Page 35 of Claiming Sarah

She nodded once. “That is the tradition.”

Well, I don’t like the sound of that. At all.“That is not the news I had hoped for, Leda.”

Her hands twisted together anxiously in her lap. “I should have told you before we left. My apologies, Contra. Perhaps we should turn back—”

“No,” I said, cutting her off.

Her eyes widened. “Why not? Rex may take offense at the brazen nature of your visit. He could—”

“He can deal with it.”

Worry flashed in her eyes. “But, Contra, he could murder you.”

I gave her a tight smile. “From the sound of things, better people than Rex Terian have tried to kill me, and they failed. He will, too.” I hoped that sounded more confident than I felt.

“Forgive me, I know you are the contra and you killed Mother Portend. You are strong. I should not doubt you. But you are also a human, subject to the frailties of your lesser species—”

“Lesser?” I scoffed. “You think humans are less than Ladrians?”

“Of course,” she said with a frown, like I should have already known.

I laughed. To be calledlesserby this world’s equivalent of a slave tickled me.I bet Deacon could tell me if that was irony. Or Jac could, apparently. Once everything settles down, I should read more. Get better educated...maybe they have universities on Orhon. But they would probably start me in their pre-k…

Pushing my self-doubt aside, I smiled at Leda and said, “Well, that was insulting.”

“I do not mean to insult you, Contra,” Leda rushed to say. “I only meant, humans are more fragile, slower, dumber—”

“You are probably not familiar with this phrase butdig up,” I drawled sarcastically.

Confusion marred her brows. “I…there is nothing to dig in this ship. I do not understand.”

“A common Earth phrase. It refers to people who are messing up as, digging themselves a hole. So, when someone advises you to dig up, they are telling you to stop messing up.”

“My apologies.” She dropped to the floor in front of me on her knees, bowing her head to the floor.

“Please don’t do that,” I said, hating the idea of being worshipped. “Not ever again.”

She stood up and sat in the chair Deacon had recently vacated. Much closer than she’d been before.

It put me on alert.

She smiled seductively. “I am sorry, Contra. I would never intend to make you uncomfortable.”

She is making me uncomfortable right now.“Is that a fact?”

“Of course. It is as I said before. I am here to serve you in whatever way you would like. I can make you feel all kinds of things.” She placed her hand on my knee, and it crept up my leg.

I quickly shoved her hand away. “No, Leda.”

She had the gall to look hurt. “I am only doing as I was trained.”

“First of all, you are not in a position to give consent, and secondly, I don’t mess around with girls. Of any species,” I said, trying to be gentle with her. “Okay, there were those couple of times at house parties back when I was a teenager, but that was just kissing, and a little groping, and it didn’t really work for me, so no, Leda. I am not interested in whatever it was you were offering.”

“What is kissing?” she asked eagerly.

I had forgotten Ladrians didn’t kiss—Jac did, but that was because he learned from humans in his travels and had come to enjoy it. The first time I had kissed Deacon, he had frozen up, confused by what I was doing. Now, thank goodness, we all enjoyed kissing each other.

“Kissing is when you put your mouth on someone else’s mouth, and sort of meld together,” I attempted to explain. “Your tongues can become entwined, but not always. It’s a part of human love.”

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