Purity (Pure and Tainted) by Evangeline Anderson Page A

idea. Slowly, she began to chew and a strange expression came over her
delicate features. “It’s sweet,” she said, swallowing at last. “But not as
sweet as the shauklat. And it’s warm
and soft between my teeth. I like it,” she concluded at last, looking up at
him.
    “Wait until you try the bacon.” Boone tore off a piece of that and
fed it to her before she could protest. K chewed again and her eyes went wide.
    “Salty. And crispy. It crunches when I
chew it.”
    “That’s bacon for you.” Boone grinned. He hadn’t expected to like
having to keep K near him constantly—for one thing she was the enemy and for
another she didn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor. But this was actually fun .
    He’d always enjoyed cooking and introducing others to good food
but to actually introduce someone to the entire concept of food was completely different. It was almost as though K
was a baby or a child that hadn’t been allowed to mature and she was just now
seeing the universe through fresh eyes. I
always wanted to be a father, Boone thought dryly as he coaxed her to try
the scrambled eggs. But this wasn’t
exactly what I had in mind.
    He didn’t really see her as a child, though, despite her asexual
appearance and unfamiliarity with things he considered basic and everyday.
There was too much of the trained killer in her for that. And she had a woman’s
self-assured grace and confidence, even if she didn’t have any curves to go
with them.
    “So you like it?” he asked, giving her another piece of pancake,
this time dipped in simulated maple syrup.
    “I do. It’s strange but I really do.” She looked thoughtful. “In
fact—”
    “What the hell is she doing here?”
    They both looked up to see Loki standing in the doorway. He was
dressed in his usual flamboyant attire with a gold laminate cross-cut shirt and
tight blue flack pants tucked into his gold and white boots. Fancy clothes
aside, it was the scowl on his face that worried
Boone.
    “K’s helping me make breakfast,” he said mildly, hoping to defuse
the situation.
    “You’re letting her touch the food ? Great, just great.” Loki threw up his hands. “Why not
just hand her a plasma rifle and draw a target on all our heads while you’re at
it, Boone? Or better yet, hand her a bottle of poison in case she didn’t bring
enough of her own.”
    “She’s not poisoning your damn breakfast, Loki. She didn’t even
understand the concept of food until about half an hour ago. All her life she’s
lived on nutrient drinks and protein paste.”
    Loki’s gold ringed eyes widened. “You expect me to believe that?”
    “It’s true.” K stepped forward, her eyes flashing. “I have never
tasted solid food until Boone gave me some just now. And if I were going to kill you, I would not choose such a cowardly
method as poison. There is no honor in such treachery.”
    “There’s no honor in attacking an unarmed ship, either, but you
did that,” Loki shot back. “Chall is dead because of your honorable methods.”
    To Boone’s surprise K actually looked slightly ashamed of herself.
He wondered if she realized she was showing more and more emotion as time
passed without her suit.
    “I did not wish to kill those aboard your vessel,” she said
quietly. “I wanted to take the lot of you to the pshalite mines. But my commanding
officer ordered that you must all die. He believes Erians are so depraved they
cannot even make good slaves.”
    “And now you find out you’re one yourself. Ha!” Loki gave her a
bitter grin. “That must really burn your hide—Princess Purist a filthy Erian .”
    K took a step forward, her black-on-black eyes narrowing
dangerously. “I am not like you.”
    “No, you’re not. I’m not
a soulless killing machine.”
    “Okay, okay, that’s enough. Break it up.” Boone stepped between
them and put a hand on each of their shoulders. Loki was stiff with anger but
what really worried Boone was the tension he could feel