Married to Krampus - Marina Simcoe Page 0,45
it makes me happy. I love the creativity that goes into the decorating, too. I worked in a bakery for years before it closed for good. I’ve even dreamed of opening my own bakery one day, except that my salary never allowed for saving much to start my own business. Anyway, it was fun.”
“Well, you know you have my permission to use anything in the house. Bake whatever you like. Tell Omni to get what you need.”
And there it was again. I was allowed to do whatever I wanted, as long as I remained under the dome of his home, like a fly trapped under a glass.
“See, that’s where the problem lies. I can’t order what I don’t know. I need to speak with someone who bakes in Voran, who sells the ingredients so they would point me in the right direction.”
“You want to go to the spice market, then?”
That sounded promising.
“Is there such a thing?”
“Yes, in the mall. But I can’t take you there, possibly until the end of the next week.”
“Can’t I go on my own?” I smiled as sweetly as I could, batting my lashes at him innocently.
Instead of replying, he opened a compartment under the control panel of the aircraft and took out a small container.
“What’s this?” I asked when he offered it to me.
Lifting the lid, I found two round Voranian pastries I often had for breakfast. Their texture still reminded me of clay. However, the mildly sweet taste had been growing on me.
“You haven’t eaten much for breakfast this morning,” the Colonel said at my questioning stare. “You tend to get irritated faster when you’re hungry.”
“Are you about to irritate me, then?” I took out one of the two disks.
He was right, in the rush of this morning, I’d left most of my breakfast untouched. However, I hadn’t expected him to notice or, even less so, to pack a snack for me.
“Thanks.” I took a big bite off the pastry. “So, can I go shopping?”
“On your own? Under no circumstances.”
As he had predicted, irritation stirred in me. I took it out on the pastry in my hand, chomping off another huge chunk of it before replying.
“Why not? It’s not dangerous. It’s not like we’re in a war zone or something. Voran is a civilized city.”
“Except that you’d stand out from the crowd wherever you go.” His expression turned to stone, unyielding.
I knew I’d attract a lot of attention, but that didn’t mean I’d be attacked or whatever it was that the Colonel was afraid of.
From everything I’d learned about Voran, it was a peaceful place. Its people didn’t get into fights for no reason, and I certainly wasn’t planning to give anyone any reason to attack me.
“I’m used to the unwanted attention, by now,” I assured him. “Stares and whispers don’t bother me much.”
“I’m afraid someone may do something more than that,” he replied grimly.
“Like what? Kidnap me for ransom?”
“Maybe.”
“Does it happen often in this city?”
“No.”
“Well, then how likely is that to happen to me?”
“I don’t know!” He raised his voice, after all. “But I don’t want to take chances to find out. Besides, you don’t know the city that well, or the mall layout.”
“Really?” I groaned, unable to hold the frustration at bay any longer. “Come on, I’m sure I’ll be able to find my way around a mall. Besides, I would like to see more of Voran. Part of the reason why I came to Neron was to learn a new culture, and I can’t learn much about the city just by flying over it.”
He drew in some air, and I braced myself for another argument.
“Fine,” he conceded, so suddenly, I thought I hadn’t heard him right. “Let me think about it. I may come up with something.”
Well, it went better than I’d expected, this time. Deprived of a reason to argue, I silently ate my pastry.
Maybe it was possible for us to find some middle ground on other things, too? Eventually?
Chapter 13
THE DAY AFTER MY FIRST full week of classes, the Colonel happened to have a morning off. An early meeting of his had been cancelled, and he wasn’t going to work until later.
We had breakfast together. Then he went downstairs to the exercising room for a workout, and I decided to help Omni plant the gray-blue flowers, lilcae, that the Colonel wanted in the dining room.
“These are rather modest, compared to the others you have in here.” I set the tray with the dirt pellets containing the delicate plants on