Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
I pulled the tray out and looked at the bright green pills, each sequestered in its own tiny prison. Should I take one now? Pansy had said to take a pill every morning. Of course, nothing that would make a baby had happened between me and Slade yet, and he had promised that he wouldn’t force me. He had said that he wouldn’t “breed” me until I begged him to. And there was no way I was going to do that—right?
“Right,” I muttered to myself. And then I took out one of the little pills anyway.
I cupped it in my palm and looked at it, debating for a moment. Then I tossed it into my mouth and swallowed it dry.
Just in case, I thought to myself as I tucked the little tray back into the lining of my luggage. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared.
Not that I would ask Slade to do that to me. He was dreaming if he thought I would, so I should be safe. But still…
Trying to push the doubt away from my mind, I pulled out a dress and some underthings and went to the bathroom. I couldn’t help looking at the deep soaking tub where Slade had washed me the night before.
I had never dreamed that a husband might want to do that to his wife—to pamper her and wash her hair. It seemed strange, especially considering what I had been raised to believe was normal and right in a marriage.
In my culture, it was the wife who took care of the husband. She had to be certain all his meals were cooked on time and exactly to his liking…had to keep the house clean and bear and tend his children. In addition to that, she saw to his comfort—getting him a drink when he came home and giving him a shoulder massage—little things to make him happy and keep the peace around the house.
Sometimes listening to the married ladies in Court talk about everything they did to keep their homes running smoothly and their husbands happy, I had felt glad I was single with only myself to worry about. But other times I felt lonely. I wanted children too, but I was well aware that my peak fertility had passed. Of course I could still get pregnant if I wasn’t careful—I was glad that I’d swallowed the baby-stopper pill.
I mused on all these things as I took a shower and then toweled myself off. I got dressed and decided to see if I could find something for breakfast. I wasn’t sure where Slade was, so I went quietly as I opened the door to the bedroom and peered out. Had he left to go do some Clan Cruel business? Was I alone in the penthouse suite?
The idea filled me with a contradictory mixture of relief and loneliness—which was foolish, of course. Slade was my enemy—I wasn’t about to admit I missed the big Brute.
But even if my mind didn’t miss him, my body did. I could feel the chill creeping in again and my nipples were tight and achy. Between my legs, my cunny felt hot and needy as well. Was I really going to have to deal with this the entire six months I was with him? And where was he, anyway?
I walked through the living area with its central fire pit and tan and silver furniture and found myself in a large, modern kitchen that put the palace kitchens back home to shame.
There was a large, sleek cold-storage unit, a stove so complicated I thought it would take me some time to learn how to use it, and cabinets filled with foods I had never seen before. Luckily, most of their labels were in Standard—the language that everyone on every planet in the Imperium is required to learn. So I was able to read them, but I didn’t know what they were.
“Blanched Lixech,” I murmured, looking at a can that had a picture of something blue and knobby on the front. “Powdered Hoiseth—Extra Fine!” read a box that had a picture of what looked like some kind of orange and purple bread. Was it a mix that you added ingredients to and then baked?
I had no idea but I would have liked to find out. My mother had thought it was important for me to learn how to cook and bake. She’d sent me for lessons in the palace kitchens every day for years.
“Until your brother finds a wife, it will be your duty to host state dinners for him,” she’d lectured me. “How can you tell if what the cooks are preparing is acceptable if you don’t know how to prepare it yourself?”
The result was that I had become a rather good cook and an excellent baker—but that was with ingredients I knew how to use. Everything in the cabinets and cold storage unit was completely unfamiliar. It must be Brutal food, I guessed. I would have to ask Slade how to make it.