Everlasting Beauty (Free Ebook)

Chapter Thirty-Five

For the next several hours I continued to work on the party. I didn't want to think about the food issue, at least not until the prince arrived, but I couldn't help it. Was I really harming the prince? I didn't want to harm the prince and I didn't know why, but the more I tried to avoid the thought of it, the more the thought of it just hammered into my mind. I didn't know if it was a good idea to introduce Earth food to the other guests, since they were probably all from the Sha world. So, I changed the menu from the Earth food to the Sha food alone. It didn't matter how much it bothered me. I felt that it was much worse to harm these people because of my selfish appetite. I didn't want to be responsible for a massive food poisoning so I decided to opt the Earth food out.

"Rox..." I said calling him on the Chambo. I tried to persist from time to time on my question to see if somehow, I could get an answer from him, but Rox remained the same and so did his responses. Over and over again his answer was that he was not programmed to offer a response.

"Okay," I would answer trying to calm myself down, but it wasn't an easy situation and so I tried to occupy myself until Brok arrived at night for our usual dinner.

"Hello, good evening Anabella. You look beautiful," he said with a grin. I tried to smile back with the lump on my throat and the half nausea in my stomach. I could barely speak.

"Thanks," I mumbled and nodded. He walked with me to the dining room. The colorful creatures swam about here and there. They looked beautiful during the night time. Tonight, the lights were lower and the creatures emitted a nice glow of different colors. Krimla came walking in with a tray of salad. She served us both without looking at neither of us, then she disappeared.

"Wonderful. I love the green," Brok said. He grabbed his fork and was about to eat from his triangular shaped plate. Before he could stick his fork on the green lettuce I placed my hand on his.

"Wait!" I shrieked.

"What is it? Are you alright?" Brok asked me. I glanced his way and then at his hand. I didn't know what to do or what to say or how to say it.

"Anabella, answer me! What is the matter?" Brok insisted. How could I tell him the information I knew without harming Krimla's position? I didn't want to get her fired since it meant that she'd be a homeless beggar. I had to think.

"Anabella!"

"Is the food from Earth harmful for you?" I blurted out loud. Brok's eyebrow shifted upwards and his golden eyes sprouted out.

"Who told you that?" Brok asked. I swallowed the dry lump that had formed in my throat. I didn't want to give Krimla up.

"Well?"

"That doesn't matter," I replied.

"It does to me," Brok said.

"I... I noticed," I lied. I didn't know how he'd react, but I decided to keep a cold, calm look. I figured that if I didn't move or blink, maybe he would buy it. Brok frowned as he examined me. My face was blank. He moved his legs a bit and studied me some more. I kept my face as serious as I could and then after a long pause he spoke.

"It may be doing some harm to me, but it is not certain," Brok said. I sighed.

"Oh... well..." I said.

"How did you notice?"

"I... sometimes I saw your hand tremble," I lied. He nodded. Thankfully, he believed me. Krimla and Rox were off the hook.

"I cannot deny that yes, sometimes it trembles, but it is so little that I am truly amazed that you noticed it at all."

"Well, I admit that it wasn't easy to notice, but I did," I said.