Traveler smiled with a deep, adoring sigh. “Alright, fine! You’re human. How could I insist otherwise? I so rarely see your brand of purity, and it’s a lethal combination.”
“Lethal?”
“Mm,” he confirmed. “A deadly weapon wrapped in such a sweet package.” He ran his black tongue across the bottoms of his gold teeth. “Delicious enough to eat.”
“Do biognostics eat?” I wondered.
His smile spread into a wolfish grin.
“Not food.”
“Then we are definitely different. I have a universal digestive system.”
Traveler bit his lower lip again as if he was trying not to giggle, and the door whooshed open. Fásach stood in the entrance, eyes wide and ears swiveled forward with attention. He was slightly breathless as he nodded to me.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” I assured him. Safia peeked around his hip, and he brushed his hand over her little spires.
“I told you to wait in the room,” he murmured gently.
“But I was worried.” She grimaced at Traveler with suspicion. “He’s creepy.”
The captain clutched at his chest with a sharp yelp and doubled over in pain. I gasped as he fell to his knees in front of the little girl.
“Are you okay?!” I yelled, reaching for his shoulder in shock.
“Oh, the pain!” he wailed in agony, lifting his face to Safia’s with both hands clasped. “How could such a beautiful girl kill me so ruthlessly?Creepy,she says!”
“What?” Safia burst into laughter, her mandibles flaring with amusement. Heart in my throat, I looked between them, wide-eyed and indignant.
“He’s dying! Why are you laughing?” I asked in a panic.
To my horror, Safia pushed his shoulder and he rolled over dead, a pointed black tongue lolling out of his mouth. I gasped, covering my face in abject horror. Tears popped from the corners of my eyes as the loss of the captain hit me like a battering ram.
Then I heard Fásach’s chuckle. Rough, growly, and hesitant. He put his hand on the side of my hood, asking me to look up at him. “Don’t worry, Roz. He’s fine.”
“Stop stealing my limelight,” Traveler warned out of the side of his mouth. Confusion creased my brow.
“But he’s… he’s dead. He said it hurt.”
Fásach crouched over Traveler’s body across from me as Safia poked him.
“They’re playing. He’s alright, Roz.”
“Ouch! Hey,” the captain whined at the venandi girl. “Careful, this casing is expensive and soft.”
“Yeah,toosoft,” she laughed.
I poked Traveler’s cheek, and he opened his eyes, catching mine with a wink. “Children love to be in charge.”
“Oh…” My voice was small. “Are all children this violent?”
Traveler raised his brows at Fásach, passing off the answer to the father in the room. He winced, one ear twitching.
“Pretty much.”
When he scratched Safia’s spires with affection, warmth overwhelmed my sense of confusion. Traveler sat up with a groan, planted his forearms on his knees, and nodded to my hood.