Page 13 of Smoke and Blood


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“Safe returns.”

“Until the council meeting.”Iskah walked away with Boris as Keijo, the quiet force at her side, aligned himself beside her.

Chanin envied the sight of the Fae Queen and her mate walking side by side.Too many hours had passed since he’d seen Morlie, and he was ready to rectify it.“Bleddyn, you ready to be with your mates?I need to see mine.”

“Alpha, I’m right with you.”










Chapter Three

“Good day, Aguya.”Oneperson after another greeted Kai when she strolled into the massive kitchen.The place was a beehive of activities as they prepared for the evening meal in the great hall.Along one wall were stoves and open pits where people cooked various things in big pots and wide frying pans—making the room smell heavenly.

On cue, her stomach began to growl.She shook her head.This baby would not lead her from meal to bed and back to another meal.It would wait.

As she moved deeper into the great hall kitchen, she noticed a long marble table in the center where three people were chopping potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, and other root vegetables that Kai still learned about.

Three men entered a door from the other side, carting skinned, beheaded, and gutted carcasses over their shoulders.They hoisted each of them onto two huge stainless-steel tables before they departed the same way they entered.Kai knew it had to be a goat since no other meat was included in Drahk meals.As men and women hacked through and sliced off chunks in various places, Kai had to turn her face as the scent of the raw meat wafted toward her and made her stomach roll.

Kai slapped a hand over her mouth and prayed everything stayed down.How could the meat cooked in all sorts of ways make her salivate while seeing and smelling it raw made her nauseous?

She had not experienced any morning sickness with the child yet, but she now was clear that she had an aversion to raw goat meat.

“What are you doing in here, Aguya?”Tana’s voice drew her toward the kitchen's back wall, where the attendant stood before three deep sinks.She dried her hands on a towel looped through her apron, and then she started toward her.

Kai was glad Tana moved forward because the attendant’s position by the sinks put her in close proximity to the raw meat, and Kai couldn’t force her feet to go any further.

“I wanted to help,” she explained as she lowered her hand from her face.

Tana grasped her arm and pulled her further away from the smell of the meat.

Once the delicious aroma from the food on the stove surrounded her, Kai inhaled deeply and felt her body balance out again.

“The kitchen is the worst place for a swelling female.None can take the raw meat.When female workers became pregnant, usually, their duties were switched temporarily from the kitchen.”

Kai absorbed the knowledge and then asked.“Does that mean that young dragons also have an issue with it?”

Tana laughed as she shook her head.“Absolutely not.It is customary at their first shift to be fed tender portions of the raw meat.”