Page 20 of 20% Blood 80%
Silver stared at my fingers before I held the delicacy up to his mouth.
“It’s soft,” I said in a low voice I barely recognized. “Two mouthfuls of deliciousness.”
That hazy look, the same one as when I’d taken blood from him, met my eyes as he bit down with his blunt teeth.
Silver’s lips brushed my fingertips, and I gulped as he took exactly half.
His neck flushed pink as he pressed the remainder still dangling in my fingertips to my parted lips before stepping away. “Thanks. It’s good. Bit like avocado.”
“It’s a favorite on D’ulanna.” I swiped my hands together in front of me, dusting off imaginary soil to keep from wiping a smear of fruit from the corner of Silver’s mouth. The sala’s rich, creamy center melted on my tongue, but a drop from Silver’s mouth would taste even better. “The remaining flesh can be cooked into many things. I can make a stew if I can find the right ingredients.”
The overhead sprinklers turned on two rows over, dousing us in mist.
“Ask C. She might know.” Silver grunted, dragging his gaze away, and moved toward the hairiest row of sala leaves.
I crouched opposite him, plowing stake in hand. Fearful he’d direct me to C for everything, including conversation, I worked in silence. Silver ripped the poor shaggy leaves from the substrate, roots and all, while I gently turned them, looking for the connection node. Pressing just enough to release the fruit, I twined a thin tendril around the exposed end to promote new growth before tucking it back into the nourishing gravel.
As one crate filled, then the next, Silver adopted my harvesting technique. I snagged my lip with a fang to stop my smile.
“On D’ulanna, my trade is soil guardian.” I spoke with hesitation, not wanting him to rush away after we’d developed this quiet comfort.
“Really?” He glanced up from where he was nestling a particularly long vine back into the loose gravel. A genuinely hopeful look shone in his eyes. “That’s like a farmer, right?”
Warmth spread through my limbs at the small sign of admiration. Though soil guardians were well respected for carrying on the agricultural practices of our ancestors, we were underpaid. The level of interest Silver showed in my trade was entirely new.
“I hate this shit.” He placed a sala leaf into a new crate. “I don’t know what the hell I’m…”
He trailed off, as if not mentioning his lack of knowledge would somehow erase it. Inside, I smiled again. Did he think I hadn’t noticed how clueless he was about plants? “I can help with the harvesting and seeding if you like?”
“Seriously?” He stood and stretched his arms overhead until his spine cracked. “I’d love you forever if you took over all this gardening crap. It’s fucking up my back.”
Though I knew his casual declaration of love meant nothing, it filled my heart with eager hope. “After I get us some fresh meat, I’ll start.”
“About that… You know you don’t have to go out there for me, right?” He shuffled the crate down the row. “I’m good. Especially now that I can pillage the other floors for jerky and you know how to eat this stuff.” He tossed his arm out in front of him, indicating the entirety of the dome.
“I still can’t believe you were sealed on level thirty-one for seven months. It must have been torture not having access to all the resources above you.”
Silver shook his head, and his long hair fell over his shoulder, yellow, bright and soft-looking. “Seven months of green smoothies when there were crates of mantu strips right above me. That’s the definition of torture.”
“What else do you like to eat?”
“My favorite dessert is apple pie.” He bit his lip and his eyes closed. “Haven’t had it since I last saw my mom.” He frowned, taking a deep breath before clearing his expression.
“Don’t get offended, but…”Am I pushing my luck with this line of questioning?“Why didn’t C tell you what you could eat in all these biodomes?”
He coughed and looked away. “The plantbot housed all the information on the biodomes, and it was giving a presentation on the aboveground floors when all hell broke loose. C doesn’t volunteer information. You need to ask her direct questions.”
“And you never asked?” I thought I knew stubborn.
“I figured it out,” he muttered before moving two rows over. His eyes darted everywhere but to mine while he dug his hands into the gravel substrate. “It didn’t feel right eating all this food from other planets when everyone it was grown for in the first place was dead.”
My stomach clenched, and bile crept up my throat at my thoughtlessness. Though I ached to give him a hug, I feared it might send him running.
Instead, I changed the topic. “Tell me more about your mata? Do you get your beautiful hair from her or your fata?”
Silver’s eyes hardened on me. He shoved all his hair down the back of his coveralls. “It’s just fucking hair.” Then he stormed off to the other side of the biodome.
What had I said this time? My shoulders slumped. All the progress we’d made this rotation, snatched away in the blink of an eye.
