Alliance of Serpents Read Online Free PDF Page A

residence. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was your
room."
    "It's not," she said, pulling the black
leather leg of her pants down over her boot. "But then, this isn't
your ship."
    "I'm sorry," he said again. Was there nothing
he could do right around her? "I just wanted to see how you were
feeling."
    "Well," she glanced up at him before pulling
the other leg down, "better than you, I suppose." When she stood,
she threw her hair behind her back and tied it with a red ribbon.
"You hungry?"
    The question caught him off-guard. Kitreena
never seemed like the kind of person who would invite him to
dinner. "Well . . . yes, as a matter of fact, I am."
    Her face seemed as hard as ever, but her
voice softened a bit. "Come on. Let's see if we can find something
at the cafeteria."
    The cafeteria turned out to be a lot like the
Serving Hall for the elders in Keroko. Dozens of dark wooden tables
were spread across the floor, each surrounded by chairs with blue
cushions and armrests made from silver. A serving bar stretched
along most of the right wall where people lined up with trays to
assemble their meal. People filled the room sparsely, many wearing
the same brown uniforms Arus had become familiar with, others in
what appeared to be casual clothes of varying colors and design.
But it was the windows lining the far wall that really grabbed his
attention.
    "By the Maker . . ." he muttered, staring in
disbelief as his feet carried him across the room. The vast abyss
of space, in all of its unimaginable glory and splendor, seemed to
swallow him up as he stared into the endless sea of stars.
Terranias floated silently before them, its calm blue aura
enhancing the beauty of the sight. Several smaller ships circled
the Refuge , passing the window periodically in tight
formation. Another cluster of larger ships sat a good distance away
near the right side of the planet.
    Kitreena looked back to the serving bar. "I'm
going to get a tray before that line gets longer. You coming?" Arus
heard her, but his attention was fixed on the planet. "We can get a
seat by the window, if you like." Finally, he nodded, but it was
hard to pull his attention away.
    The serving bar certainly wasn't lacking in
variety, though Arus couldn't recognize most of the offerings. He
slid his tray along the counter beside Kitreena's, scooping up a
little of every type of meat he could find and even more fruit. She
gave him a startled glance more than once—apparently certain types
of meat weren't well-mixed—but in the end she told him to get
whatever he wanted. After filling a glass with something called
"Rasmban Punch," he followed Kitreena to one of the smaller tables
beside the window and sat across from her.
    "Manue doesn't mix with rufen," she was
saying, pointing at the green-glazed meat on his plate. "If you're
going to try them both, I suggest rinsing your mouth between
bites."
    "I'll keep that in mind," he said through a
nervous laugh. "What is manue? For that matter, what is rufen? What
is any of this stuff I've got here?"
    It wasn't something he expected, but Kitreena
grinned through a bite of food. "Well, you wouldn't be familiar
with any of them. They're from assorted animals from the homeworlds
of crew members. Every cycle, the kitchen accepts votes for a new
meal from the crew. Everything offered is from the home planet of
one of us. That red meat in the blue gravy there is from my
homeworld. It's called Kraktouis. It's a bird that lives on the
ocean, feeding on the fish near the surface."
    Arus took a deep breath and bit down on a
fork-full of Kraktouis. After rolling it around in his mouth for a
moment, he nodded and smiled. "Good choice," he said after he
swallowed. "Tastes a little like chicken with a sour sauce on
it."
    Kitreena nodded and took another bite of her
food. "I think they have chicken up there. When your people
migrated across the galaxy, they brought a lot of their livestock
with them."
    With every word, her attitude seemed to be
cooling