Savage King: New Worlds - Milly Taiden Page 0,17
the next weekend’s guy—” Lilah huffed, “—and it turned out the guy was more interested in Wren instead of Lilah.”
Lilah slapped her hands on her hip and cocked it to the side. “I wasn’t that interested in him. And that was ten years ago.”
Wren laughed. “That was the first and last time that would ever happen. Until now.” She continued to dance around, her and Daphne bumping hips. She was too delicious looking. He couldn’t wait until they were alone tonight.
Chapter Seven
Wren bumped hips with Daph and laughed. The look on Lilah’s face made her laugh harder. Poor Lilah, she got teased more than anyone.
She hugged her oldest cousin. “You know we’re just playing around for a minute. Something to get my mind off the fact we may never get home.” Her pulsed increased, her mind slipping into infinite questions that made her freak out.
A warm hand settled on her back again, calming her, bringing her back before getting to the edge. She’d hated that she came across as weak. Over this past year, she’d been getting worse. Every time too many things piled up—bills, errands, tasks—or when something happened that she had no control over. If she couldn’t control her environment like she could in her books, then she started to lose it.
She was afraid to say anything to the girls because they might think she was just being overdramatic for drama’s sake and brush it off. She was a fiction writer by night.
“Relax, Wren,” Lilah said. “When we get home, we’re having a long conversation.”
She scowled right back. “Yes, we are.” She wanted to know what was bothering her cousin so much.
“How’s your mom’s OCD-ness doing?” Lilah asked. “Is she taking her meds?”
Wren turned away, shame rolling through her. “She doesn’t take prescriptions, Lilah. She doesn’t need them.”
“That’s not what my mom said last time I visited.” God, Lilah sounded like an eight-year-old.
Daphne’s stomach growled. They hadn’t eaten since much before leaving the Crystal Kingdom. Lilah picked red berries from a bush a couple feet from the path. “You guys want to try these?” She tossed it into the air like a piece of popcorn, her wide mouth waiting for its treat.
Xenos reached over and snatched the berry in the air. She’d never seen anybody move so quickly.
“Hey,” Lilah complained, “get your own.”
Xenos tilted his head to the left. “Ne.” He dropped the red food. He leaned forward, opened his mouth wide and made a retching sound.
“Oh, I know,” Daphne said. “You can’t eat the berries because they will choke you.”
His head tilted. “Ne.” He motioned with his hand as if pulling something out of his mouth.
“Puke,” Wren jumped, “the berries will make you throw-up.”
“Jes,” he said, smiling at her. The girls moved away from the bush. He pointed to the ground. They looked at the spot.
“Am I missing something here?” Daphne asked. He pointed at Daphne then leaned down to put his palm on the dirt.
“One word or two?” Lilah asked. He held up one finger. “How many letters?” He looked at her with a quizzical expression. Then he held up four fingers.
“Oh,” Wren said, “I was about to say you want Daphne to sit on the ground.”
His excited eyes whipped to her. “Jes, jes.”
Lilah frowned. ”Sit” doesn’t have four letters.”
Wren rolled her eyes. “Maybe in his language it does.”
“But he’s thinking in our language so it should be three letters.”
That jolted her into a stop. Was that what was happening? He was hearing English and translating into his native tongue then answering in his language? How could he understand English but not speak it? Something was wrong here.
“Just her or all of us?” He pointed at Lilah then the ground. Obviously, he wanted them all to sit for a bit. She wasn’t sure she wanted to wait much longer to get going. She only wanted to stop for a moment to give the girls a break. She stepped forward to join her cousins, but Xenos grabbed her hand, tilting his head to the left.
“Ne.” He pointed at her then at himself then started into the forest. He wanted her to be with him. The girls started catcalling as her face got hot.
She pulled back, a bit worried about being alone with him. What if he was an ax murderer, even though he didn’t have an ax handy? “Where are we going?”
He opened his mouth, pointed at his tongue then rubbed his stomach.
“Getting food,” Lilah and Daph said together. Oh, well she supposed that would be okay.