Page 25 of Ruthless Scoundrel
I laugh. “You must be one of those girls whose mood sours when they’re hungry.”
She whirls back to face me with fury in her pinched scowl. “No, I’m the kind ofwomanwhose mood sours when she’s a fucking prisoner to be sold!”
The wash of the surf is loud in my ears. Reina’s shoulders rise and fall heavily as she glares at me. It’ll do no good to apologize to her. It won’t do any good to tell the truth right now, either. I need to follow the plan. Grow her trust. If it’s a thing that can be grown. She is a Ki’ah Ohn, after all.
Doing this makes me sick to my stomach. I would much rather have her consent, so I have to try. I have to somehow get us to a place where we’re not enemies. I suck down a deep breath and steel my resolve.
I can do this. For my family, and my sanity, I will make her my ally.
Eventually.
I turn away from the rocks toward the sandy beachhead. “There are several edible plants and creatures in the shallowsthat are easier to catch than fish. If you’re starving and you don’t have the energy or tools to get a fish, these things can save your life.”
I crouch at the water’s edge and point to a spot where little bubbles are emerging from the sand. “This is an indication that there’s something below that you can likely eat.”
Reina watches intently as I dig my fingers into the sand and twist, churning it. The shell emerges as another wash of seawater comes over the hole I’ve created.
I hold the coin-sized clam up. “These have hard shells, but the meat inside is tender.”
“How do I get to the meat?” she asks, reaching out for it.
I drop it in her waiting palm. “You can smash it with a rock, or apply pressure at the joints here”—I point to the sides of the clam—“and that will force it open.”
Reina washes the sand off the shell and takes it back to the rocks near the waterfall. She holds the clam up on one end and then smacks the other joint with a smaller rock. The shell splits and the soft, white meat spills out, making Reina gasp.
“I did it,” she whispers, poking the clam. The creature flexes, retracting into the broken shell and she yanks her hand away like it’s shocked her.
She looks at me with a grimace. “Now what?”
“Eat it,” I say with a shrug.
Her tan face pales with horror. “Alive?”
The urge to tease her rises, but I don’t want to risk her ire again. “If you want to cook them, you can boil them in a pot inside their shell to kill them, but since we’re currently without a pot or a fire, you’ll have to eat it raw. It’s perfectly safe.”
“For selkies, perhaps,” she says, her nose wrinkled as she looks back down at the flexing clam. The shell is split in a way that’s pinching the underside of the creature.
“It’s suffering, princess. Eat it, or let me.” I hold out my hand.
Her eyes widen as she looks between me and the clam, then she hands it to me. “I didn’t realize,” she says, her face somber.
I pry the shell open and suck the clam out. Reina’s face pales until she’s nearly green as I chew.
“Oh, my gods,” she says in a dry heave.
Little grits of sand crunch between my flat Man-teeth. “It mainly tastes of the sea. The meat is soft and chewy, and the sand gets in it so it’s hard to avoid. It can be unsettling, but are you going to let your squeamishness starve you?”
She swallows hard and takes a deep breath. “I’ll find some nice fruit farther inland.”
“The fruit is more likely to be poisonous than the sea creatures,” I say.
“I’ll take my chances.”
She starts walking toward the trees and I follow.
“What about this?” she asks, pointing to a fallen coconut.
I nod. “It’s edible.”
