Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
She leaned closer to the glass, staring harder, but the flower became still again.
“Huh,” she remarked, but Taurex was already walking toward the door.
“Come. I need to begin the stew,” he told her. “I cannot wait for you to taste it.”
Terra looked over her shoulder one last time.
“You’re really not going to tell me what the flowers do?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you would not believe me.”
Terra turned fully toward him.
“Now I really want to know.”
Taurex’s golden eyes gleamed with amusement.
“After Last Meal, I’ll tell you.”
She laughed.
“Fine. But if one of those things eats me, I’m going to be very upset.”
His golden eyes were suddenly heavy-lidded.
“They will not eat you. At least, not in the way you are thinking.”
“What?” Terra demanded.
But he was already heading out of the bedroom and back down the hallway that led to the kitchen or “food prep area.”
Realizing she wasn’t going to get any more information out of him, Terra followed.
“You know, for someone who claims to be a serious businessman, you have some extremely suspicious landscaping,” she said to his broad back.
Taurex laughed, the deep sound rolling through the living hallway.
Terra smiled as she followed him back toward the kitchen, but she couldn’t resist one last glance over her shoulder toward the oval window.
The bathing pool waited outside beneath the alien trees, steam drifting over its glowing surface while the strange white and red flowers swayed lazily around it. Whatever pleasure blooms were, Terra had a feeling she was going to find out before the night was over.
And judging by the look Taurex had given her, the experience was going to be interesting.
23
TERRA
By the time they got back to the kitchen, Terra had managed to convince herself that she wasn't going to obsess over the mysterious pleasure blooms until after dinner. At least, that was what she told herself as Taurex began unpacking the living baskets from the Market, though every few minutes her thoughts drifted back to the steaming blue-green pool outside her bedroom window and those strange white and red flowers hanging over the water.
“Tell me what I can do,” she said, rolling up the sleeves of her blouse as she moved toward the broad preparation surface. “You’re cooking for me, so the least I can do is help.”
“I invited you here so that I could prepare a meal for you,” Taurex reminded her as he began removing the humming golden g’rn bulbs and long purple roots from one of the baskets. “You are my guest. Guests should not be required to labor.”
“First of all, chopping vegetables isn't exactly hard labor,” Terra told him. “And second, if you make me sit on that insanely comfortable couch while you do everything in here, there's a good chance I'll fall asleep and miss dinner.”
Taurex looked at her thoughtfully.
“That would be unfortunate.”
“Exactly.” She nodded.
“Very well,” he rumbled. “You may help.”
“How gracious of you,” Terra said dryly.
His golden eyes gleamed with amusement, but he handed her one of the long purple roots along with a cutting implement that looked like a knife except the blade appeared to be a hardened green leaf. Terra took it cautiously and ran one fingertip near the edge without touching it.
“This is a knife?”
“It serves that function,” Taurex told her.
“Of course it does.” Terra shook her head. “Is anything in this house actually made out of metal? Because if so, I haven’t seen it.”
“The blade is grown from karnath grass,” Taurex explained. “Once properly hardened, it is sharper than most metal and will regrow its edge if damaged.”
Terra looked at him with wide eyes.
“So you have self-sharpening grass knives?”
He nodded.
“If that terminology pleases you.”
“It pleases me very much,” Terra said. “Also, I’d love to get one of these to take home with me if they’re not too expensive.”
“They don’t cost anything at all—most Monstrum make their own,” Taurex rumbled. “I will make you one if you like.”
“Would you? Thank you—I would love that.” Terra beamed at him.
He nodded again.
“I will make you one soon.”
Terra set the purple root on the counter and began slicing. The blade slid through the dense flesh with almost no resistance, and inside the root was a surprising swirl of pale yellow and deep violet arranged in concentric rings.
“Oh, that's pretty,” she murmured.
“It will not remain that color when cooked,” Taurex told her.
“What color will it turn?” she asked.
“Green.”
Terra looked up at him.
“That should be interesting. On Earth, purple vegetables generally stay purple.”
He frowned.
“That seems limiting.”
Terra laughed as she went back to chopping. It felt surprisingly domestic standing beside him in the strange living kitchen, each of them working on different parts of the meal while the cooling pod breathed softly behind them and the glowing flowers overhead brightened and dimmed in response to the movement in the room.
Taurex chopped several of the golden g’rn bulbs while Terra worked on the roots, and soon the preparation surface was covered with piles of vividly colored vegetables. There were dark green cubes that had been orange before he cut them, little silver pods that popped open when pressed and released tiny pearl-like seeds and something resembling a pink onion that smelled faintly of garlic and rosemary at the same time.