“That’s beautiful.” I know how he feels. Didn’t I swear all kinds of things once I got my freedom? That I would never be owned again. That I would never be forced to do anything I didn’t want to do ever again. Clearly I should have specified. “What happened to your owner?”
“He died,” Nassakth says flatly. “Come. I will show you the kitchen.”
The kitchen itself has less greenery than the rest of the house, though there is a large square window with small pots growing along the ledge.
“Herbs,” the praxiian explains. “My people like herbs.”
“But not flowers,” I comment, thinking of the noli.
“No. Not flowers.” He hesitates. “Some like them too much, but I am not one of them.”
I remember how he’d groaned with pain last night and accused me of being cruel and torturing him. It took me far too long to connect the dots on the flowers with his actions, and I feel a little guilty. Only a little, though, because what else was I supposed to think?
He leads me through more large, breathtaking rooms filled with greenery and mentions that he has a local man come by and clean for him once a week. I stare in amazement at a huge room full of athletic equipment and another that is full of vid-screens and technological things past my comprehension. There’s a weapon room, too, with swords and axes and stun-weapons of every kind lining the walls in neat, orderly fashion. There’s a large display unit in the center of the room that’s meant to show three-dimensional movies. I remember seeing something like that because my old master had something along those lines. I walk toward it and tap it on, fascinated.
“Select date of match,” a computerized voice says in praxiian.
Nassakth leaps to my side, quickly tapping the machine off before I can make a selection. “You don’t want to watch that.”
I frown up at him. “Why not?”
“It is…recordings of some of my matches.” His jaw flexes. “It is not for polite human eyes. You will not like what you see.”
“Um…okay.” Like I’m not going to look at this the next chance I get? He must be proud of some of his wins in the past if he displays them in his war room…but he doesn’t want me to see them because I’m a human?
Or because he thinks they’ll terrify me? I know he’s a gladiator. I’ve seen the occasional gladiator match in the past. They’re usually fights to a death or a maiming of some kind. It’s not pretty stuff, but so little on this end of the universe is pleasant that to me, they’re unsurprising. I knew he wasn’t playing cards for a living, that’s for sure.
But he watches me with glittering eyes, and I get the impression that he doesn’t want me to ask. That he’s silently pleading with me for understanding.
“So.” I cross my arms and glance around the war room—or a man cave, I suppose. “Where are the bedrooms in this house?”
“There is one bedroom and it is very fine.” Nassakth nods with relief. “Come, I will show you.”
“Er…one bedroom? In this big house?” He has a room for weapons but not one for guests?
“Praxiian families sleep in the same bed together,” he admits, tail swishing. “I have learned that this is not the case with many other races, but since I was having my house built to my specifications, I did not assume another room would be necessary.”
The fuck? “You slept in the same bed with your parents?”
“And my siblings,” he agrees. “Until I was old enough to seek out my own home.”
I have SO many questions. So, so many. Like…why? And what happened if the parents wanted to have sex? What happened if one of the kids wet the damn bed? What if you have guests over? Do they sleep with the family? But I don’t want to be insensitive, so I chew on my lip and try to think of something polite to say. “So…how is this going to work?”
His tail swishes faster. “If you wish for cubs, we can always have additional rooms added to the house.”
My face flames hot. “Wow, jumping the gun much? That wasn’t what I meant.” I pause. “Wait…you and I can have kids? Er, cubs?”
Nassakth shrugs his big, furry shoulders. “I have seen mesakkah hybrids and szzt hybrids. I have even seen a drakoni hybrid. I would imagine a praxiian-human hybrid would be entirely possible, though it would likely cost a fair amount of credits to purchase the correct biological assistance.”
A baby. I hate that my biological clock starts ticking loudly at the thought. I’ve always wanted a baby. Someone to love and cuddle and take care of. Someone that would fill the lonely holes in my heart. Yeah, a baby sounds…amazing. And the fact that it can be made with “biological assistance” means we won’t even have to touch. “I think I’d like a baby. Not yet, but in the future.”
He nods slowly. “Then I will arrange for the house to have additional rooms built.”
“What I asked about,” I say, trying to choose my words in as delicate a fashion as possible. “When I said how is this going to work, I meant in regards to you and me, since there’s only one bed.”
Nassakth looks taken aback. “You do not want to sleep in the same quarters as me?”
“Tempting, but no.”
He narrows his eyes at me, as if just now figuring out that my sarcastic “tempting” means I am not tempted in the slightest. But he nods. “I will sleep outside the door then…on one condition. Tell me what Bethiah said to you.”
%%%%%
17
KIM
My face feels scorching hot as I recall the bounty hunter’s lewd words. “Girl, if you’re smart, you’ll learn to make that kitty purr and he’ll make you purr, too. That one’s got a cock to make a girl weep with joy.” She’d patted my cheek. “And here you thought I wasn’t romantic. But if you need me to take him out, just give me a call and we can work on some pricing.”
I think she’s full of crap. I think she picked him because he bribed her, and the fact that she’s willing to kill him after “romantically” setting us up just proves how amoral she is.
Still, should I say this to Nassakth? She offered me an out, after all. I hesitate, thinking.
You have to trust someone at some point.
And he’s offered to sleep in another room. And he’s given me half his possessions in the marriage contract. And he’s going to show me how to use a weapon…
And I don’t trust Bethiah in the slightest.
“She told me you had a big dick and I should hop on it,” I blurt out.
He strokes his chin, contemplating this answer. “It is good advice.”
“I’m not jumping on anything, thank you very much. You agreed to have a platonic relationship.”
“I did, though it would give me great pleasure to make you purr.”
I narrow my eyes at him. Interesting choice of words. Did he hear what Bethiah said or does everyone just lean into the cat puns when it comes to praxiians? “Don’t even try it.”
Nassakth sighs. “Do not worry. I have given you my word of honor.” He gestures at the hall. “I will show you the bedroom and you may claim it as your quarters.”