I shook myself out of my frozen perusal with a blink. Torran’s fathomless gaze swept over my face, his expression closed. I wondered what he thought of my eyes. They were pale blue, with a darker ring around the outside. By human standards, they were pretty. By Valovian, they were completely uninteresting.

Exactly how I liked it, I reminded myself firmly.

I stepped back and let the vines fall closed between us. The strange spell broke and I wondered if he had been messing with my mind, but I dismissed the thought almost immediately. I hadn’t felt the telltale brush of his mind against mine.

No, I feared the truth was far worse: he hadn’t done anything at all.

That was all me.

Chapter Eight

Despite my firm insistence that I wasn’t going to feed her, when Luna rode all the way back to the galley on my shoulder then jumped down next to her bowl and stared up at me with huge violet eyes, I caved.

“Fine, fine,” I said, “you can have one more treat, but that’s it.” I pointed a finger at her. “If you eat all of our food before we reach Bastion, we’ll have to eat you.” It was an entirely empty threat, and she knew it.

“In Valovan, burbu is the word for ‘hunger,’” Torran said. “Modern standard Valovan is based on an older dialect. Different regions have different names for burbus, but many of them revolve around their appetite.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. When I got out of the service, I took her to three vets to ensure I was feeding her enough because it seemed like she was always hungry. But when we left extra food out, she didn’t eat it. I worried that something was wrong, but they all said she was healthy.” I rummaged around in the dry goods cabinet and pulled out a piece of jerky.

Luna sat by her bowl, her round ears pricked toward me. “This is it until dinner,” I said sternly. “No more begging.”

She tensed, ready. I waited a beat, then tossed the jerky high. Luna leapt and snagged it out of the air. She twisted around to land on her feet, then leapt again to the rail along the top of the wall. She disappeared out of the room, prize clamped between her sharp teeth.

I turned to Torran. “Do you or your team have any dietary restrictions I need to know about? Kee doesn’t eat meat, so most of our meals are vegetarian. Is that going to be a problem?”

He shook his head. “That is fine. We do not have any restrictions.”

“If you give me a list of your team’s favorite meals, I’ll put them in the rotation if we have the ingredients.”

Torran gave me an unreadable look, but he inclined his head with something like grudging respect. “I will get it to you tonight.”