CARNAL, The Beast Who Loved Me (11 page)

She’d halfway expected to see Carnal downstairs, but like the rest of the family, he was, apparently, gone.

The night had brought a chill that made Rosie draw her shawl tighter on the short walk to the Commons. She hadn’t closed the door before Dandy was saying, “Build up the fire, Rosie. Every time the door opens, the heat goes with it.”

“Okay,” she said.

Rosie built the fire to a bright blaze, went through her list of chores that were practically second nature at that point, and stopped to have the sausage and biscuit snack she’d picked up from Serene’s kitchen on the way out.

“So…” she said, taking a bite.

After a minute, Dandy looked up from cleaning the ale tap. “So?”

“So, Carnal came home last night.”

“Carnal?” Dandy returned her attention to her task. “Did he?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

Dandy looked at Rosie like she was slow. “I’m his brother’s Promise. Of course I know him.” As realization dawned, Dandy narrowed her eyes. “Oh. No. Do not think what you’re thinking.”

Rosie looked up. “I’m not thinking anything. Just asking a question.”

“Yeah. Well, I’m just saying. Do not ask any more questions. That boy goes through humans like corn shucks. You’re a good worker and I’ve gotten used to you. I don’t want anything messing with that.”

“Dandy,” Rosie laughed, “I think there was a compliment in there.”

“What was ‘in there’ was a good stiff warning, if you have any sense at all.”

“Okay. Okay. I hear you. Carnal is a bad boy. Play with fire, you get burned, and all that.”

“Play with fire, you get burned? I like that. And it definitely fits. Exiled females wouldn’t take Carnal’s escapades seriously, but human females are different. They get the idea that a fuck is a promise. Or so I hear.”

Rosie nodded. “Got it.”

“Good. Back to work. And forget about Carnal.”

“Right.”

“You’re not forgetting about him, are you?”

“I am.” Dandy raised her eyebrows. “I am! Really!”

Dandy shook her head and turned back to cleaning the tap. “Don’t say I didn’t tell you.”

The door opened, letting in the chill. Rosie looked up to see Carnal striding toward the bar looking for all the world like he owned it. And everything else.

“Speak of a demon on horseback,” Dandy muttered and Rosie made a mental note to ask how that had come to be a saying.

Carnal took a stool right in front of her. “Dandelion,” he said while looking at Rosie.

“Carnal,” she answered matter-of-factly.

“Rosie.” He said her name in a way that was teasing, but also like he’d known her for a long time, intimately.

“Carnal.” Rosie tried to mimic Dandy’s off-handedness.

“What do you need?” Dandy asked him point blank.

“Why so hostile, sister? Just stopping by to say hello and welcome Kellareal’s guest.”

“Kellareal’s guest is off limits to you.”

Dandy got his attention for the first time. “Why does everybody keep saying that? It’s not as if I eat young maidens.”

“It’s exactly as if you eat young maidens,” Dandy countered.

He laughed at that. “There’s nothing scary about me, Dandy. I’ve never forced anything on a female and I never would.”

“Yeah,” she said. “You just go around being you.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Dandy just shook her head and turned her back to him.

“Well,” he said, as he cleaned the claws he’d extended on his right hand. Rosie watched with fascination, thinking the abnormality was oddly sexy. “Just thought it would be good to get to know the person who’s sleeping in my bed.” His chin remained dipped while his eyes found hers.

Rosie just blinked, not sure how to respond to that, and not wanting to become a corn shuck, metaphorically or any other way. But even with her limited experience, she could see that Dandelion was right. Rosie was unable to tear her gaze away, thinking that Carnal’s seductive looks and ways were trouble with a capital “T” and that rhymes with “D” and that stands for drool.

With effort she turned away and began stacking glasses for easy access to accommodate the lunch crowd. She didn’t turn around again, but after a few minutes heard Carnal say.

“Okay. Gotta go. Later, Dandy. Later, Rosie.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Rosie saw Dandy toss off an annoyed and dismissive wave. Rosie said, “Bye,“ but didn’t turn around.

Both of them felt the temperature drop when the door opened.

“You know,” said Rosie, “you need a vestibule.”

“A what?”

“Um, it’s like an entry inside a building, a space between an inner and outer door. In a climate like this one, it can act as a buffer against weather.”

Dandy stopped what she was doing and cocked her head to the side. Rosie was getting used to the fact that Exiled did that when they were confused, curious, or interested in something.

“Not sure I understand.”

“Okay. You need to build, er, have built, an enclosed porch on the other side of that door.” She pointed at the door. “When someone comes in, they open the outer door and close it before they open the door that leads into the Commons. It won’t keep
all
the cold out, but it would make a big difference.”

Dandy considered that for a couple of seconds. “We need to tell Scar. He could get that done.”

Rosie nodded, just as the first of the lunch diners began to file in, bringing the cloudy day chill with them. Dandy looked over and smiled like they shared a secret and nodded in return.

Rosie didn’t see Carnal again for two days. She supposed he was living in the house, occupying a bedroom on the same floor, but she never saw him coming or going. She also didn’t see him at the Commons or hunkered around any of the fires that burned around the settlement at night. She supposed that if he’d really been interested in her, she was worth more of a pursuit than a single short, casual flirt.

As Dandy’s confidence in Rosie’s ability to handle the bar alone had grown, she’d begun to duck out to the weaving barn after lunch. On one such day, one of the kids Rosie recognized as being a friend of Charming’s came rushing in looking wild-eyed.

“Give me a bottle of the whiskey. Charm’s hurt.”

Rosie stood on tiptoes and reached high for a full bottle. “Charming’s hurt?”

“Yeah. Broke his leg. We think.”

She handed over the bottle and rounded the bar, jogging toward the door. She pulled it open and ran smack into a wall of flesh named Carnal.

He grinned. “Hold on, human. What’s the hurry?”

“Charm’s been hurt,” the kid said on his way past without stopping.

Carnal jerked his gaze back to Rosie as his brows came down. His look was so fierce and scary, she could imagine that Carnal’s enemies would turn and run if they looked into the face of his anger.

“Hurt?” He didn’t wait for confirmation, but turned and ran after Charming’s friend with a speed that was dizzying.

By the time Rosie reached the training field, Carnal was kneeling on the ground next to Charming. Serene had also made it there ahead of her. Rosie felt eyes on her as she made her way to where Charming lay on the ground trying not to show the pain he was in.

She hesitated, remembering the promise she’d made Kellareal about not using her abilities, remembering how her father felt about clean lines between right and wrong, promises being on the side of right, breaking them being on the side of wrong. She weighed that against her feelings about the kindness and acceptance Charming had shown her, a stranger wearing the appearance of Exiled’s creators and oppressors.

Serene’s friend, the midwife, had cut Charming’s pant leg away. When she touched it, to examine the break, Charming jerked, his face in such agony, Rosie couldn’t stand it. Telling herself that no one, including Kellareal, would ever know, she closed her eyes and saw the leg mended, stronger than before. For good measure she held an image of a big smile on Charming’s face for an extra second.

When she opened her eyes, she’d walked closer without realizing it and was standing only a few feet away.

“Hold on.” Charming pushed the midwife’s hands away. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. It must have just been a spasm.”

Rosie felt more than saw Carnal’s eyes on her. She wanted to ignore him, but he was a powerful presence. When she looked his direction, he’d turned his attention back to Charming.

“That’s impossible,” said the midwife, but it was hard to argue with Charming when he was getting to his feet laughing. Everybody watching knew that even whiskey couldn’t make that much of a difference.

Carnal looked around before his eyes settled on one of the trainers. “Track, what happened?”

Rosie noticed that Carnal’s voice was rougher than the one he used when he spoke to her.

“He did a flip over Tag, showing off. He came down too close to where Fray and Dominion were sparring with rods and caught a backswing.” Track shrugged. “Happens. You know that better than most.”

Carnal scanned the onlookers and spied Fray looking close to devastated. He walked over to where Fray stood and said, “Come with me.” Fray didn’t look happy, but did as he was told. Carnal walked up a berm in silence until he judged that they were out of earshot. “Did you mean to hurt Charming?”

Fray blanched. “No! Charm’s my friend.”

“Then you’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” Fray stared.

When he said nothing, Carnal followed his statement with, “Right?”

“I, uh…”

“Stop that stammering. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. Right?”

Fray looked into Carnal’s eyes for a full minute before saying, “Right,” almost too quietly to be heard.

“Then don’t worry about it. Training field injuries are part of our lives. Sometimes we get. Sometimes we give.” Fray nodded slowly. “Alright then. Get back to work. I’m going to take my brother for a brew.”

Fray smiled at that and nodded again.

Carnal walked straight to Charming. Putting his big hand on his youngest sibling’s shoulder, he spoke to Track. “I’m taking my brother home to change his pants and getting him a drink. He’ll be back tomorrow.”

Track’s eyes flicked from Carnal to Charming. He didn’t look like he was completely down with that suggestion, but shrugged, letting it go.

When Rosie got back to the bar, Dandy was waiting.

“You left the bar unattended.”

“Charming was hurt.”

“Yeah. I heard. But you left the bar unattended.”

“Charming was hurt.”

“You get cuckoo disease or something?”

“I wanted to go see for myself.”

“Why?”

Rosie gaped. “Because I live in the same house with him. Because when I first came here, he was the only person who treated me like a person for a long time. Because I was worried about him. That enough?”

Dandy sighed. “It is,” she said quietly. “But you can’t leave the bar unattended.”

Rosie crossed her arms over her chest. “I’d do the same thing if it was you.”

Dandy tried not to smile, but lost the battle. “So you going to make a list of people who’d be worthy of post abandonment?”

Rosie smiled in return. “Maybe.”

Dandy shook her head, but turned away still smiling. “So how is he?”

“Okay. Turned out to be just a spasm or something.”

“A cramp? How does a kid with brothers like Carnal and Crave fall down and cry hurt over a cramp?” Rosie pulled up short, realizing she hadn’t thought about the fact that, in a warrior society, a miraculous recovery might make Charming look like a pussy. “Well, never mind. I’m back now. So you might as well go ahead and take off.”

“Okay. Thanks. No harm done, right? I mean nobody stole anything.”