Page 19 of Carnal: The Beast Who Loved Me

He waved toward the south. “Just beyond the south wall. Come tomorrow when you’re done at work. I’ll show you around.”

Rosie smiled, glad that they could end the walk on a more pleasant note. “I will.”

As promised, the next day Rosie looked around the Commons and saw that everything was in its place and spotless so that Scar wouldn’t have cause for complaint when he came in to take over the night shift. She deposited her apron in the laundry bin and set off for the south wall.

She unlatched the narrow gate and walked through. The first thing she saw on the other side was a large Exiled male, probably in his forties. He was craggy, but attractive, like every single one of the Exiled hybrids.

A quick calculation in her head told Rosie the man would have been in his mid-teens during the exodus to Newland, probably too young to have experienced some of the atrocities she’d heard about.

“Where you headed, human?” He seemed more amused than annoyed.

She had to angle her head back to make eye contact. “Charming invited me.”

The guy hooted. “Aguestof Charming’s? Well, in that case…”

“Track!” Rosie followed the direction of the commanding voice and saw that Free was standing off to the side of the field where young people, boys and girls, were going through maneuvers. “Let her pass,” he ordered.

Rosie gave ‘Track’ a look as she stepped past him. He was unfazed and responded with a wink and a smile that made her feel more uncomfortable than any encounter with Exiled up to that point. Track’s leering interest was more disturbing than Scar’s outright hostility.

She walked away from the gate, staying close to the wall so that she could observe, but stay out of the way. By her count, the ratio of boys to girls was about seven to one. The girls were dressed in the same clothes as the boys, but gender differences were conspicuous. If she’d been asked to name the most remarkable thing about the event, it would have been seeing the Exiled in action. Their strength and grace was both astounding and beautiful to watch.

Compared to young athletic humans, they could jump twice as high, run three times as fast, and, apparently, take a lot of punishment and laugh it off. Charming jogged over to where she was spectating, clearly glad to see her.

“You came.” He grinned.

“Said I would.”

“Come on. I’ll introduce you to my friends.”

It didn’t escape Rosie’s notice that Charming was showing her off, sometimes introducing her with a postscript that she was staying at his house. At one point she noticed Free watching them. It could have been her imagination, but she thought he looked concerned. She hoped the Extant didn’t think she had a romantic interest in Charming, that he knew Charming’s friendly easygoing ways had been her support while she was making an adjustment to the Exiled and Newland society. She really didn’t want to be seen as a potential ‘older woman’ threat.

On that note, she decided that, perhaps, she should see less of Charming. The last thing she wanted was to be a problem of any kind. The whole point of a break was to lie low and regroup emotionally.

“I’m not coming in tomorrow,” Dandy announced. “Going down to the market at Farsuitwail.”

Rosie wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with that information. “You mean I’ll be doingourjobs? Alone. With no one to talk to?”

Dandy cocked both her headandher hip. “You do what you do every day. Just not with me.”

“Oh.” Rosie frowned for half a second, then smiled. “So I’ll be the boss.”

Dandy snorted. “You wish.”

It was the friendliest Dandy had been to date and it made Rosie smile like she’d scored a coup.

The next morning she was in the kitchen before Serene and Free had left, which meant early.

“You’re up early,” Serene said.

“I’m on my own at the Commons today.” She realized she sounded a little excited and sort of proud about that.

“Oh? Dandelion’s not feeling well?” Serene asked.

Free stopped what he was doing and looked over, interested in Rosie’s response.

Instead of answering, Rosie was sidetracked and asked Serene, “You call her Dandelion?”

“Yes. I know her mother.”