Page 73 of Night's Reckoning
Kadek abandoned them to join a table playing cards.
Johari looked around the room, then back at Ben. “Yes. I would like a beer.”
“Of course.” He drew her away to one of the tables with fewer people and pulled out a chair facing the room for her. Nothing that would expose her back to the room. The corner table would allow both of them to survey the crowd of humans and vampires.
Johari sat while Ben walked to the counter to get a beer from one of the tubs the galley crew had set out. It was a mixture of local beer with a few miscellaneous imports thrown in. Ben grabbed her a local brew.
“Thank you.” She lifted it and waited for Ben to raise his own drink. “Cheers, Benjamin Vecchio.”
“Cheers.” He took a drink. “How do you saycheersin Zanzibar?”
Johari smiled suddenly. It was the first time Ben had seen it, and he couldn’t deny it took his breath away. Her smile was like the sun breaking over the horizon.
She said, “I don’t drink beer in Zanzibar.”
“Ah.”
“But cheers in Swahili isafya. Properly, it would bemaisha marefu, which is a wish for long life—”
“Appropriate with your family.”
Her smile softened. “No doubt. But with your friends you would say ‘afya.’ Which is like… good life. Good day.”
He lifted his beer again. “Afya.”
She clinked their bottles together. “Afya, Benjamin.”
“Ben.”
“Ben.” Johari took the time to look around. “I cannot remember the last time I was invited to a party.”
“So Alitea isn’t the party capital of the Mediterranean, huh? That’s it. I’m canceling the cruise.”
Johari lifted an eyebrow. “It is not a vacation destination. My sire is very focused on bringing order to the eastern Mediterranean. She has little patience for festivities at the moment.”
“I hear she makes a great cup of coffee though.”
Johari swallowed a mouthful of beer. “Truly?”
“I’ve heard rumors. SheisEthiopian. Have you had Ethiopian coffee? It’s amazing.”
“That is true.”
Ben saw Tenzin slip into the room. She approached Cheng but didn’t stop at his table. She slid over to Kadek’s table and spoke to him for a moment. Made polite faces at the humans there. She grabbed a beer and leaned her back against the wall, searching the room. When she locked eyes with Benjamin, the hand holding her beer fell to her side. Her eyes went to Johari, then back to Ben.
Ben looked back at Johari. “So, was your first sire from Zanzibar?”
Johari’s face froze.
“I’m sorry,” he added quickly. “I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s none of my business.”
“He was.” Johari set her drink down carefully. “I am not offended. The question was unexpected. Once I traveled to Alitea, no one asked me about my past life. I was Saba’s daughter. That was all.”
“That’s… I don’t know what that is.” He saw Tenzin leave the room from the corner of his eye. Which was fine. He wasn’t going to chase her.
“It was not unexpected.” Johari’s eyes followed Tenzin. Looked back at Ben. “In a way, I was grateful for the opportunity to begin again. My sire is no longer living, and my brother did not agree with my seeking Saba’s cure. So I have no family left at my home.”
“I know that feeling.”
