Page 98 of Carnal: The Beast Who Loved Me

“Does Serene know we’re not going to be there for supper?”

“Of course. I’m not rude or disrespectful to my mother, Rosie.”

He sounded offended. Rosie decided it was time she turned the tables and got to know Carnal better.

As they rode through the city center, Rosie noticed Exiled here and there. She’d come to recognize their characteristics well enough that she could spot them from a distance. Red, the master builder she’d met when the Commons porch was added on, was standing at the edge of the park talking to a few other hybrids.

Carnal slowed and parked near the open air produce market. She swung her leg over the machine like she was dismounting a horse and stood waiting to be shown the way, since there was nothing around that looked remotely like a restaurant.

He put his hand at the small of her back and said, “Over here,” pointing to the center aisle of the market. The market was winding down for the day. Vendors were closing up, setting fruit and vegetables out for pickup that would not be farm fresh the next day, and covering their spaces. Rosie saw that they were headed toward a rear archway that opened into a courtyard.

Tables and chairs that looked like they hadn’t been repaired or refinished since the Disruption were strategically placed and there were some very pleasant smells coming from an unseen kitchen nearby.

An older woman wearing a saffron-colored tunic, ambled out. “You eating?”

“Yes,” Carnal said. “There are two of us.”

The woman’s eyes swept over Rosie. “I see that. You eating outside?”

Carnal looked at Rosie. “Outside okay?”

She shrugged. “Sure. It’s nice enough.” She looked around thinking that either there were no other customers or all the other diners had opted for inside. It was on the cool side, but she was dressed for it.

“Pick a table,” said the woman. “I don’t suppose you want wine.”

When Carnal looked at Rosie, she smiled and nodded. “White. Chardonnay if you have it.”

“White?” The hostess, who had the air of a surly proprietor, practically guffawed. “Have you been asleep for a quarter century? Got red. You want it or not?”

Rosie looked up at Carnal. “What are you having?”

“Ale. Just like you serve a hundred times a day.”

“I’ll have the same, please,” Rosie told the woman.

“No wine. Just like I thought,” she grumbled.

As they sat down at a corner table, Rosie said, “I gotta tell you, if the food’s not better than the hospitality, you’re on the wrong end of persuasive.”

“Keep your shirt on. The fish things are worth it.”

“Is she acting like that because you’re hybrid, or because I’m here with you, or because she’s just an asshole?”

“One or three.”

“One or three what?”

“She either acts like that because I’m hybrid or because she’s an asshole. I don’t know which, but I’ve been here without you and it’s always the same. So it’s not because I’m here with a human.”

“Ah.” A teenage boy set down two mugs of ale with a big smile. She thanked him and, when he was gone, said, “So we know bad manners is not policy.” Carnal nodded, but didn’t smile. “Look. What I said about Serene, I wasn’t making a dig at your character. Where I’m from people forget things like that. It doesn’t mean they’re bad people. It just means they’re preoccupied.”

“Okay,” he said. “I guess I want you to think highly of me. Maybe I want that too much.” He looked away like saying that out loud was embarrassing.

“I do think highly of you, Carnal. That brings me to the other thing I wanted to talk about.”

He leaned back in his chair and took a swig of ale. “What’s that?”

“You.”