Page 15 of To Quench Her Thirst

Before Addie could spit it out, it burst on her tongue and it was every bit as bad as she had feared. Cold, salty, slimy blood filled her mouth and dripped down the back of her throat. For amoment, she was desperately afraid that she was going to puke, right there at the table, but somehow she managed not to.

She wanted to spit the mouthful of blood out in the worst way, but when she grabbed her white linen table napkin, she couldn’t help noticing that the three members of the Council of Aged Ones were all staring at her. So instead, with a massive effort, she swallowed the slimy blood and then groped for her water glass.

Only it wasn’t water—it was something fiery and alcoholic that made her throat burn as she gulped it down. Addie didn’t care—even if it felt like her mouth was on fire, at least the liquor was washing the taste of the blood cube out of her mouth. She kept drinking.

It took nearly the entire large goblet of liquor to completely rid her of the taste of blood, but finally it was gone. She sat the golden goblet down with a sigh and patted her mouth and chin with the linen napkin to be sure no traces were left.

“My, my—you must have beenthirsty!”Lx Sambla was staring at her with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen a lady drink so muchgupchain one sitting.”

“It’s really good,” Addie said, though she had no idea if the liquor was actually good or not. Her tongue and throat were still on fire and it felt like someone had set off a bomb in her stomach. She certainly hoped the rest of the feast was better than this!

Unfortunately, it wasn't. The second course arrived and it was a salad made of fresh purple, green, and orange leaves. That would have been fine but it was drizzled with a bright red, blood salad dressing. Addie did her best to pick around it, but each leaf was pretty well coated in the stuff and when shedidmanage to get a bite without blood on it, she found that the alien lettuce was extremely bitter and peppery.

Ugh—like arugula on steroids!she thought, pushing the blood-soaked leaves around her plate while pretending to eat them.This is almost worse than the blood cubes!

Next came a rare cut of some kind of steak which had been masterfully shaped into the animal it came from. It looked a little like a cross between a sheep and a horse, Addie decided as she examined it, since it had the squat body and short legs of a sheep and the long neck and face of a horse.

She might have tried it but she really didn’t like rare meat—she always asked for her steak medium well and barely pink in the middle. The strange sheep-horse steak was so rare it was bleeding all over the plate. In fact, Addie didn’t think it had been cooked at all—not even a tiny fraction.

She made small talk with Lx Sambla and drank more of thegupchaas she dismembered the steak beast with her knife and fork and hoped that the next course would be nicer.

It wasn’t. The next course was a palate cleanser—a small, dense, icy ball of blood sorbet. Addie stirred it morosely and watched as it melted into a bloody, icy puddle in the charming crystal cup it was served in.

Next came a blood soup which was served at a tepid temperature to keep the main ingredient from cooking too much. Even so, there were tiny grayish chunks of cooked blood floating in the dark red broth that Addie found nauseating. Still, she forged ahead, swirling her “toonsil” through the bloody mess and bringing it to her lips every so often to pretend to sip, followed by more of the fierygupcha.

By now she was really beginning to feel the alcohol—her limbs felt loose and she was slightly dizzy. She told herself she ought to stop drinking on an empty stomach but the server kept pouring her more and at least itlookedlike she was eating dinner.

But her pretense wasn’t fooling Lx Sambla.

“But my lovely one, you’re not eating!” He looked at her anxiously. “Is our native Vargan cuisine not to your liking?”

“Oh no—it’s de…delicious!” Addie exclaimed quickly, not wanting to offend. Her words were coming out a bit slurry, but she hoped he wouldn’t notice. “It’s jusht, I meanjustthat I had a really big meal before coming here,” she added weakly. “I’m so shorry. I mean sorry—I don’t mean to give offense. I didn’t know we’d be going to a feasht. Afeast, I mean.”

“No, of course not. Please don’t give it another thought,” Sambla said smoothly. “But even though you haven’t had much for dinner, I’m sure you’re going tolovedessert! Look, here come the servers now.”

Addie turned to look over her shoulder, hoping against hope that there would be a leastonemenu item that wasnotbased on blood in any way. She really needed to put something solid in her stomach to soak up all the alcohol she’d been drinking!

Sadly, she was disappointed—though she didn't know it at first. When the server placed a gorgeous little pie, complete with a crispy, golden crust sprinkled with sparkly sugar crystals in front of her, she clapped her hands in delight.

“Oh good—this looks delicious!” She smiled at Sambla and eagerly dug in, breaking the perfect crust with the tines of her fork-like instrument.

But as the crust cracked, blood began to well up out of it and drip gruesomely onto the white plate the pie had been placed on.

Addie could barely contain her disappointment.

“Oh,no!”she sighed unhappily, putting down her knife and fork. It seemed so unfair that she was being fed a totally blood-based diet. The Kindred had never imposed such weird dietary standards on Lx Sambla when he visited the Mother Ship!

Speaking of Sambla, he was looking at her anxiously.

“What is it, lovely one?” he asked. “Is the blood pie not to your liking?”

“Oh no, ish wonerful!” Addie slurred quickly. “It’s jusht that…that I really can’t afford to eat it. I mean, because of the, um, diet I’m on, you know.” She patted her stomach and grimaced apologetically.

“Ah, I see.” Lx Sambla nodded. “Well don’t worry—I’m sure your diet will work eventually. In the meantime, there’s simply more of you to love.”

Addie didn’t know how to feel about this backhanded compliment but luckily the feast seemed to be coming to an end. People were finishing their desserts and pushing the bloody pie plates away. Then the three old women on the Council of Aged Ones rose from their padded bench at the end of the table.

“Will all the eligible, un-bonded young women please meet us at the doorway of the Room of Sighs?” Ls Prissa asked, her voice coming out sounding loud and strong and surprisingly young considering her obvious age. “The Council of Aged Ones will be picking which of you will be in the Choosing Ceremony in just a few moments.”

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