Plague of Mybyncia by C.G. Coppola Read Free Book Online Page B

are still hesitant about trying it.
    “Bunch of bravados,” Clarence rolls his eyes
before withdrawing towards Sampson.
    “If she can do it,” Booker brings the jellied
sphere to his mouth. Biting into it, he immediately winces, pulling
the red eye back.
    “Don’t spit it out,” I shake my head.
“They’ll take it as disrespect.”
    “ This is disrespect,” Werzo frowns at
Booker’s face. “This isn’t even food.”
    “Then don’t eat it,” Reid samples the red eye
without the slightest reaction. He chews fully, swallows and goes
for another bite. When he finishes, he keeps his sights deadlocked
on Werzo. “We can’t afford to offend them. So if you don’t want it,
just give it back and be quiet about it.”
    Tucker follows Reid’s lead, biting into the
eye as Pratt, Mae and Jace do the same. I go for my second bite,
watching Werzo’s internal argument play. Finally, he gives in and
our group slowly consumes our portion of Blovid’s favorite
delicacy. Clarence comes around offering seconds but everyone
immediately declines. The Brekin tongue is served next and it’s the
same thing. I’m the first to try and it ends up being merely
edible. Everyone gets about two to three bites of each dish in
before politely refusing the rest, Clarence more than happy to eat
the remains.
    “I feel like I’m going to barf,” Werzo grips
his hand to his exposed stomach, his face suddenly turning a
frightening green.
    “Keep it down,” Tucker warns.
    “I think that eyeball did something to me…”
Werzo covers his mouth, racing through the crowd for the tunnel to
his quarters.
    He flies past the bottom of the thrones,
where Queen Ravan and her daughters meander through the heavy crowd
which automatically parts for them. Surrounded by their attendants,
they move like a bubble through the bodies and head for us just as
Sampson, Qippert and the chancellor join our side.
    “On your best behavior,” Clarence tosses us a
look and frowns. “Where’s Werzo?”
    Tucker is about to explain, but pauses at the
arrival of the queen and her daughters. A quick inhale and his body
goes rigid.
    With a regal but stoic expression, the queen
glances over our group, addressing us specifically—the
humans. “How did you like the Glippis eye?”
    We all look to each other, hoping someone
else will be the one to answer. After an excruciatingly long
second, I can’t take it anymore.
    “It’s similar to one of our home dishes…” I
force a grin. “Very reminiscent of Earth.”
    “And you are not able to return?” There’s no
sorrow in her words, no ounce of sympathy or pain, just sheer,
emotionless curiosity.
    I grit my teeth. “Correct.”
    “I am very sorry to hear that,” the princess
with the lavender hair frowns. She gazes over all of us, scanning
Tucker’s stiff posture next to her. “Is there no possibility?”
    “Not really, Princess Ariana,” Sampson
addresses this one, “at this point, at least.”
    “Do you miss it terribly?” she asks,
directing her question to Tucker.
    He opens his mouth but no words come out. He
tries again and again, it’s silence.
    “We’ll always miss it,” Reid speaks at
Tucker’s hesitation, “but there’s no point in reminiscing over the
past. We can only go forward,” his eyes flicker to me before
shifting back to hers.
    “And how are you liking Mybyncia?”
    “It must be different from Harrizel’s
savageness,” the emerald-haired sister fights off an obvious
yawn.
    “Savageness?” Jace frowns.
    “You lived in close quarters with your
females, no? How…” she offers him a belittling glance,
“rudimentary...”
    “We had no choice,” Pratt snaps. “We were
prisoners.”
    “So I have heard. Still,” and her eyes survey
the hall again, bored with us, “even slaves can keep their
honor.”
    “Varille!” the third sister gasps, “You are
being rude to our guests.”
    “They are only our guests because Blovid
fled. If the Vermix had not attacked us,” a