CARNAL, The Beast Who Loved Me (13 page)

“Yes. That would have been a shame.”

Rosie made her way back to her temporary retreat and made her room even more girlie just to irritate Carnal in the unlikely event he might see it again while she was still there. If she’d been asked why she cared, she wouldn’t have known what to say.

Supper at the Extant’s house was an entirely different experience with the oldest son in residence. Whereas dinner conversation was usually quiet and subdued, Carnal kept everyone laughing with stories from Farsuitwail. Reading between the lines, Rosie pieced it together that human females were infatuated with Exiled’s hybrid males, a fact that was met with considerable consternation on the part of human males.

Rosie sat back and observed the dynamic. It was easy to see that Carnal was adored by his family. They soaked up his presence like sponges that were afraid they might not see water again for a long time. She found herself thinking that, when he left again, he’d leave them mourning for more. And there was no doubt in her mind that he
would
be leaving again.

She’d been pushing a piece of squash around her plate when she heard her name.

“Hmmm?” she said.

Carnal was wearing an amused look. “I said, how do you like it here?”

“I like it fine, Carnal.”

“How does it compare to, uh, where you’re from?”

“Oh,” she smiled, “there’s a world of difference.”

“Ha!” Charming barked out. “Funny. I told you she’s smart
and
funny.”

“Yeah, you did,” Carnal smiled at Rosie, while Free and Serene exchanged worried glances.

“I gave Rosie a tour of the Weavers’ Barn today.”

Free stopped eating. “You did?”

“Yes. After the scare at the training field.” Serene looked at Charming pointedly.

“That was not my fault,” he said, shaking his head.

Serene went on. “I’ve suggested that Rosie might want to teach, in her spare time.”

“Rosie has spare time?” Charming looked at Rosie like she’d been holding out on him.

“You know, like when I take walks with you at night sometimes?”

“Yeah?” he said.

“That’s spare time.”

“Oh, well. If that’s what you mean by
spare
time.”

“What do
you
mean by spare time?” Rosie put the question back to Charming.

“Time when there’s nothing going on that you want to do.”

Rosie laughed. “Oh. Okay. Well, that would be never.”

Carnal had been studying Rosie throughout her exchange with Charming. “Are you interested in teaching, Rosie?” Carnal asked quietly in a tone she hadn’t heard him use all evening. It was not his entertaining storyteller voice, or his I’m-taking-charge voice that she’d heard him use on the training field, or his seductive voice that he’d used sitting at the bar. It could have almost been described as tender.

“I haven’t decided. But maybe. I’m going to hang out when I can and see if anything fits.” Her eyes flicked toward the end of the table where his mother sat. “That’s Serene’s suggestion.”

Carnal looked at his mother briefly before retraining his focus on Rosie, only his tone had changed. “Logical. What do you think you’re qualified to teach?”

It sounded a little like a challenge.

“Might surprise you, Carnal.”

“Might. You know how to read?”

Rosie barked out a laugh. “Yes. I know how to read.”

“Write?”

“What is this?”

“Just trying to find out what you have to teach Exiled?”

“I know a lot of languages.”

Carnal grinned. “Only one language here. Do you know math?”

“I could teach calculus, but I definitely wouldn’t enjoy it.”

“What’s calculus?”

“It’s advanced math that has to do with establishing volume.” She looked at Free. “I could teach how not to be like the frog that complacently sits in a pot of heating water until it explodes, when it could have jumped out.”

Free kept his expression stoic, but his head jerked up slightly at that.

Carnal looked between Rosie and Free and said, “What?!?”

Rosie looked at Carnal. “Don’t tell me. You don’t know what a frog is.”

“Look,” Serene interrupted, hoping to steer the conversation in a different direction. “We have a plan. Rosie’s going to visit the barn and decide what feels right, but I’m hoping she can teach something like, well, like innovation, different ways of thinking about things.”

Carnal looked at Rosie, but addressed his mother. “What makes you think she knows anything about
innovation
?”

“Carnal!” Serene’s tone had taken a marked change toward warning, “You’re being rude.”

“Not intending to be rude. Just trying to find out why you think Exiled young could benefit from human teachings.”

Rosie wasn’t sure why Carnal seemed suddenly hostile. Serene stood up and bared her fangs. “Who’s in charge of education, Carnal?”

“You are, Mom.”

That was the first time Rosie had heard one of the sons address a parent with a title of endearment, but she didn’t have to wonder why. Serene was scary when she got her fur up.

“That’s right.
I’m
in charge. Who teaches and what they teach is up to me. I don’t tell you…” She stopped dead still as if recognition of what she’d been about to say was as painful as an appendectomy without anesthesia.

“That’s right, Mom,” Carnal said quietly and calmly. “You give me respect. I crossed a line and I’m sorry. I do respect what you do and how you do it.”

If he wasn’t sincere, he fooled Rosie because she would swear that he meant what he was saying. Somewhere in her treasure trove of memories was one of her father saying he wouldn’t give two dimes for a man who didn’t know how to apologize when he needed to. He’d also said the same about a man who would treat his mother badly.

Serene relaxed visibly and sat back down. Free all but smirked at his son openly. Rosie took that to mean that he’d been on the receiving end of Serene’s displeasure himself.

“This venison is perfection,” Free said, with an upbeat tone that seemed out of place in light of the recent exchange.

Everybody looked at him for a minute, then burst out laughing. The tension was broken and, just like that, it was over.

CHAPTER SIX

“
I’m off.” Dandy’s routine had become predictable. Every day at two-thirty she said goodbye and left Rosie in charge until Scar arrived at four-thirty. On her way out, she said, “They’re starting work on that thing you suggested tomorrow.”

Rosie had to think for a minute. “The vestibule?”

“Whatever. They said they’ll try to not interfere with lunch traffic, but ‘try’ is a word with broad interpretation.”

Rosie chuckled. “Yes. It is. It will be worth some hassle. You’re going to love it. You’ll see.”

Dandy waved over her shoulder without looking back.

Everything was done, which meant the next two hours would define boredom. Rosie tapped her fingers on the polished bar as her eyes wandered to the end, where the gray cat sat looking like it was fantasizing that she was a lion and Rosie was her prey.

Carnal entered the Commons quietly and watched as Rosie worked behind the bar. She was drying glasses one by one, holding them up to the light before putting them in the next place in line on the shelf. She was so lost in thought, she hadn’t realized that she wasn’t alone until he said, “What’re you thinking about?”

She jumped. And something about her surprise made him chuckle. It was a rusty sound and an even rustier feeling. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed. He eased onto one of the stools facing the bar.

She went on working, studiously ignoring him while he waited patiently, enjoying watching her as much as she liked being watched.

When he broke the silence again, it was to ask, “You ever been in love, Rosie?”

She paused mid swipe for just a fraction of a second before she continued wiping down the bar, but seemed to be considering the question.

“I think so.”

“What happened?”

She stopped and met his gaze across the polished wood.

“I thought he was the best thing that ever happened to a penis. But he chose work over me. Maybe it was a hard choice, but he made it look way too easy.” She shrugged. “I didn’t see myself taking second place behind a job.”

Carnal’s face took on a more serious expression. “What kind of job?”

“Well,” she paused again, “it’s kind of hard to explain. In my world there are monsters and there are people who try to protect innocents from those monsters.”

“He’s a monster killer.”

“Yes.”

“Is he good at it?”

“I don’t know. But my guess would be yes.”

“What would happen in your world if everybody who was good at killing the monsters stopped doing it because someone in their life wanted them to stay safe?”

Rosie’s mind froze while she examined that question from every angle possible. She didn’t want to confront the obvious answer so she skirted past it. “All I know is that I didn’t want to spend my life waiting and worrying that he wasn’t coming back.”

“So you made good on your promise and left.”

Rosie stopped polishing the bar and looked down at the cloth she was holding in her hand. “Yeah.” The cat jumped up to the end of the bar effortlessly, pranced between them waving her tail like a challenge, and sat herself down right in front of Carnal. When he reached out to pet her, the cat purred loudly while giving Rosie a look so full of malice that she understood why humans had once thought animals could be possessed by evil spirits. Rosie drew a cider and set it in front of Carnal.

“Well, his loss is my gain.”

“You’re going to get cat hair in your cider,” Rosie admonished.

Carnal smiled as he continued petting the cat. “I’ll be careful.”

Rosie shrugged. “It’s
your
digestive system. Don’t come crying to me when you have a hair ball stuck in your throat.”

He laughed at that. “Do you have a fantasy about me coming to you crying, Rosie?”

The cat squinted its eyes in an expression that resembled gloating. “Bitch,” said Rosie, as she turned away.

“What?”

Over her shoulder she said, “That cat. She
hates
me.”

He looked down at the cat like she couldn’t possibly be talking about the same animal. “Catty Kay?” Carnal grinned and the cat purred even louder, partially closing her repulsive yellow eyes. “She’s a sweetheart.”

“She’s a monster in a fur fucking coat.”

Carnal was about to laugh out loud, but when Rosie passed by them, the cat reached out and drew blood by slashing her bare arm with claws bared. Rosie hissed in a breath at the sting. When she waved her hand out of reflex, Catty Kay went flying through the air making a yeowling noise so ugly that Carnal wanted to cover his ears. The cat smashed against the far wall at the end of the bar then landed on her feet and began shaking her head like she had something stuck in an ear.

Carnal walked around the bar and went through the swinging doors to the kitchen. When he returned, Rosie was washing the cut with a clean rag.

“Here,” he said. “This will fix you right up.”

He held up a glass jar ointment. He took her hand and looked at the cut. “It’s not bad.” He began applying a small amount of the topical solution, whatever it was. “How did you do that?” he asked.