He grinned at me before stuffing the rest in his mouth. “Just pig’s blood,” he told me, spraying a few crumbs onto the front of his suit. I absently reached up to brush them away.
He froze, and his gulp was audible as he swallowed the rest. Eyes darting nervously, he cleared his throat and shoved his hand back into the bag, this time pulling out a croissant.
“Want one?” he blurted, before stuffing half into his mouth.
I pursed my lips to hide my smile, shaking my head. “I’m okay thanks.”
Chapter Sixteen
Greid
By the time we made it back home, I was drained.
Usually when I went out, it was for an hour or two at the most. I’d started flagging around midday, my tolerance for people and noise and the buzzing hum of electric lights reaching its limit, but I hadn’t said anything to Beryl. She’d been so excited to be able to walk around as a “normal person”, with no one looking at her twice.
Well, except for the humans who’d cast her appreciative glances as she passed them, which had made me want to scowl at all of them.
She’d stuck close to me on the busy streets, our arms constantly brushing as we walked. After breakfast, we’d taken the subway out of the Cimmerian District and into the heart of the city. She’d never taken the subway before, saying that when she’d been able to go into the city with a few other cult members, they’d always been dropped off in the same area, a quieter one with a very low demiurgus population, and told not to go too far.
The subway was pretty gross. Dirty and always crowded and stinking of fumes. But Beryl had stared in awe at the high vaulted ceilings and gleaming black walls of the Cimmerian District’s station, which was a little nicer than others.
When we’d got off at Umbral Square, the train and platform had both been packed, people pushing to get off and fighting their way through the waiting crowds. Beryl had hurriedly tucked her small hand into mine so we didn’t lose each other, looking a little spooked as we wove our way off the platform.
My palm had immediately started sweating, but I’d clutched on tight, my dual hearts racing.
We’d wandered around Umbral Square for a while, with Beryl staring, transfixed, at the street performers and wanting to stop and look in the windows of every tourist trap store with overpriced souvenirs. She’d been amazed by the huge demiurgus-made theatre, which advertised its long-running production of Deep Earth!, a light-hearted musical about the demiurgus’ first journey to the surface centuries ago.
It wasn’t a hot day, but I’d noticed her staring at the retro ice cream place on the corner, so we’d gotten cones to eat while sitting by the big fountain in the centre of the square. She’d gotten two scoops of strawberry, but I’d seen her sneakily eyeing up my dark chocolate, so I’d let her taste it and tried very, very hard not to think about her tongue being on the same thing as mine.
After that, we’d taken the subway to the Human History Museum, because I’d figured she probably hadn’t learned all that much about her own people’s history, instead having had to learn all about mine. She’d been fascinated by the Ancient Egypt exhibition, especially when I pointed out the hieroglyphs that were now believed to be depictions of demiurgus who had ventured to the surface long before we’d made our grand arrival.
By 3 p.m., Beryl had suggested we head home. She’d still been bright-eyed and eager, but I thought she might have sensed how tense and tired I was growing, even though I’d tried my best to hide it. I couldn’t contain my sigh of relief when we finally stepped over the threshold into my house, already loosening the tie around my neck.
“That was so much fun,” Beryl said as she leaned down to take off her sandals. “Thank you so much, Greid.”
“That’s okay,” I said awkwardly, tugging off my boots. “We can do it again soon. If you want.”
“Yes, please. Maybe not for a little while, though.” She straightened and gave me a smile. “It was great, but I haven’t ever been around that many people for so long before. I think I need a few days to recharge.”
I didn’t know if that was actually true or if she was saying it because she’d sensed how much it drained me to be out for so long. I gave her a tiny, grateful smile and nodded. “Whenever you want.”
Beryl rubbed her arms. “It’s so nice and warm in here.”
My eyes immediately dropped to her bare feet. They looked so small. Cute. But they were a little pink, and I realised she’d been wearing sandals all day. It wasn’t necessarily cold, but definitely not summer-warm.
And she didn’t even have a jacket. Just a thin shirt. Berating myself, I made a secret decision that she might not like and said, “I’m gonna go change.”
“Okay. Do you mind if I go sit in the living room to read that book?”
“Of course not.” My ears twitched. “You live here too now, Beryl. You don’t have to ask.”
She beamed up at me, then sidled past to make her way to the living room. I followed, stopping outside my bedroom door.
“Um, so I’m just gonna change then I need to go email my clients letting them know their orders have been shipped,” I told her.
She stopped in the doorway. “Okay. Then shall we watch Our Neighbours the Humans?”
I couldn’t contain my grin, insides already twisting with excitement for a repeat of yesterday evening. “Yeah, of course.”
She disappeared into the living room and I hurried into my bedroom to get changed. After stripping off the suit and donning a pair of sweats and a long-sleeved shirt, I hesitated before grabbing my onesie. Fuck it. She’d already seen it.
After tugging on my slippers, I opened the bedroom door and snuck past the living room to the front door, feeling like a bit of a creep as I picked up one of Beryl’s sandals to find out the size. Then I raced up the stairs to my workshop. The old leather desk chair creaked as I sat down in front of my PC, and I quickly fired off the emails to my clients before opening up an online human clothing store.
Chewing my lip, I anxiously browsed the never-ending selection of shoes. What kind would Beryl like? She’d need warm ones for the winter. Spotting a pair of boots in deep burgundy, I clicked on them. For some reason, I thought she’d like those ones, but if she didn’t, at least she’d have something until she found some she really wanted.
Adding them to the cart, I then typed in coats and groaned at another endless list. At least I could immediately rule out any in beige or tan, knowing she’d hate them. After a few minutes of scrolling, I found a grey wool coat with burgundy fur trim and stared at the screen in despair when it asked me to select a size. I had no fucking idea about human sizing.
At least there were pictures of models actually wearing the different sizes. Beryl seemed tiny to me, but the human woman wearing size Small looked positively miniscule. The model wearing a Medium looked closer to Beryl, so I selected that and checked out.
As I loaded up my cell provider’s website and started the process of ordering a second SIM under my plan, I worried that Beryl would think I was trying to, I don’t know, control her life or something. I wasn’t. I just wanted her to be warm when she went out, and I wanted her to be able to contact her aunt in case she was missing her. If Beryl got angry when this stuff arrived, I’d return it all and apologise. I was only doing it in secret because I knew she’d refuse if I asked her. She’d refused my multiple offers to buy her stuff while we’d been out.