Captive of a Fairytale Barbarian
Page 37
“Well, you’ve got to have some opinion.” She pressed, refusing to believe that her partner in this study would just ignore the importance of ink color when presenting findings. “I mean, you have at least considered it, right?”
Tzadok crossed his arms over his chest. “Tandrea, I have been thinking about it from the very first second I saw you.” He told her, in what sounded like genuine honesty.
“Well, what color do you think would be the best then?” She asked again. “I’d like to be able to easily differentiate it from the rest of my findings.”
He sighed, like her question was crazy but he was unwilling to argue. “I like green.” He reminded her. “You know that. It is my favorite color and I’m fascinated by its many variations.” He looked down at her and arched an eyebrow. “If you take off your clothes, I’d be happy to point out on your body which shade of green I feel would be most appropriate for your work.” His hand slid lower, brushing against her breast. “Right about…” His thumb passed over the peak of her nipple as it strained against the fabric of her clothing. “…there.”
She leaned away from him, cursing her body for being so easily controlled by him. One little touch… and she was on the verge of moaning in pleasure.
Her body was a traitor to this study. It liked him more than it liked her.
This was making her research very difficult. She had no idea how she was going to last 24 more hours. But Tzadok had insisted on scheduling their union, so she had agreed. The man was so weird sometimes.
She cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her chest in an effort to hide her arousal, which she’d never been more certain could somehow be seen, despite the two layers of clothes covering her breasts.
“It’s a beautiful shade of green.” He teased, a smirk of pure lust and possessiveness crossing his perfect face, his gaze still locked on her chest. “The most beautiful I’ve ever seen.”
“My breasts are…”
“Don’t get me wrong,” he quickly added, “the color of the rest of your body is beautiful too, but the most exquisite is that little area right next to…”
“You saw them for like… five seconds.” She reminded him. “I don’t see how they could possibly be memorable enough to try to color-match ink to them now.”
“I’ll wager anything you want.” He challenged. “Because, trust me, your body is an image that has stuck with me.”
That shouldn’t have turned her on as much as it did. But she liked the idea of him fantasizing about her, even if it was confusing why he would. She’d never really considered herself… sexy. At all. She was just… well… Tandy.
Not that she considered herself ugly or anything, just that she’d never given the matter much thought. She wasn’t really the best at recognizing what other people were thinking or feeling, she mainly just focused on her own thoughts.
But in this case, she was always oddly pleased to hear his thoughts about her newfound status as an object of desire.
His sex dreams were especially fascinating. Getting him to share them was always a highpoint in her day and recording them in her notebook was a thrill. He was a bit unimaginative, true. Tandy could think of at least… forty-two more interesting things he could do to her than what his dream last night suggested, but it was still sweet of him to try.
Barbarians apparently lived sheltered lives.
She cleared her throat again, hoping that she sounded professional and not like his voice made her completely melt. “I think you’re imagining things. Green is green.”
“Horseshit.” He retorted. “Disrobe and I will show you that you’re wrong. Your body is a rainbow of green.”
“It’s my body, I think I know what color it is.”
“I’d wager that I’ve spent more time in the last month thinking about your breasts than you’ve thought about them in your entire life.” He arched his eyebrow again. “Take off your top and we’ll settle it.”
“I’m not going to flash you.”
“Well, I’ll expect an apology tomorrow then, when I prove it.” He leaned back against the rock they were sitting on. “Because I fully intend to make every inch of them my personal property.”
“That’s… that’s really sexist.”
“Isn’t it?” He nodded. “You know, that’s one of the problems with sleeping with a barbarian warlord who took you as his prize in battle.” He shrugged, as if helpless to change things. “Welcome to The Wasteland.”
“I’m glad to see you’ve gotten over the whole ‘the entire Coastal clan is trying to kill us!’ thing.” She rolled her eyes.
“As long as they wait until after tomorrow to kill us, at least I’ll die happy.” He teased. “And I’ll die correct, because you fucking know I’m right about your body.”
She tried not to smile at that. She really did.
On the other side of the clearing, Kobb and Violet were continuing their sparring session. Personally, Tandy thought it was a terrible idea, given Kobb’s recent injuries, but no one had asked her. Well, that wasn’t true. Violet had asked, she just ignored the answer.
Which was something, anyway. Tandy took it as a sign of progress.
“I want to see the book.” Tzadok decided a moment later. “Can I?”
Tandy frowned in uncertainty for a moment. “It’s… umm…” She watched as it was plucked from her hands. “…Sure. Just take it, I guess.” She said helplessly.
“I’ll give it right back.” Tzadok promised. “I just want to see what kinds of…” He frowned down at it in confusion. “It’s just… all numbers and squiggly nonsense.”
“It’s written in Gallandish, Tzadok. Obviously. Except the stuff which won’t translate.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” He handed the book back to her. “How am I supposed to read about your sex fantasies if you write them in a language I don’t speak?”
“This is a serious study, it’s not meant to be your… you know…” She trailed off, raising her eyebrows suggestively to drive the point home and finish the thought.
“My what?” He frowned. “I don’t know what that means. Why are your eyebrows doing that?” He attempted the motion several times. “Does that mean something?”
“It means you can’t like…” She gestured to his pelvis with her hands. “…to my study, okay?”
“Can’t what?” He looked down to where she’d pointed. “What can’t I do? Pants? Point? Make sense, please. You ‘civilized’ people can never just say what you feel, you always have to…”
“You can’t touch yourself while you read my book, Tzadok!” She yelled in frustration a little too loudly, cutting him off. “Okay!?!”
Kobb and Violet both stopped what they were doing to stare at her.
Violet burst into mocking laughter.
Tandy felt her face flush, deeply embarrassed now.
“Oooooh…” Tzadok nodded in understanding. “Is that what you’re so worried about?” His brow furrowed in thought. “We don’t do that ‘eyebrow’ thing here.” He explained, attempting the move several times. “Does it always refer to stroking your own cock for pleasure?”
She ran her hands through her hair, amazed that she was even having this conversation. “The ‘eyebrow thing,’ is a physical indicator that there is a clear conclusion which can be drawn from some thought. It’s telling you that good sense and propriety keep me from answering you directly, but that you can draw your own conclusions because they are obvious.”
“So… it is about me ejaculating all over your sex book then?” He summarized.
“I really want this topic to go away.” She thought aloud. “I just… I just don’t even know why we’re still talking…”
“If it makes you feel any better, there is no way I would ever use your book that way.” He assured her. “I’m saving myself for tomorrow.”
“…and yet we’re still talking about it.” She continued. “Amazing.”
“I enjoy talking to you.” He informed her, like that
explained everything.
“Good.” She continued watching Kobb and Violet train. “I enjoy talking to you too. Even when you’re being unnecessarily vulgar.”
“I just haven’t quite figured out how to understand you yet. You… you speak a different language than I do, in more ways than one.” He nodded. “But I am learning.” He tapped a finger to his temple. “I’m learning to speak ‘Tandy’. One day I will be fluent. It is the goal I’ve set for myself.”
“I’m not hard to understand.” She assured him.
“On the contrary, I’ve never learned anything in my entire life which is more confusing than the way your mind works. You baffle me.”
“My brain functions are entirely normal.” She leaned forward and supported her head on her elbow. “I’ve taken tests. They found hardly any evidence of insanity. I’ve told you this.”
“I just think you’re not used to dealing with people.”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded humoringly. “Is that why I don’t want to discuss masturbation with you?”
“You are really stuck on that topic, aren’t you?” He sounded amazed. “Why do you keep bringing it up? It’s not…”
“I’m not the one who keeps bringing it up!” She defended. “You were the one who wanted to use my book!”
“I asked to read your book, but then you did the eyebrow ‘man-milking’ dance, which…”
“That’s not what that means.” She protested. “You’re not even…”
“I don’t really understand what you could possibly find so interesting about it, but if you really want to discuss this…”
“I really don’t.” She assured him, then paused. “…Not right now anyway. Ask me tomorrow.”
“Ask you for what tomorrow?” He frowned in confusion. “Ask you to touch yourself? Or me to touch myself? Or you to touch me? Can the ‘eyebrow thing’ mean both? Or are there specific rules which…”
She made an annoyed sound, cutting him off. “Can we just…” She held out her arms to show her helplessness. “…not?”
“Not what?” His brow furrowed. “Not ask you? I thought you wanted me to? That’s what you just said, you said to ask you tomorrow.” He looked equally frustrated by her as she was with him. “Make up your mind! Come on!” He gestured to their surroundings. “I’m sitting here and you keep coming up with all kinds of darkly carnal topics. And that’s fine, I mean, I’m obviously not complaining about it. I just wish you’d explain a little better what it is you want me to do.” He looked at her expectantly. “Please.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Right now, I just want to drop this conversation and we’ll both be quiet.”
He nodded, obviously happy to have something he understood.
Tandy went back to absently watching Kobb and Violet. Tzadok intended to go on a scouting expedition in a few minutes, so Tandy was using this time to rest up. Not that he had asked her to go with him, but she intended to anyway. She felt safest when he was in her sight, but more importantly, when he inevitably got himself into trouble, she wanted to be there to supervise.
And… she wasn’t sure he’d be back by tomorrow. Tandy would walk with him all the way to Tougia if it meant that she’d be able to keep their Thursday appointment.
Violet clapped her hands together, indicating that she was ready to go again. The woman’s combat style was one from the fighting pits at the fringe of Galland society. The red-light district deep in the mountains, where the poor and criminal lived in squalor, despite the state’s promises of equality. The style was typically called “Dreg” and featured quick, powerful moves which relied on sheer force rather than elegance or form. It was the chosen method of combat for violent street brawls and drunken arguments in Galland’s slums, whorehouses, and prison camps.
Tandy blinked in amazement at the scene though, as one usually saw the form practiced by rough-looking Galland thugs, not trim young women from the kingdom’s cavalry. She moved like she was long familiar with the style though. It wasn’t a pretty or graceful combat system, but the girl was obviously a master at it. She held her arms up like a boxer’s, feet braced for added power, eyes intense, somehow believing that she could conquer Kobb with brute force alone.
“What the fuck is that?” Tzadok asked in dismissive amazement. “That girl is crazy. She tries that in The Wasteland and someone is going to brand her ass.”
“You shouldn’t call her ‘girl.’” Tandy informed him without looking away from the show. “It’s patronizing in Gallandish.”
“You call her ‘girl’ all the time.” He protested. “But okay. You’re right, I’m sure. I won’t call her ‘girl’ then.” Tzadok agreed, humoring her. “I’ll rephrase. How about: ‘That fucking bitch is crazy.’”
“Well…” she shrugged, “it’s not patronizing anymore.”
“Good. I’m glad we had this cultural exchange.”
Whatever the woman’s story was, she hadn’t grown up in a nice part of town or among nice people. That style was a dead giveaway of being low-bred and powerless. You learned it the hard way: win or die.
For his part, Kobb seemed to just be enjoying the chance to watch a fighting style he’d never seen before.
Tandy wasn’t sure what they were doing, honestly.
It was an odd mix of a sparring match and some kind of training. Teaching each other how to counter and beat the other’s fighting system.
The dark-haired woman swung at him and he blocked it with his forearm, then lightly batted her head with his other hand, as much as to say: “Nope.”
The girl’s eyes narrowed in irritation and resumed her stance. Then did the exact same thing again. Because she was nothing if not stubborn. This time, Kobb calmly swept her feet out from under her.
Kobb held out his arms in apparent mystification, unsure what Violet was thinking there.
The martial art of dank Galland alleyways was having… mixed results against an experienced Wasteland warrior. But to be fair, Kobb also easily weighed twice what the girl did and he’d been fighting a lot longer.
“FUCK!” Violet roared in agitation, getting back to her feet after once again having an attack thwarted. She circled Kobb, making an annoyed face at him. “
“Why are we even still here?” Tzadok wondered aloud. “We could just go. Get on with our scouting. We don’t need to waste our time with this.”
Tandy was rather surprised that he’d automatically included her on his mission without even bothering to ask her. She’d been expecting an argument. He really was learning to speak “Tandy,” as he’d promised. Or maybe he was just so possessive that he didn’t like her being out of his sight.
Personally, she preferred the first explanation. Not that the second wasn’t also a bit of a turn-on in a rather shameful way, just that she liked the idea of someone understanding her. She’d gone her whole life feeling like she was speaking a language no one else cared to learn.
“I want to see this.” She told him distractedly. “It’s oddly fascinating.”
“How is it ‘fascinating’?” Tzadok leaned forward next to her, also resting his elbow on his knee. “Because all I’m seeing is nonsense.”
“I don’t know, I think it’s really refreshing to see such non-toxic masculinity from an authority figure towards a young woman. A platonic relationship of emotional intimacy and caring, without thought to unhealthy societal conventions on male strength and silent stoicism when faced with crippling trauma, psychological stressors, and the opposite sex.” She pointed at the scene. “This is a trust ritual which strengthens an already existing bond and provides them new opportuniti
es for emotional healing and fellowship.” She pursed her lips in thought. “Perhaps I should record this in my notes?”
“Uh-huh.” Tzadok lost interest in the goings-on. “I just think she likes the idea of beating the shit out of someone who is too calm to hit her back.”
“I think it’s nice that they’re friends now. She really needed a mentor.”
“That girl sure as horseshit needs more than a ‘mentor.’” He rolled his eyes. “She needs some kind of exorcist.”
Tandy tried to hide her smile at the insult.
“You really like it when I’m mean to people.” He observed in amusement.
“Kinda.”
“Why?”
“I think I like the idea of…” She trailed off.
“Not giving a shit?” He guessed.
“Pretty much.” She nodded. “Galland isn’t like that. You have to be careful there all of the time.”
“So, I’m what? A sideshow?” He sounded vaguely insulted.
Tandy heaved a weary sigh. She had no idea why he was being so difficult today. Luckily, as he tried to master the “Tandy” language, she herself was already fluent in “Tzadok.” She didn’t bother to even try to apologize for her statement, since he was just looking for something to misinterpret. It would be much better to just find a work-around, otherwise they’d be bickering about it all morning. “I’m sorry I find your power so sexy. I can try to stop, if you’d like.”
He snorted in amusement. “No, that’s fine.” He reached over to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re… here.”
“That’s insulting to one of us.” She informed him clinically, explaining the situation. “I automatically think it’s insulting me, since that’s all my life has prepared me for. I’ve heard more criticisms than compliments over the years. But I think you’re actually trying to refer to yourself in that statement. You’re saying that I’m too good for you, but your warrior pride prevents you from spelling that out directly. If you intend to say things like that to me in the future, you should probably try to structure it better so as to minimize the chance that I will misinterpret and assume you’re calling me undesirable.” She nodded sharply. “And I’m here because I want to be here. I’m with you because I want to be with you. There’s really no mystery there.”