Page 27 of I Married Amreth

“Well then, you’ll just have to be disciplined.”

I snorted and gave him an incredulous look, unsure how to interpret his expression, which was the perfect mix of serious with a hint of mischief.

“Good luck with that!” I said with a dare.

“On that front, I do not need luck, Ciara,” he said, his voice dipping an octave in a way that sounded both threatening and full of promises.

My stomach did a backflip, and I suddenly found myself again admiring his insanely attractive appearance. I didn’t know how I felt about him. Physically, he was a billion out of ten. Personality wise, it would take me some time to adjust to him. I just took comfort in this glimpse of his playful side.

Part of me wished that I didn’t know he was my soulmate as our relationship would then be given a chance to grow organically. Instead, I felt compelled to just be swept off my feet because I knew we were meant to be. That would have been fine if not for my stupid excessively analytical mind that always needed to look for the potential flaws that could have bad repercussions later down the road. I needed to relax and just let things happen. After all, he had traveled halfway through the galaxy to rescue me on a leap of faith.

And Kayog was never wrong.

“But on a more serious note, what can I do to help? I am many things, but definitely not a scientist,” he said with an apologetic look.

I smiled. “Actually, your arrival could not have been more perfect. These people do not yet have advanced transportation or communication systems. They do have the equivalent of CBs for radio communication. But as you can guess, that’s far too restrictive for our needs. We must visit the other villages to try and get a better sense of what could be the cause of the illness spreading to other tribes.”

“Of course, I’ll be glad to fly you. Somehow, I doubt Aku would be too keen on letting me take you inside my shuttle,” he added pensively.

“Agreed. At least, not right now. The people here in Bryst have been nice to us, but the other villages have never met a human in person before. Since their only knowledge of us is of how our actions may be the cause of what is destroying their people, I doubt they would welcome a shuttle until we’ve had a chance to establish some sort of rapport. I was going to ride on one of their mounts, but it would take hours to reach our destination. So you flying me would be great, assuming I’m not too heavy?”

I flinched as soon as I stated that last sentence. Obosians were reputed for their strength. I had a healthy weight which would put very little strain on him. I didn’t want him to think I only said that in order to fish for compliments.

The strangest emotion fleeted through his silver-white eyes. “Are you calling me weak, woman?” he asked with false outrage.

I snorted and instantly relaxed. “Not flat out, but I do have to account for the fact that being tall and broad-shouldered doesn’t necessarily mean being strong. There would be no shame in being on the feeble side,” I said teasingly.

“You will soon discover that your soulmate is many things but not weak.”

He opened his mouth to say something else, hesitated, and then decided not to proceed. That had me burning with curiosity. With a certainty I couldn’t explain, he almost said something flirtatious. It sucked to want to court each other but having to tiptoe around because of the serious circumstances under which we met, on top of how unusual our situation was.

And yet, I secretly rejoiced that we got thrown into a relationship like this. There was no greater test for the strength of a couple than to face adversity together. So far, I truly liked his responses to this whole thing.

“Don’t mind if I put all of that to the test,” I replied with a taunt before sobering. “But you might also be of great help ona different front. I understand that Wardens are great hunters. From what Aku has told me, they’ve found increasing cases of wild beasts becoming rabid over the past nine years.”

“About the same time that second wave of illness started!” he exclaimed. “Had this type of rabies occurred before then?”

I shook my head, impressed by his analytical skills. “No. And we suspect that they are linked. Or rather Ernst emitted a few hypotheses as to what the cause could be. But we still need more data to be certain.”

“Hypothesis like what?” Amreth insisted.

“Our preliminary tests indicate no anomaly in their people. But we suspect that it might be the case of a misfolded prion,” I said pensively.

He raised an eyebrow, his face taking on a confused expression that immediately had my cheeks burning. As I rarely discussed my work with non-scientific people—as it usually puts laymen to sleep—I tended to forget to explain some of the notions that were common to me.

“Oh, sorry. Prions are like proteins inside organic things like people, animals, plants, etcetera. But if something contains a misfolded prion—meaning that it’s deformed—and you consume it, it is possible that it will cause catastrophic illness.”

“Consume it? So you think they’re eating something that’s poisoning them?” Amreth asked, looking taken aback.

I nodded. “Like I said, we’re still speculating, but it seems like the most probable theory.”

“If it is in the food, why is it only a small number of people becoming sick? Why not everyone? From what little I’ve seen, they seem to grow food for everyone. I would assume they also hunt as a tribe for the entire village. Or did I misinterpret things?”

“You are correct. However, some people are already immune because they got sick before and developed antibodies againstit,” I explained. “For others, maybe they ended up eating from the safe batch. But again, it is too early to say. We could be completely off.”

“Have you tested their food stores?” he asked.

I smiled, feeling stupidly proud of the keen interest that he was displaying as well as the ease with which he was following and asking insightful questions. I didn’t need a nerd, but I definitely wanted someone witty who could quickly think on their feet.

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