Chapter 96: If We Can Feast Together
Paulus grinned, displaying a wide row of sharpened teeth as he watched the young human’s wide-eyed stare at the dish in front of her. Frost Walkers were pure carnivores with powerful jaws that could crack bone to harvest marrow. They wasted very little from anything they hunted, even when bones made it difficult to reach the most succulent pieces of meat on an animal.
Technically, as the guest of honor, the dish that shocked Ashlynn had been placed directly in front of Nyrielle, however, that didn’t stop the young witch from marveling at the giant head of a fish with a long snout and whiskers that almost seemed to be staring at her from atop the giant platter.
"You may have noticed that there is little grass so high up in the mountains," Paulus said as Ashlynn stared at the fish while the fish stared back at her. "But there are several mountain lakes that are well stocked with fish. Since we have to carve a hole in the ice to fish during much of the year, each fish is a treasure and no part of it should be wasted. I hope that Seneschal Ashlynn doesn’t look down on us too much for this," he said in a tone that was intended to be cutting.
"Nyrielle," Ashlynn said, turning away from the fish head to look at her lover with shining, eager eyes. "Have you eaten this before?"
"Not the head, no," she said, frowning at Paulus and his barbed tone. "But I assume that you have?"
"Since you haven’t, then you get the first piece," Ashlynn said with a wide smile. "Assuming Lord Ritchel doesn’t object?"
"I’ve yet to see a human crack open a fish skull," Ritchel said with a hearty laugh. "By all means, show us how humans would eat the head of a great sturgeon," he said, leaning forward with an elbow on the table to rest his chin on his fist while he watched Ashlynn work.
"I don’t know about cracking the skull," Ashlynn said, retrieving a slender knife from the center of the table. "But where I grew up, we consider the cheeks to be a delicacy," she said, gently slicing into the flesh of the fish head until she retrieved a small morsel of meat the size of a hen’s egg.
"Mistress," she said politely, placing the delicate piece of cheek meat on the table. "Wait just a moment longer," she said, extracting the second piece of meat for herself before nudging Heila to bring her the crock of creamy goat cheese a little further down the table.