Chereads / Close To Heaven / Chapter 14 - How To Pretend (7)

Chapter 14 - How To Pretend (7)

Asha gave Xarakas an appraising look as he insisted on calling her by her title, continuing to devour her meal in between their conversation. 

"I thought the saying was that actions speak louder than words? Besides, you haven't taken any actions, only used your words," she challenged.

"Now eat. You're looking at it like it's poison, but Nana's food is incredible," Asha said, noticing at last that Xarakas had yet to touch his meal. 

She reached over to nudge him, but she froze in surprise as she did, suddenly feeling her demon attempt to rise to the surface as they touched, all but trying to push Asha closer to Xarakas. Her demon had never been interested in anyone before, unless she was responding to a threat, but hurting him seemed to be the last thing she wanted, and as she threw a couple of images of what she would like to do with him, Asha's jaw practically dropped.

Xarakas, meanwhile, gave her a skeptical look as she nudged him and insisted that he try the food, taking a bite of the enchilada and letting out a surprised hum as he tasted it. "Hm, what do you call this stuff? It's not like any food I've ever come across." 

Noticing her strange reaction as she nudged him, however, he gave her an odd look. He could only assume that her demon was acting up, just as his had been all week, and by her face he assumed that this was the first time she'd felt anything. 

But he wasn't about to mention it, certainly not when she was a princess and he was nothing more than a simple arena fighter. "What? Is it so strange or surprising that I've never seen this food before?"

As she pushed her demon back, Asha studied Xarakas, taking in the confused look he was giving her and how he only talked about the food. "You really didn't… You didn't notice anything odd just now?" she asked carefully, continuing to watch him with silver blue eyes. 

"No, you wouldn't have a reason to have had these before unless you'd visited earth. They're called enchiladas." Asha paused, then feeling like she needed to explain, added, "When Lucifer kidnapped my dad's mom, he also brought her mom down here and put a spell of immortality on her. That's Nana. She always makes us food from her home."

"...Odd how?" Xarakas asked, knowing he was venturing into dangerous territory with this line of conversation, but he couldn't help it. "Is something the matter? I can go find the Queen, or a healer, if you'd prefer."

He nodded slowly as she explained the strange food they were eating. "I've never been to earth before.. highly doubt I ever will, either. Not really something a lowly arena fighter gets to experience."

Though he offered to find a healer, Asha couldn't help the thought in the back of her mind that he knew exactly what she was talking about. 

But what if she was wrong? Just because he wasn't acting so distant didn't necessarily mean anything. 

"No, sorry. It's nothing to bother anyone over," she finally sighed, quickly finishing her meal. 

Listening to her demon on this would probably be stupid, and either he truly didn't know anything or he clearly wasn't interested. If she was smart, she'd push her demon down and pretend she'd never noticed anything either.