CARNAL (EXILED Book 1)

by Victoria Danann

  “That was not my fault,” he said, shaking his head.

  Serene went on. “I’ve suggested that Rosie might want to teach, in her spare time.”

  “Rosie has spare time?” Charming looked at Rosie like she’d been holding out on him.

  “You know, like when I take walks with you at night sometimes?”

  “Yeah?” he said.

  “That’s spare time.”

  “Oh, well. If that’s what you mean by spare time.”

  “What do you mean by spare time?” Rosie put the question back to Charming.

  “Time when there’s nothing going on that you want to do.”

  Rosie laughed. “Oh. Okay. Well, that would be never.”

  Carnal had been studying Rosie throughout her exchange with Charming. “Are you interested in teaching, Rosie?” Carnal asked quietly in a tone she hadn’t heard him use all evening. It was not his entertaining storyteller voice, or his I’m-taking-charge voice that she’d heard him use on the training field, or his seductive voice that he’d used sitting at the bar. It could have almost been described as tender.

  “I haven’t decided. But maybe. I’m going to hang out when I can and see if anything fits.” Her eyes flicked toward the end of the table where his mother sat. “That’s Serene’s suggestion.”

  Carnal looked at his mother briefly before retraining his focus on Rosie, only his tone had changed. “Logical. What do you think you’re qualified to teach?”

  It sounded a little like a challenge.

  “Might surprise you, Carnal.”

  “Might. You know how to read?”

  Rosie barked out a laugh. “Yes. I know how to read.”

  “Write?”

  “What is this?”

  “Just trying to find out what you have to teach Exiled?”

  “I know a lot of languages.”

  Carnal grinned. “Only one language here. Do you know math?”

  “I could teach calculus, but I definitely wouldn’t enjoy it.”

  “What’s calculus?”

  “It’s advanced math that has to do with establishing volume.” She looked at Free. “I could teach how not to be like the frog that complacently sits in a pot of heating water until it explodes, when it could have jumped out.”

  Free kept his expression stoic, but his head jerked up slightly at that.

  Carnal looked between Rosie and Free and said, “What?!?”

  Rosie looked at Carnal. “Don’t tell me. You don’t know what a frog is.”

  “Look,” Serene interrupted, hoping to steer the conversation in a different direction. “We have a plan. Rosie’s going to visit the barn and decide what feels right, but I’m hoping she can teach something like, well, like innovation, different ways of thinking about things.”

  Carnal looked at Rosie, but addressed his mother. “What makes you think she knows anything about innovation?”

  “Carnal!” Serene’s tone had taken a marked change toward warning, “You’re being rude.”

  “Not intending to be rude. Just trying to find out why you think Exiled young could benefit from human teachings.”

  Rosie wasn’t sure why Carnal seemed suddenly hostile. Serene stood up and bared her fangs. “Who’s in charge of education, Carnal?”

  “You are, Mom.”

  That was the first time Rosie had heard one of the sons address a parent with a title of endearment, but she didn’t have to wonder why. Serene was scary when she got her fur up.

  “That’s right. I’m in charge. Who teaches and what they teach is up to me. I don’t tell you…” She stopped dead still as if recognition of what she’d been about to say was as painful as an appendectomy without anesthesia.

  “That’s right, Mom,” Carnal said quietly and calmly. “You give me respect. I crossed a line and I’m sorry. I do respect what you do and how you do it.”

  If he wasn’t sincere, he fooled Rosie because she would swear that he meant what he was saying. Somewhere in her treasure trove of memories was one of her father saying he wouldn’t give two dimes for a man who didn’t know how to apologize when he needed to. He’d also said the same about a man who would treat his mother badly.

  Serene relaxed visibly and sat back down. Free all but smirked at his son openly. Rosie took that to mean that he’d been on the receiving end of Serene’s displeasure himself.

  “This venison is perfection,” Free said, with an upbeat tone that seemed out of place in light of the recent exchange.

  Everybody looked at him for a minute, then burst out laughing. The tension was broken and, just like that, it was over.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “I’m off.” Dandy’s routine had become predictable. Every day at two-thirty she said goodbye and left Rosie in charge until Scar arrived at four-thirty. On her way out, she said, “They’re starting work on that thing you suggested tomorrow.”

  Rosie had to think for a minute. “The vestibule?”

  “Whatever. They said they’ll try to not interfere with lunch traffic, but ‘try’ is a word with broad interpretation.”

  Rosie chuckled. “Yes. It is. It will be worth some hassle. You’re going to love it. You’ll see.”

  Dandy waved over her shoulder without looking back.

  Everything was done, which meant the next two hours would define boredom. Rosie tapped her fingers on the polished bar as her eyes wandered to the end, where the gray cat sat looking like it was fantasizing that she was a lion and Rosie was her prey.

  Carnal entered the Commons quietly and watched as Rosie worked behind the bar. She was drying glasses one by one, holding them up to the light before putting them in the next place in line on the shelf. She was so lost in thought, she hadn’t realized that she wasn’t alone until he said, “What’re you thinking about?”

  She jumped. And something about her surprise made him chuckle. It was a rusty sound and an even rustier feeling. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed. He eased onto one of the stools facing the bar.

  She went on working, studiously ignoring him while he waited patiently, enjoying watching her as much as she liked being watched.

  When he broke the silence again, it was to ask, “You ever been in love, Rosie?”

  She paused mid swipe for just a fraction of a second before she continued wiping down the bar, but seemed to be considering the question.

  “I think so.”

  “What happened?”

  She stopped and met his gaze across the polished wood.

  “I thought he was the best thing that ever happened to a penis. But he chose work over me. Maybe it was a hard choice, but he made it look way too easy.” She shrugged. “I didn’t see myself taking second place behind a job.”

  Carnal’s face took on a more serious expression. “What kind of job?”

  “Well,” she paused again, “it’s kind of hard to explain. In my world there are monsters and there are people who try to protect innocents from those monsters.”

  “He’s a monster killer.”

  “Yes.”

  “Is he good at it?”

  “I don’t know. But my guess would be yes.”

  “What would happen in your world if everybody who was good at killing the monsters stopped doing it because someone in their life wanted them to stay safe?”

  Rosie’s mind froze while she examined that question from every angle possible. She didn’t want to confront the obvious answer so she skirted past it. “All I know is that I didn’t want to spend my life waiting and worrying that he wasn’t coming back.”

  “So you made good on your promise and left.”

  Rosie stopped polishing the bar and looked down at the cloth she was holding in her hand. “Yeah.” The cat jumped up to the end of the bar effortlessly, pranced between them waving her tail like a challenge, and sat herself down right in front of Carnal. When he reached out to pet her, the cat purred loudly while giving Rosie a look so full of malice that she understood why humans had once though
t animals could be possessed by evil spirits. Rosie drew a cider and set it in front of Carnal.

  “Well, his loss is my gain.”

  “You’re going to get cat hair in your cider,” Rosie admonished.

  Carnal smiled as he continued petting the cat. “I’ll be careful.”

  Rosie shrugged. “It’s your digestive system. Don’t come crying to me when you have a hair ball stuck in your throat.”

  He laughed at that. “Do you have a fantasy about me coming to you crying, Rosie?”

  The cat squinted its eyes in an expression that resembled gloating. “Bitch,” said Rosie, as she turned away.

  “What?”

  Over her shoulder she said, “That cat. She hates me.”

  He looked down at the cat like she couldn’t possibly be talking about the same animal. “Catty Kay?” Carnal grinned and the cat purred even louder, partially closing her repulsive yellow eyes. “She’s a sweetheart.”

  “She’s a monster in a fur fucking coat.”

  Carnal was about to laugh out loud, but when Rosie passed by them, the cat reached out and drew blood by slashing her bare arm with claws bared. Rosie hissed in a breath at the sting. When she waved her hand out of reflex, Catty Kay went flying through the air making a yeowling noise so ugly that Carnal wanted to cover his ears. The cat smashed against the far wall at the end of the bar then landed on her feet and began shaking her head like she had something stuck in an ear.

  Carnal walked around the bar and went through the swinging doors to the kitchen. When he returned, Rosie was washing the cut with a clean rag.

  “Here,” he said. “This will fix you right up.”

  He held up a glass jar ointment. He took her hand and looked at the cut. “It’s not bad.” He began applying a small amount of the topical solution, whatever it was. “How did you do that?” he asked.

  “What?”

  He raised an eyebrow as if to say he didn’t have the patience for games. “How did you throw the cat against that wall?”

  “How do you think? I picked it up and threw it.”

  “That’s not what I saw.”

  “Then that thing must have lulled you into a fugue state with that obnoxious sound it was making.”

  Carnal looked confused. “You mean purring?”

  “Yes. That.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, I can’t help that.”

  Carnal shrugged. “Okay. What can you help with?”

  “You want something else?”

  “Yes. I have an itch.”

  “I saw a backscratcher in the cistern shower.”

  “Not that kind of itch.”

  “Let me put it another way. I can’t help you with any kind of itch.”

  “You sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Why not? Your man isn’t around. And he’s not gonna be around. You said so yourself.”

  She laughed. “That doesn’t make me automatically available.”

  “Maybe not. But it does make you game. If you were mine, I’d never let you get away.”

  She shook her head. “Moot point because I’m not ever going to be yours, Carnal.”

  He smiled. “My mother is under the impression that I owe you an apology.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “I’m going to take that to mean you agree. So. Here I am saying sorry. I didn’t intend to make you feel unwanted.”

  Rosie cocked her head to the side as Exiled so often did. When she realized she was unconsciously mimicking the gesture, she straightened.

  “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to vet the people teaching your children.”

  Carnal waited. When she said nothing more, he said, “But it’s not my place to do that. It’s Serene’s.”

  “That’s between the two of you. I don’t have hard feelings about it.”

  “Hard feelings. Yeah.” He looked around, took another drink, and said, “I don’t want you to have hard feelings.”

  “Well I don’t.” He nodded. “So was there something else?”

  “Yeah.” One side of his mouth lifted in a cocky smile. “I thought we might get together.”

  Rosie’s brow furrowed. “Get together. You mean like on a date.”

  “Not sure what that is, but I’m pretty sure you know what I mean.”

  Rosie laughed in his face. “From what I hear you’ve got hordes of girls vying to date you. I don’t think ‘getting together’ with me is a great idea.”

  Carnal grinned. “How old are you, Rosie?”

  “Fourteen months. Why?”

  He laughed. “No reason. I’d want to get together with you no matter how old you are. You don’t have to tell me your age.”

  “Told you, Carnal. Go wade through the masses who are clawing for your attention.”

  “Had my fill of chicklets. I want you.”

  “Well, you can’t always get what you want.”

  He gave her a look that transformed his face from ruggedly handsome to mesmerizing. “I’m pretty sure I can.” He grinned.

  Rosie just shook her head and turned back to pretend working. After a period of silence she heard the door swoosh open and closed.

  When she left the Commons at four-thirty, he was waiting outside and fell into step beside her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Walking you to the Extant’s house.”

  “Carnal.” She chuffed. “It’s a three minute walk.”

  “Not far enough for you to object then.”

  “What’s your game?”

  “You.”

  “I don’t want to be your game.” He opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off, saying, “And don’t tell me everybody wants to be your game.”

  He smiled. “I wasn’t going to say that. I was going to say I’m going to give you a chance to change your mind. An open-ended chance.”

  “Very magnanimous of you.” Rosie stopped suddenly. “You know what? I’m not going back to your house. I’m going over to the Weavers’ Barn.” She reversed her direction. “So see you later if you’ll be at dinner.”

  Carnal stayed with her. She looked up at him. He was easily eight inches taller and seemed to tower over her.

  “I’d just as soon walk you to the barn.”

  “Suit yourself, but it’s a waste of your time.”

  “Time spent with you is not a waste, Rosie.”

  She was thinking that reply, while sweet enough to make the heart flutter, was a little too smooth to be trusted.

  “You can walk where you want, Carnal, but it won’t get you anywhere with me.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, for one thing, I’m not interested in being yesterday’s news.”

  That literally stopped Carnal in his tracks. He stopped. Rosie kept walking. She looked back over her shoulder once, but didn’t break her stride until she was inside the Weavers’ Barn.

  She began a slow walk down the aisle and back, trying to decide what class she would visit. In the end, she decided on a methodical approach. She would spend a day in every class beginning with the seven-year-olds. After making her way back down to the far end of the building, just before she reached the nursery and preschool, she entered the classroom quietly, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. The teacher, who was sitting in a tiny chair in a circle with her small class, looked up and smiled.

  “Look,” she said to her charges, “we have a visitor. This is Rosie.”

  “Hello,” Rosie said.

  “We’re going to go around the circle and tell Rosie our names. You start, Daisy.”

  “I’m Daisy,” said the little girl. “Are you human?”

  “Yes,” Rosie answered. “And you’re mostly human.”

  “I am?” The child looked astonished.

  Rosie laughed. “That’s right.”

  She wasn’t sure the teacher approved of her answer, but Rosie’s philosophy of teaching, newly formed within the previous second, was that t
he truth is what should be taught, regardless of the age of the student.

  After introductions, the teacher said, “We’re identifying animals, their names, the sounds they make, whether or not they’re friendly to us, that kind of thing.”

  Rosie nodded and took a seat far enough away from the circle to be forgotten by the kids, but not far enough away so that she couldn’t hear and observe the interaction. As it turned out, the school day ended at five. So she wasn’t there long, but she felt she had a feeling for what it would be like to teach seven-year-olds and she wasn’t sure it was a ‘fit’.

  Carnal was at dinner at the Extant’s house that night and again the overall mood seemed elevated because of that. His simple presence energized the atmosphere.

  “Rosie visited level two today,” said Serene.

  “You did?” Charming asked.

  Rosie nodded as she took a spoonful of mutton and cabbage. “I did.”

  “What was it like?” Charming looked seriously interested.

  “Well, they’re beautiful, of course.” Rosie noticed that her comment seemed to make all four members of the Extant’s family slightly uncomfortable. She wondered if they were prickly about the fact that they were the result of DNA tampering and selective breeding. “But they’re also bright, inquisitive, and eager to learn.”

  It was evident that her latter comment made her dinner companions seem both pleased and proud.

  “What made you pick level two?” Serene asked.

  “I walked up and down and finally decided to be methodical. My plan is to visit every level, in order, one a day.”

  Serene looked sincerely impressed. “A very sound and well-conceived approach. I’m so pleased that you’re looking into my offer.”

  Carnal took a drink without taking his eyes away from Rosie. He said nothing. He simply stared with a mix of amusement and something hard to pinpoint, intrigue maybe.

  When nothing more was said on the matter, Free turned to Charming. “Any more issues with cramping?”

  Charming looked embarrassed. “No. It was a fluke.”

  “That’s good.”

  “That is good.” Carnal turned to Charming chuckling. “I wouldn’t want it to get around that my little brother has problems with cramps.”