Page 51 of Unfinished

“I’ll go. That’ll be Jesthi with the chocolate,” he said as he stood and bowed his head to her.

He walked over to the door, blocking the opening with his body as he took a tray from Jesthi. The soft sounds of their conversation didn’t last long before R’kash closed the door and returned, setting the tray on the bed beside her. He removed his robes and set them over the stand he’d used the previous night before he sat down to join her.

She picked up her cup of chocolate and took a sip. It’d been a good idea to ask for it. The warm, thick beverage was soothing in the same way a cup of tea or chicken soup could bring comfort. She snuck a glance at the magnificent planes of R’kash’s sculpted body. No one would’ve guessed that a man his age who looked like that could possibly be so inexperienced. If she’d understood him correctly, what he’d said meant that he’d only had sex a total of three times in his life. If she’d known, she wouldn’t have been so aggressive.I want to feel you moving inside of me—no one would say she hadn’t come on strong.

She winced as she took another drink of her chocolate. R’kash was holding the med-device to the same place where he’d been pressing his hand earlier. She hoped it was bringing him some relief, but from everything she’d been told, she feared it’d only be temporary.

When he set the device back on the tray, he lifted his chocolate and smiled at her before he drank. “I feel much better now. I’m sorry if I frightened you, Sienna, but I also wasn’t expecting my venom to come in so early, if at all. There are many couples who aren’t compatible in that way, but I must admit I’m happy we are.”

“I’m glad the device helped, and I listened to what you said, but I still feel the same way. I’m ready when you are, but I’ll let you lead,” she told him.

She set her chocolate down, and R’kash got up from the bed and cleared away the tray. When he returned, he walked to the foot of the bed. He got on and moved closer so that he was on his knees right in front of her. He reached for her face, and then he let his fingers glide through her hair until he gripped it tight at the nape of her neck. He looked down at her, and that familiar fire was back.

“Let’s continue what we started,” he told her huskily, lowering his mouth to take hers in a dizzying kiss.

The taste of chocolate clung to their tongues, its richness infusing the kiss with a complex sweetness. Sienna wrapped her arms around him and held on tight as he lowered her to the bed. As he worked his way down her body, pushing up her shirt and unfastening her pants, his soft lips and the scrape of his fangs lit a trail of tantalizing fire. She was writhing beneath him by the time he cupped her between her legs, groaning as he pressed a fingertip against the dampened fabric of her underwear. He hissed as he worked the panties down her legs, and when he lowered his face and licked right where he’d rubbed with his finger, she knew that waiting for R’kash to be ready wouldn’t be a hardship.

22

Another three dayshad passed at Evathi, and Sienna had finally unpacked and was feeling like she could get around the big building without a guide. Since their talk that night, she and R’kash had been better than ever. He didn’t seem to be suffering too much from the venom sickness, so she didn’t ask him about it. Although he’d spent plenty of time with her and Veesha every day, the temple was a hive of activity in preparation for the harvest festival.

The big day was tomorrow, as was Veesha’s birthday celebration. That’s why she was camped out in the kitchen trying to figure out a Xithilene style cookbook with Neevish, the self-proclaimed cooking expert among the priests.

“Won’t such soft foods get stuck in your teeth?” he was asking, mouth wrinkling in distaste as he responded to her description of cake.

“That’s what toothbrushes are for—and water. Do you think we can make something similar or not?” she asked.

Sienna had several different packaged Christmas cookies and candies stashed away in one of her bags upstairs, but she hadn’t figured out a way to bring a cake that would last. Maybe the fruitcake she’d gotten from the little mom and pop bakery in Tasha’s neighborhood could work. The options here seemed limited, and she was not making cornbread for Veesha’s birthday no matter how many times Ivekth waved those ripe ears in front of her face. Evathi’s priests were all still under the mistaken impression that corn was every human’s favorite food, a bit of an insult after she’d learned that outside of ceremonial uses, they primarily used it to feed livestock.

“Veesha likes fruit. Why can’t we just sing the song while she eats thev’ahissberries H’viss went to gather?” Neevish asked as he set down the tablet device he’d been using. He was leaning against the deep counter where the priests prepared most of their food.

Sienna tried picturing it, three birthday candles somehow balanced among a tower of wobbling berries. Nope. That wasn’t going to work, but they had honey and ground maize for thickening…she could crumble some of the cookies she’d brought for a crust and make the filling for a pie.

“You know what? Thev’ahissberries are a great idea, but you might need to contact H’viss and let him know we’ll need a lot more. I know just what we should do with them,” she said with a grin.

He flicked a thick, dark nail at the little tablet. “Will I be needing this any longer?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’ll need some honey, powdered maize and some sort of fat product, but I should be able to make something I think Veesha will like that can safely support the birthday candles too.”

“In that case, I’m going to check on the fields and see if Ivekth needs any assistance with the reaping machines. Everything should be harvested by the end of the day except for the maize in the ceremonial field, and it’s his first year overseeing the machines on his own.”

Neevish gave her a quick bow, dipping his head and his back knee, before he left her alone in the big kitchen. Maybe it shouldn’t have felt so homey with its soaring, arched ceiling and cobblestone floor, but the large room was comfortable and lived-in, easy in a way the ceremonial spaces just weren’t. It was quickly becoming one of her favorite places in the temple. The fact that it always smelled good and was home to a massive fireplace probably played a large part in her assessment.

She was getting ready to leave when Jesthi appeared with a large bag over his shoulder. He pointed to the table in the center of the room. “Please stay, lady. Faseeth and Veesha are coming, too. It’s time to make the fertility garlands. We’ll string them from a pole in the center of the great fire tomorrow night once they’ve all been claimed and blessed.”

Then Jesthi dumped out the contents of the bag: a giant pile of corn husks and glossy, butter yellow cornsilk.

“Are those like the ones you left in R’kash’s room the night I arrived?”

Jesthi lifted his feathers with a grin. “Yes. We can make them slightly smaller for the festival since we’ll need so many. We usually pray as we make them, but if that makes you uncomfortable, just think positive thoughts about healthy future children as you work.”

“How many will we need to make?” she asked.

“Maybe a hundred or so.”

Sienna idly picked up one of the corn husks and turned it around in her hand. “Can I ask you something personal?”

Jesthi looked around the space for a chair to drag over to the central table. “Of course. What is it?”

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