Page 15 of Stars in Halo

‘That and something more,’ Mirage quipped before sailing out of the room to his low-key curses.

Katya sighed and leaned back into the luxurious velvet of her crash couch in the Fortuna’s Grace’s stateroom.

She’d made it out.

But not without tagging the towering, forceful man with drop-dead handsome, chiselled features, long dreadlocks, roughly shaven jaw and lush lips at the spaceport.

He’d followed her.

She wondered if he had a bead on their destination.

Thank goodness her brother Korin insisted on purchasing the expensive encryption system from House DKRI (Dakari).

She hoped it was enough of a lure, for it had put her House in deeper debt.

Saving her the D’Hanna legacy was paramount, as her father had pressed on her for weeks. Everything hinged on her actions over the next few days.

She’d need to make her moves with care, she thought, even as shivers went up and down her spine, now that she’d piqued the interest of a Rider.

The man whose face she recalled from her files downloaded from SysNet.

The one kinai who was the main threat to her plan or the key to its success.

The elusive Xion Sable. Head of Security on Eden II.

A fokkin’ sexy specimen of a man, she thought, recalling his sultry hazel and mocha-hued irises ringed with glowing sapphire flecks.

Throughout the game, her hands had itched to reach out and stroke his chiselled jaw. She’d misplayed, distracted, wanting to run her fingers over his forehead and bury them in those lush locks, fantasising about him powering his hips into her.

She moaned and jolted at the spicy scenario she was recreating, then stopped herself.

Mindful that she’d seen something else lurking under those jade babies.

An intense mind, cutting, clever intellect. Evident in the furrowed brow of someone always deep in thought.

Yet it was his eyes that blew her away. They flickered with lightning sharpness, and his glowing-meta gaze seemed to probe beneath the surface, piercing like a hawk spotting its prey.

He gave off every sign of being not just a pretty boy but an unstoppable force who’d win against her in a game of mental chess.

Like a song she’d once heard, his eyes were like angels, but his heart was cold, yet melting all your memories and changing them into gold.

She’d need to be on high alert if she ever encountered him again.

Which she intended to do.

Rising from the couch, she tracked to the onyx and gold Falasian marble drinks cabinet, where she poured herself a cool, refreshing caipirinha packed with cachaça, a spirit brewed from fermented sugar cane juice.

She downed the vegetal liquor with sharp grassy flavours and fresh lime tang, savouring it as it invigorated her from within.

After double-checking her plan, she made it to her quarters, where she planned to sleep all the way to Enia.

She wanted to wake refreshed and on point for the next leg of her scheme.

She hoped her ploy had worked; anything less would be a failure.

One which she’d pay for with not just her life but with that of many other innocent ones.

She slept, dreaming, tossing in her bed as Fortuna’s Grace powered toward Enia.

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