Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
“Why should you be ashamed?” he cut in, interrupting her prepared speech, which she’d been rehearsing all night.
“Why should I…” She trailed off and tried again. “What do you mean? Of course I should be ashamed of myself! I let that damn training cave simulation get to me. I knew none of it was real but I still couldn’t control myself.”
She expected him to agree with her or at least acknowledge what she was saying. Instead, Sirex shook his head and said,
“Sit down and have First Meal with me.”
“First Meal? You mean breakfast?”
“Exactly.” He was already settling on the grass, under a tree with spreading purple branches.
Feeling like she was in some kind of weird dream, Phoebe sat beside him. There was a green cube on the grass at his feet that she hadn’t noticed before. Sirex opened it and produced two covered cups and two covered plates.
“Be careful,” he said, handing a cup and a plate to Phoebe. “Once you break the seals, these are both going to get very hot.”
“Oh, uh, okay.” She put the plate down on the grass beside her—she couldn’t eat right now. But she went ahead and broke the red seal running across the top of the cup. With a hiss of steam, the white paper covering it disintegrated and the aroma of rich, freshly brewed coffee met her nose.
Phoebe inhaled deeply—mmm, as worried and upset as she was, she couldn’t help feeling soothed by the warm cup in her hand and the wonderful scent rising from it.
“Here.”
Looking up, she realized Sirex was handing her something. When she put out a hand to take it, she saw that he was giving her three sugars and two of the tiny creamer pods that dissolved completely in hot liquid and left no trace or taste behind—they were made of some kind of bio-food substitute the Kindred scientists had developed.
“Oh, thank you. But this is too much cream and sugar for me!” she protested, looking down at her hand.
“It’s exactly what you put in your First Meal brew every day—though you always try to hide it for some reason,” he rumbled, giving her a slightly amused look. “Why should you be embarrassed for wanting cream and sweetener in your morning beverage?”
“Well, because I’m trying to lose weight,” Phoebe said. “And adding all this cream and sugar to my coffee certainly doesn’t help. These thighs aren’t going to shrink themselves, you know.” She laughed self-deprecatingly and patted her hip with the hand holding the cream and sugar.
“Why do you want to lose your curves?” He gave her a mystified look. “They’re one of the things that make you beautiful.”
“Oh, uh, thank you.”
Phoebe looked down at her coffee, feeling her cheeks get hot with a blush. She had heard from a few other women on the Mother Ship that the Kindred loved plus-sized and curvy women. Jillian, who was also a big girl, had mentioned several times how her Twin Kindred mentors liked her curvy figure.
“Thank you for breakfast, too,” she added, not sure what else to say. “But I’m not sure what I did to deserve it. After the way I acted yesterday—”
“Let’s talk about that.” Sirex looked at her intently. “Let’s talk about what the training tunnel showed you and why it was so upsetting.”
Phoebe bristled in a mixture of embarrassment and defensiveness. She glared up at him.
“Do we have to go over this again? I already told you, it was a big-ass spider—bigger than you!”
“Watch your tone, Cadet.” Her mentor’s voice was a low, menacing growl and she was instantly reminded that she needed to be respectful.
“I’m sorry, Sir. I just…it’s hard to talk about.”
“Try,” he said simply. “And know that I will be listening without any kind of prejudice or judgment. Now—a spider is a type of insect from Earth, correct?”
“It’s an arachnid, actually.” Phoebe shivered. “They have eight legs and they spin webs and catch insects and wrap them in cocoons so they can suck them dry.”
“They don’t sound like the most pleasant life forms,” Sirex said dryly.
“No—they’re not.” Phoebe took a sip of her coffee and nearly burned her tongue—it really was hot!
“Now tell me why you fear them,” her mentor said softly.
“What?” She looked up from her coffee, frowning. “Why would you need to know that?”
“Just tell me,” Sirex urged. “Please,” he added.
“Well…” Phoebe looked down at her coffee again. “It has to do with a prank my step sister, Kylie, played on me when I was younger.”
Sirex raised an eyebrow.
“This is the same sister who stole your prom date and then kissed him in front of you?”
Phoebe sighed.
“Yeah…that’s Kylie all right. My dad died when I was nine, you know, and my mom was already remarried by the time I turned ten. My stepfather had a daughter too, just one year older than me—that was Kylie. I think my mom was hoping that we would hit it off and become like real sisters. We were both only children up until then and my mom was raised with a lot of sisters herself, so she saw it as a beautiful bond that would carry through to adulthood.”