Free Hunger by Harmony Raines

house; maybe that was where he kept all of his personal items. If she were feeling more courageous, she would have asked him. But Ishk did not invite conversation when she joined him in the garden.
    “What can I do?” she asked.
    “If you are feeling strong enough, you can gather up these cuttings. Then separate them, the blooms here, the stalks here. When I return later, I will dry them.”
    “What do you use them for?” She picked up the yellow flowers; they were big and bright, their petals waxy.
    “The stalks are good for flavour. They were in the dish I prepared last night. The flowers are steamed, and the waxy residue is used as a sealant for paper.”
    “Oh, like on envelopes?” she asked.
    He cocked his head and thought for a moment. “Yes. You call them envelopes.”
    “Great. What are they called?”
    “ Clibit .”
    “Clibit,” she repeated, and smiled at the first piece of real knowledge he had given her. “Does everything in your garden have a use? Or do you grow some of the plants for pleasure?”
    He stopped cutting and looked at her. “I grow all of the plants for pleasure whether they have a use or not.”
    “I see.” She went back to collecting the cuttings he had dropped, feeling her body becoming suppler as she worked her muscles. Although by the time he told her to finish up outside, because he had to leave, the effects of the ocatha was wearing off and her face was beginning to hurt again.
    “Come, I will administer the ointment once more before I leave,” he said, seeing her discomfort.
    “It will wait until later. There is no need.”
    “Don’t worry. I will not be repeating our mating. Not until tonight at least. I have no time left.”
    Evie didn’t know how to feel about his words. Did she want to have sex with him again, or mate, as he called it? He thought she had found it unpleasant, which wasn’t true. Unsatisfying, yes, but not unpleasant. Maybe she would have to try it one more time before she could decide.
     

Chapter Seventeen – Ishk
    With some reluctance, he left for the tower, his cruiser covering the ground quickly. The day was perfect, the sky clear and the two suns bright. His work gave him purpose, but today he would rather be at home, he tried to tell himself it was because he didn’t trust her with his garden. Yet he knew she wouldn’t touch anything, not without him being there to supervise, she understood how much the garden meant to him.
    In some ways, they were similar. She longed to learn about the plants, and he longed to teach her. It would be a good way to educate these human females. And it would be good practice for when he had a son.
    That led him back to thinking of her on his bed, kneeling on all fours while he mated with her. The sight of her flesh, the feel of her around him. He longed to take his time and explore her body. Feel the warmth of her skin and the way she reacted to his touch.
    Looming in front of him, the tower reminded him that his thoughts should be concentrated on how to overthrow the Hier Ruler. It looked next to impossible. With no co-conspirator among the council members, it would be up to him to drum up support from elsewhere. And the only place he would find that kind of support was back in the farming belt. He would have to leave his home here and put his council duties on hold.
    He would also have to leave Evie behind; he could hardly take her with him and then preach to his fellow farmers that the females should be kept imprisoned.
    Ishk wasn’t sure how, but by the time he reached the tower, he had talked himself into putting off any rebellion until he had put a child in her belly. Once she was securely held in the breeding house, he would leave. The council would accept his excuse when he insisted he needed to return home. He only had to tell them he was going to check everything was all right with preparations to raise the quotas of food stores, ready for the increase in population as more females arrived from