Bo and the Beast (Book #1) (Completed)

24. You Can't Read?

At dinner, Bo had to try very hard to disguise how much she enjoyed the baked vegetable casserole that came up from the kitchen. It was covered over in bread crumbs, and it steamed as she took a chunk out to stuff in her mouth. Across from her, the Beast ate something made from the alien food that she refused to touch. His smelled of citrus and mint.

When her stomach groaned from all she'd stuffed into it, Bo slowed down her scarfing and leaned back in her chair. She rested her hands across her middle and stared at the Beast while he ate his dinner with remarkable table manners.

"Where do you get all this food?" she asked.

"This house exists in a strange state of being," he replied. "It's hard to explain, but it's situated so that I am able to grow the items."

Bo didn't ask about what he meant, as she knew he probably wouldn't give her the answer. Instead, she asked a different question. "And the alien stuff grows just as fine as it does on your home planet?"

"It always taste a bit strange, but it's not bad."

Bo cast her glance over the room, taking in the phalanx of Service-Matons that now stood in the shadows in case she had an urge to throw dinner plates around and run out of the room before dessert.

"Where did they come from?" she asked, jerking her chin in the floating servants' direction.

The Beast glanced up for the first time since their dinner started. "You're full of questions today, aren't you?"

"What else am I going to do here? I'm naturally curious and my brain is rotting from so much boredom."

"They came with the house. I found them in one of the storage rooms, put into a lockdown. It took a bit of programming and repairs, but I soon had them functioning once more."

"Sounds like fun," she said, entirely serious. It might have sounded a bit morbid to admit to Madame or Dent, but she longed to get a glance at their innards and see what kinds of machinery they were made of.

"It wasn't so much when I was alone and trying to stay alive with no help," he replied.

"How'd you end up in this house?"

The Beast gave her a look and a heavy sigh. She raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

"Right after the war, once I was... released... I had nowhere to stay. I wandered for a bit, but stumbling on packs of humans was just as bad as freezing alone in the forest. This was right before my kind left the planet, so the humans were particularly brutal," he said. "This house saved my life, and I've been trying to keep it in good repair in order to repay it for the kindness it gave me."

Bo thought it strange that he felt some sort of obligation to a house that wasn't even originally his, but she supposed the aliens would have different ways of thinking than humans.

She let the conversation rest for a moment while she fiddled with what was left of her dinner. Eventually, she shifted in her seat.

"You've programmed the forcefield and the Service-Matons. How did you learn all this technical stuff?"

The Beast sighed. "Really? More questions?" This time he didn't make her answer. "All of my kind are naturally inclined toward things like programming electrical machinery. I merely had the chance to learn many different systems from the others that were kept with me on the transport vehicles."

Bo knew that his skills in fighting made the Beast of Lyx an asset in high demand with his species. She'd heard stories of the huge, hovering ship that rumbled through the countryside striking fear into men and women just by the mere sight of it. Everyone knew the Beast of Lyx was inside, waiting to destroy whatever village his alien generals wanted obliterated. What Bo hadn't known was that others had been carted around with him. She supposed it made sense to transport all the skilled people they needed together, in order to keep the lines of communication as clear as they could.

A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room ran down Bo's spine. The subject of aliens had never been a comfortable one with her, and now she was learning things that even the leaders during the war time probably hadn't known much about. She wasn't sure she liked getting to know the behind-the-scenes of her enemies.

She picked the first topic she could think of to change the subject. "The books from the Sky Room are amazing," she said. "I don't think I've ever read so much in my entire life." She tried not to think of how that was true because she'd spent the majority of her time back home making sure that she and her entire camp made it through the day without being killed or hurt. Reading had been at the bottom of the list of things to do during the day, though it was something that sat near her heart. Making sure the electrical wires hadn't rusted through, or that they had enough water to drink, were far more important than finding out if the princess found the prince in the end. And, frankly, it made her a little annoyed that she finally found the time to read only because she was forced into captivity.

"I'm glad that you like them," he said. "They've gone neglected for far too long, and I was beginning to think they looked rather desperate whenever I went up there. You've given them meaning again."

"There's a lot of charting and map volumes, but I think it's kind of funny that if this was a prisoner exchange point, the generals and men who staffed it were reading romance novels."

"Are there romance novels up there?" The Beast's lips quirked up at the ends. "It is rather odd. Maybe they were not the hulking men we imagine."

"Well, I'm glad they had a taste for windswept foreign lands and dashing knights," Bo said. "I'd probably die if I finally had the chance to read but could only find war strategy books."

"I have more books in other rooms, if you'd care to take a look at them one day. I'm afraid I don't know what they are, but you can always catalogue them for me."

"You don't know what you have?" Bo's eyes widened. "I'd know every single book I owned. I'd probably have them all memorized!"

The Beast shrugged. "Unfortunately, I am unable to do such a thing."

"Why?"

The Beast gave her a look, a little half-smile on his face, as if he was wondering if she was joking with him or not. "They're in a language I cannot read. Surely you know we are not born with the ability to read your alphabet?"

Bo slapped the table with her hands and leaned in. "What? You can't read?"

"I can read, just not your language. I picked up how to speak your language, but there was never a chance or need for me to need to learn to read it."

Bo bit her lip, mulling over the information. She'd never met someone who couldn't read before. Even the most destitute children they'd run across in their scavenging missions had been able to read off the screens in the towns and cities. It almost hurt her to think of someone unable to read the plethora of bound books in their possession.

With a sudden burst of altruism, Bo leaned forward. "I'll teach you. If you want."

The Beast shook his head. "I'm far too old for lessons."

"No, you're not. Look, I'm about to burst. My knight is kept from his soulmate because of her stupid family and I need someone to talk to before I die from all this emotional stress. If I start raving over the romance of Sir Shining and Lady Wastrel without you having read them then I'll just look crazy."

"I don't know..."

"Come on, do you really want to be the only one who can't read in this household?"

"I can read," the Beast said, slightly annoyed.

"Well, the offer is for a limited time only. You better take it while it's still going. Because it's expiring as we talk. Going... going... going..."

"Fine," the Beast said. He narrowed his eyes. "How does anyone spend more than five minutes with you? You're as annoying as a fly."

"Thanks." She grinned. "We'll start tomorrow."

She took it as a badge of honor that she could annoy the most feared alien that ever set foot on planet earth, and it felt as hard won as any medal earned on the battlefield.