all my splitting nerves together after today’s lovely little near-death experience. And then there had been the whole Silar trying to strangle Fallon with his tail thing…
The two men finally came into the house just as I was spooning some sort of smoked, mystery meat sausages out of the cast iron pan onto plates.
“Oh!” I said brightly, smothering my nervousness with false cheer. And honestly, it didn’t feel so false after a minute. Because Fallon was just about the friendliest Zabrian a human gal could ever hope to meet.
“Hello!” Fallon bounded into the room with all the energy of an overexcited pet. And then he stopped, his broad, fangy smile going slightly lopsided. His eyes took on a soft white glow as he stared at me. Self-consciously, I brushed a hand over my face and then smoothed my wind-whipped hair.
“Hello. Sorry. Um… Is everything alright?” I asked, unsure what to do about this decidedly dopey and sudden bout of staring.
“Oh. I was just… I was just thinking that…” The whiteness in Fallon’s eyes shone brighter. “I was just thinking that if my bride is half as pretty as you, then I am a luckier male than I’d ever dared to dream.”
“Oh. Wow. Alright. Thank you,” I said with a slight laugh. The guy was laying it on pretty thick, but strangely, it wasn’t creepy or weird. It just sounded… Nice. Genuine.
But before I could bask in the glow of the compliment Fallon had just given me, someone who looked more like an Old-Earth depiction of a demon than my husband stepped darkly into the room. He loomed behind Fallon, his face storm and shadow, his eyes white lightning. His golden hand clamped down like a vise on the burnt-orange hide of Fallon’s shoulder. He ground out a single word.
“Sit.”
“Silar,” I said, my voice laced with wary warning. “I don’t want a repeat of whatever the hell you two were doing outside.”
“What do you mean?” Fallon inquired a little too quickly as Silar shoved him towards the chairs. Fallon was about to sit when Silar yanked him back.
“Not that one. That’s the one I made for Cherry,” Silar gritted out. “You sit on the old one.”
“It doesn’t matter which chair he sits in. I just…” I stopped, noticing for the very first time that the new chair Silar had built was decidedly smaller than the other one. It wasn’t built for a Zabrian butt.
It was built for mine.
“OK. The other chair works,” I finished lamely, even though Fallon was already sitting in it. “And I was talking about the whole tail around your neck thing.”
