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“You look like you’ve been starved,” she said sitting beside me as the Keeper fed me.
I just shrugged. With this man sitting here I couldn’t reasonably remind her the women had wanted me to look half dead. Apparently they had done quite a good job. Everyone that saw me said I looked awful.
That evening I waited patiently for my family. There was a gnawing sense that something was going to happen. Part of me hoped Bane had forgotten our midday banter; I was never that lucky, though.
My men came, took me home, and then we went down to the bathhouse. Damien and his Brothers were keeping a secret, I could see it. They smiled and looked at each other like they were bursting, but they didn’t say anything. It would come out whenever it came out, I decided. No use worrying what it would be.
I was resting on a chaise in the sitting room in the early evening. When I heard a knock indicating our food was here, I slipped down to rest on my kneeling place. My family liked me to use the furniture, the rest of the world would not understand.
The man delivering the tray set it on the table. He removed the lid and I heard his breath catch.
“I can’t believe you brought this to the kitchen for us to cook for you!” he said incredulously.
“It’s perfect,” Damien said with a smile and I heard the tray recovered.
My family waited till the man left and then pulled a sixth chair up to the table. I was escorted to it and they sat me down with a flourish. I watched Bane’s happy smile with a reserved expression; he was up to something.
Kein took the lid off the platter and I screamed as I fell out of my chair. It was one of those nasty, gigantic spider creatures that Nu-reeh had showed me. I squealed like a typical girl and I scrambled into the sitting area and got on top of a chair.
I failed to see why they had it in the apartment. I cursed them in every language I knew. My men were roaring with laughter. My reaction had apparently been priceless.
From my new vantage point I noted the thing wasn’t moving. It also appeared charred. The creature had been cooked, I realized.
“There are worms, Ciara,” Bane offered once he had regained some measure of control. “We understood you did not enjoy them. Like worms, these creatures are quite high in nutritional content.”
“Particularly the eyes,” Evan said still grinning broadly. “It is typical to stab out the eyes, but we felt sure you would enjoy them. We killed it by stabbing the back. It was harder that way, but we did it for you.”
Evan’s grin was absolutely mischievous. This extra effort was certainly not for my benefit.
“Come,” Kein commanded, “try them. They are wonderful.”
To prove the point he used a small spoon on the platter to remove an eye from the creature’s head. It came loose with a soft sucking sound. He popped it in his mouth, bit down, and swallowed.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.
“Come and sit,” Bane offered. “We will help you eat if you find you are… unable.”
The men were chuckling and smiling at one another. It had been a bet. Bane was currently winning. I gleaned that much from their little looks and the comments.
I hated spiders as much as anyone. It wasn’t a particular phobia, I just didn’t like them. There was absolutely no way I was backing down from this dare, though.
Stepping as proudly as I could off of the chair, I took my seat looking right into the seven remaining eyes. I licked my dry lips and looked stubbornly up at Bane, who stared incredulously down at me.
“I don’t know how to eat it. Will you help me, please?”
Evan’s grin broadened and Kein settled in a chair to watch as Bane reached toward the thing and broke a leg off of it. I cringed at the cracking sound, but didn’t move. He used a blade on the table to open the leg and told me I could eat the meat out of it.
I picked up the spiny charred leg gingerly and picked a tiny piece of white meat out. No one moved as I brought it to my lips. I bit down tentatively and then swallowed. It wasn’t bad, so I dug a second chunk out and ate that. The meat was a little dry, but it had good flavor, sweet almost, but not quite.
Evan spooned up an eye and offered it to me silently. No one was talking now, this was the heart of this bet. I took the eye off the spoon and felt it slip between my lips. It had a weird texture in my mouth, but when it burst the flavor was amazing, rich and buttery. The center was slippery and chewy, but tasty. I spooned a second and third eye myself.
The men took their seats and we devoured the Scar.
“On Earth we had things like this, but we boiled them,” I told the men as I picked through the shell to get any remaining meat, dismantled and eaten the scar was much less scary. “I bet the meat in the legs would be better if you boiled them. We also had a melted fat concoction we dipped the boiled meat in.”
Damien stretched his legs out and draped an arm across my shoulder. “You lost, Brother, pay up.”
Bane threw his eating implements down and looked at me with a grin.
“I thought you would not eat it and I would have to force you. We bet on your reaction, Sister and I lost. Damien and Christof stipulated that if they won, you get to pick the prize. You earned it, what do you want?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure and then I was very sure.
The idea was so tempting, but it would make them angry. The devilish smile on my face faded when I thought about how offended they would be. Instead, I told him I wanted a back rub and then looked down. That was a safe thing to say.
“No, you don’t,” Evan said lifting a my chin with his finger. “There was something else you thought of. I saw the lie in your eyes before you looked down.”
I shook my head in denial. “I want a back rub.”
Bane called me the nasty name for weakling in their language.
I looked up at him and he was staring at me from across the table. It came out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“Wear the plug in your ass until we go to sleep,” I said quickly.
The room was silent for a moment and I knew I had angered them. It was the wrong thing to say. I looked down and prayed they would forgive my stupidity.
Quite suddenly I was pulled to stand and yanked into the bathing room. Bane handed me the plug and pulled off his linen cover. He bent over the counter and looked back at me. I stood staring at his sculpted ass and holding the device.
“Ciara, I don’t want Evan to put it in, although he finds the idea quite humorous. Get the oil and you do it,” he sighed.
Bane acted like this was the most normal thing we’d ever done. My slowness was just such an annoyance.