Princess of Realms {Realms Book 1}

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

When night fell, Auryn was surprised to see the cat shifters return. She looked for Theon immediately and then was annoyed at herself. She knew exactly where he was, Auryn could still feel the connection to him that was burning. The closer he got, the worse her chest felt.

She made eye contact with Theon, and he frowned. She wanted to know if he was also feeling that terrible burning or if it was just her suffering because he didn't want to get to know her.

Auryn really hoped she wasn't in this world very long.

The entire village gathered to eat dinner around a cooking fire and Auryn became nervous. A plate was handed to her by one of the human men and Inara sat a few people away from her looking very nervous. Auryn watched as one of the shifter men sat down with her and they started chatting and eating together.

Auryn didn't really want to watch so she looked at her plate and tried to pretend what she was seeing wasn't what she was seeing to prepare herself for the taste. It looked like fish, fruit, and nuts. It probably wouldn't taste that way.

She tried a nut first, and it tasted like a really hard raspberry. That wasn't the worst, so then she tried the fruit, which looked like the fruit she picked earlier in the day, but someone had sliced it. A small bite and she tasted french fries. Wet french fries. Auryn couldn't help it, she made a face.

"Is our food not up to your standards?"

Auryn flinched, she had not realized that Theon had sat down beside her. 

She took a deep breath, "I'm just getting used to the flavours."

He stared blank faced at her, so she decided to try the fish. It tasted like lotion and Auryn did her best to pretend it didn't taste like lotion. Theon was still watching her so she ate the fish in two bites and then hurried to eat some of the nuts to make it taste a little better.

"You are a strange eater," Theon commented and Auryn turned to glare at him.

"Maybe I eat normally in my world and you are the one who eats strangely."

He didn't make a face, or have any more comments about that. Auryn went back to eating and tried to eat fast enough not to taste anything. It was difficult, but the nuts made up for the soggy fry flavoured fruit.

When she was done she got up to bring her plate over for washing and Theon followed her. She watched him, wondering what the heck he was doing.

After she dropped off her plate, she turned to him. "What now?"

Theon watched her for a few long seconds, as if thinking about what he wanted to say. "We are supposed to spend the evening getting to know one another."

Auryn sighed, "but you don't want to do that."

Theon blinked, but he was honest, "I do not."

Auryn hated how angry that made her. She became more and more angry. This man might have called her here for help and he didn't even want to spend time with her. Why was she even mad about that?

"So then, what would you rather I do instead?"

She was even angrier that she couldn't do anything by herself. She was in a freaking jungle and these people expected her to assimilate to their life but she had to do everything this guy said. Terrible.

Theon took a while to answer, "you may come with me, if only to ease the pain I know you feel. But you may not say anything to the others about what you see."

Auryn blinked, he was right. The closer he was to her now, the less her chest hurt. He was almost touching her now.

Instead of letting her anger get the best of her, Auryn nodded and when Theon held out his hand for her, she took it.