Finding the Jewel Read online

  Then she slapped the door shut on the surprised monk’s face and marched back to Tark, who was still standing there silently.

  “Here,” she said, handing him a long-handled spoon. “I hope you’re in the mood to feed each other because that’s apparently how they eat their fukkin cakin around here.”

  The big Kindred sat down without comment but then one corner of his mouth twitched up and a low rumble came from him. It took Chloe a moment to realize he was laughing but when she did, she felt her own mouth twitching too.

  “Stop it,” she said, pointing her freakishly long spoon at Tark. “Don’t laugh at me. I was just giving him a piece of my mind because he was being a nosey little brat!”

  “I-if you s-say so.” But Tark’s eyes danced and he rumbled laughter again.

  Suddenly, Chloe found she was laughing along with him. She didn’t know why—her take-down of the junior monk hadn’t been that funny. But then again, the look on his face…

  Before she knew it, both of them were roaring with laughter. It was a welcome relief of tension and Chloe giggled until her stomach hurt and her eyes were streaming.

  “I don’t know what…what’s so funny,” she gasped at last, sitting down with a plop on one side of the huge, multi-colored cakin.

  Tark only shook his head and waved his long spoon at her, which made Chloe laugh again.

  Finally, though, they settled across from each other and began to eat.

  “What flavor would you like?” Chloe asked the big Kindred, her long-handled spoon hovering over the multicolored cakin. “Or maybe I should ask what color? Since I have no idea what flavors these are.”

  “Th-that one.” Tark pointed his own spoon at a dark blue circle in the center of the cake.

  “Okay, coming up!” Chloe dug a chunk out with her own long spoon—which took a bit of finesse—and poked it carefully across to the big Kindred.

  Tark accepted the bite and chewed it thoughtfully, his golden eyes looking inward. Then he motioned to the cakin with his own spoon and raised his eyebrows in a silent question.

  “You should talk—ask me out loud,” Chloe said.

  He frowned. “Wh-why?”

  “Because, the more you talk—the more you practice—the better you’ll get at speaking without stuttering.” She bit her lip. “I…I hope I’m not offending you. It’s just what I tell my patients—talk or read aloud every day. You need to practice.”

  He frowned. “You t-tuh-treat other p-patients the same w-wuh-way y-you t-treat me?”

  Chloe felt her cheeks getting hot.

  “No,” she said, dropping her eyes. “No, never. I…I don’t know what got into me, earlier Tark. I was completely unprofessional and I’m so, so sorry for what I did.”

  “D-don’t be.” His voice was low and soft and when Chloe dared to look up at him, she was relieved to see he didn’t look angry He waved his own spoon over the cakin and asked her, “Wh-which c-color?”

  “That one.” Chloe pointed to the rich chocolate-brown corner piece. It looked exactly like a double-fudge brownie and her mouth was watering to taste it.

  “Y-you got it.” Tark dug out a good-sized bite and ladled it into her mouth, barely spilling a crumb.

  Chloe took the bite eagerly, expecting to bite into brownie and sure enough, the texture was as melting and gooey as she could have hoped. But the flavor…

  “Ugh!” she exclaimed, finally managing to swallow. “That didn’t taste like a brownie at all! It was like…rare steak and mushroom gravy.”

  Tark frowned and shook his head.

  “S-sorry. I d-d-don’t kn-know any of those f-foods.”

  “I was expecting sweet and I got salty and meaty,” Chloe explained. She shrugged. “It wasn’t a bad taste exactly—just really unexpected.”

  “The b-blue was sw-sweet,” he said, nodding. “I w-was h-hoping for s-salty.”

  “Well, maybe we’ll get lucky the second time,” Chloe said. “Um—would you like to try a different flavor?”

  “Th-that one.” He nodded and pointed to the tomato-red patch near the end of the cakin.

  Chloe carved out a piece and put it in his mouth. He made a slight face and then swallowed.

  “Sw-sweet,” he announced.

  “I'm sorry!” Chloe exclaimed. “You want to try something else?”

  He shook his head. “Y-your turn.”

  “Okay—then I’ll try the one you just had,” she decided. “At least I know it’s sweet.”

  He shrugged and nodded, then dug out a large bite for her. As he deposited it on her tongue, Chloe was hoping for the flavor of strawberries or cherries or maybe even some delicious alien fruit she had never tried. Instead what she got was…

  “Dirt!” she exclaimed, barely managing to swallow the huge mouthful. “It tastes like vaguely sweet dirt!” It even had a slightly gritty texture that made her feel like she did when she accidentally got sand in her mouth at the beach. “Gross!”

  “S-sorry.” Tark raised his shoulders apologetically. “I d-didn’t like it e-either. But I th-thought since it was sw-sweet…”

  “Dirt is dirt, no matter how sweet it is.” Chloe frowned and made a face. “I wish we had something to wash this down with!”

  “Here.” Reaching under the lowered cart, Tark pulled out a stone jug and two tiny cups like shot-glasses which also had long handles on them.

  “Oh, this is ridiculous!” Chloe exclaimed, seeing the cups. “Do they really expect us to try and give each other drinks with these things? We’ll get the liquid everywhere.”

  Tark shrugged and uncorked the stone bottle—which was more like a large jug you might see moonshine in during a movie about Prohibition.

  All it needs is a label that says “Pappy’s Corn Squeezins”—goes great with fukkin-lots cakin! Chloe thought, and stifled a giggle.

  “Could j-just dr-drink straight from h-here, I guess,” Tark pointed out still holding the jug. “If you d-don’t like the g—glasses.”

  “Yes—good idea,” Chloe exclaimed. For that matter, she supposed they could eat the cakin with their hands instead of the ridiculous spoons, but that seemed so messy and uncivilized somehow. Not that drinking straight from the wine jug or whatever it was could exactly be considered good manners but it wasn’t as bad as digging into the huge confection with their fingers like a one-year old with a smash-cake at his birthday party.

  “Fine.” Tark raised the stone jug one-handed and took a swig. He lowered it quickly and swallowed thoughtfully. “S-strong,” he commented, passing the jug to Chloe.

  She wrapped her fingers around the thinner part of the jug, near the top, but the moment Tark let it go, she realized how incredibly heavy it was.

  “Oh!” she gasped, as the heavy stone vessel clunked to the stone floor. If it had been glass she was certain it would have shattered. As it was, though she used both hands to try, she absolutely couldn’t lift it.

  Tark frowned. “P-problem?” he inquired.

  “Only that I’m not nearly as strong as you,” Chloe huffed, trying again without success to budge the heavy stone jug. “God, it’s like trying to lift Thor’s hammer or something! How did you pick this up with one hand?”

  Tark shrugged. “W-want me to p-pour you some?”

  Chloe sighed in defeat. “Yes, please. I guess I’ll have to use the long-handled shot glasses after all.”

  “I’ll b-be careful not to spill on you,” he promised, taking back the jug and pouring her a drink considerately.

  “Thank you.” Chloe wondered if he noticed he was stuttering a bit less but decided not to say anything about it. It probably just meant he was getting more comfortable with her and she didn’t want to mess up his flow by mentioning it.

  Also, she wasn’t sure if the big Kindred getting more comfortable with her was a good thing or not. They had certainly been through a lot of craziness today and even after the laugh that had cleared the air, there was a fair amount of sexual tension between them. Or maybe it was