Page 41 of Carnal: The Beast Who Loved Me

Carnal didn’t show up for dinner. He ate at the Commons with his crew and stayed late drinking. He’d as much as told Rosie he wanted to spend time with her while he could. She’d as much as said, “No thanks.”

Everything about her bothered him. It bothered him that she was human living in the Exiled settlement. It bothered him that she was living in his house. In his room! It bothered him that she was impervious to his charm to the point of mocking. It bothered him that he couldn’t stop thinking about her and that, since he’d come home, he hadn’t been laid. Not because there wasn’t opportunity. There was always opportunity. He hadn’t been laid because he was obsessed with the little human, her strange ways, her emerald-green eyes. And, all of a sudden, the most notable thing about other females was that they weren’t her.

He liked sitting in the Commons when she was working, watching her rush around serving his brethren with a smile. He liked watching even better when she slowed enough for her hips to roll and sway in a way that was decidedly different from Exiled females. He thought that perhaps he’d blown his chances when he’d challenged her about her qualifications for teaching. Truthfully, he wasn’t objecting to her qualifications, but rather her species. That was when he settled on a plan, to learn more about her, treat her like a real person and not just a body that would give him a few minutes pent-up release and the forgetfulness he craved. He winced at having used that verb, of all the things to be thinking.

There was some unmistakable something about the little human that drew him in and wouldn’t let go. He had no experience with being turned down, but thought that was a lousy excuse for giving up easily. He resolved to rededicate himself to the goal of convincing Rosie he was worth consideration.

As Rosie had observed before, the mood at dinner was definitely more subdued when Carnal wasn’t present. As much as she didn’t want to admit it to herself, she was disappointed that he wasn’t there.

“What did you think of level three, Rosie?” Serene asked.

Rosie smiled while chewing a bite of some unknown, but delicious root vegetable from the stew in her bowl. “Delightful. They were taking turns reading. I was wondering where you got the books.”

“Kellareal brought them.”

“Oh,” Rosie said, and continued eating.

“Rosie,” Serene flicked a glance at Free, “you can speak openly. Do you have something to say about the books?”

“Well, the books were written about humans by humans. I know there’s notthatmuch difference between us, but I think the children might benefit from having pride in your own, um, species.”

Charming laughed. “Notthatmuch difference?”

“Charming.” His mother had a warning tone. Again.

But he ignored her and continued. “We’re bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter. We live longer and almost never get sick. We’re better than humans by any measure you can name.”

Rosie just looked at him and shrugged. “Okay.”

Charming didn’t hide his displeasure with her response. “What! You think otherwise.”

“Not for me to say.” Rosie held his heated gaze. “And clearly you already have pride in your people with or without books written about hybrids.”

Clearly, Charming was not ready to put the topic to rest. “If you think humans are better at something, name it.”

“Rosie,” Serene interrupted, “my son is not speaking for us.” She turned a glare toward Charming. “You are not instigating a superiority competition.”

Charming’s anger visibly melted away from his face as he looked at Rosie. “Sorry.”

“My son is young,” said Free quietly and calmly. “I hope you will overlook that outburst.”

Rosie looked at Free. “I’m not offended. So far as I can tell, everything he said is true. You are bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter.”

Charming smirked. “I heard a ‘but’ at the end of that sentence.” He looked between his parents. “What? Didn’t you hear a ‘but’ at the end of that sentence?”

Free’s brows came down as he gave Charming a pointed look. “Unless you want to talk about something else, your contribution to dinner conversation is done.”

Charming huffed.

Serene gave him a reprimanding look, then said to Rosie, “I like your idea about the books. I don’t know if there are any books about hybrids, but we could ask Kellareal.”

“The ideal thing would be to write your own. There are other worlds with hybrids and, probably, some of them have books, but they wouldn’t be in your language and wouldn’t reflect your culture or history.”

Serene looked taken aback. “Write our own?”

“Sure. Why not?”

Serene looked uncertain. “Well…”

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