Page 47 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

“Sort of.” Ga Eun blushed prettily. “I found a way to use the sand and pack it together like clay. It’s been fun exploring all the different plants here.” She pointed to the purple pillow beneath Sara’s arm. “I dyed that after finding a bug that excreted in colors.”

“That’s… not gross at all.”

Ga Eun grinned and offered her a gold cup. “I’m pretty sure Korben gave this to you already, but it’s called dama—”

“Water.”

“Right.” Ga Eun tilted her head. “From what Rune told me, the Plutonians have different types of water. There’s the one you drink and the sacred one that gives the Healer his power. It is said that only a pure Plutonian can access that lake.”

“Just like only Plutonians can control the zapten.” She paused. “But Ga Eun, what if a species other than a Plutonian can access those things?”

Ga Eun’s lips tightened and then she shook her head. “No. I doubt that. If it’s never been done before, then it can’t be done now.”

Sara studied Ga Eun’s shifting eyes and wondered what the other woman was hiding. She wanted to push but decided to change the subject instead.

Pointing to a triangular creamy item, she asked. “What’s this?”

“This is gitd. It’s like cheese, but it comes from the sap of a tree and it hardens when left out in the sun. It’s really great with this.” She pointed to a flat, bread-like substance. “Tumari.”

“Can I taste it?”

Ga Eun nodded encouragingly.

Sara tossed a piece of the gitd and tumari into her mouth and almost moaned aloud. “That’s fantastic!”

“Thanks.”

“Were you a cook back home?”

“No. I was in school to be an accountant.”

Sara swallowed and reached for another piece more confidently this time. “Wow.”

“One night, I woke up on a spaceship in my nightclothes with no idea how I’d gotten there.”

Sara’s stomach turned at the memory of her own abduction. “I got chased through the forest and beamed up.”

Ga Eun shuddered. “What happened next?”

“I got drugged.”

“They didn’t drug us back then. I don’t think they understood kidnapping yet. We weren’t bound or anything. And one of the girls got away and tried to take over the plane.”

“What?”

“She died fighting for her freedom, but her actions caused enough of a disturbance that the pilot lost control of the ship and we crashed. In the chaos, three of us got away. The other two women were hunted down and killed. I would have been next.” Ga Eun paused. “But a Plutonian rescued me.”

“Rune,” Sara whispered.

“He took me back to his dwelling and tried to keep me a secret, but his brother found out about me.” She winced. “The Plutonian way of life is a choice and not everyone makes the choice to protect and honor women.”

“His brother tried to hurt you?”

She nodded. “Rune and his brother fought, and he ended up killing him to protect me. It broke his heart.” She stared sadly at her hands. “And made him wary of exposing me to his species. He knew what the tribas would do to him if he admitted to murder without offering me up as evidence, so we ran away and the rest is history.”

“That means you haven’t actually seen anyone for three years?”

“No, it’s been only me, Rune and our—”