Page 28 of Wings of Death

Astelle takes a step closer to him, too close, perhaps. But he doesn’t move. Her tight black dress hugs her body, with slits on either side right up to the top of her thighs. The neckline plunges down between her breasts, showing off her golden skin. She looks like she’s dressed for a fancy event. Or to seduce someone.

“You need to stop doing this,” Amaros says in a hushed voice, glancing around as if to ensure they’re alone. “I can’t be seen with you.”

Astelle tucks her straight blonde hair behind her ears and smiles at him in a way I have never seen before. She’s flirting with him. She puts her hands on his arms and glides them gently down to his hands as she tugs him closer to her. But he pulls back.

“Don’t,” he warns.

“Amaros, please…” She reaches up to his cheek, and he grabs her wrist to stop her.

She winces, but he doesn’t release her. He’s hurting her. Using her other hand, she tries to pull his hand off her, and then he releases her wrist, shoving her back against the wall. He abruptly turns and storms away toward my father’s quarters.

She rubs her wrist as I step out into the corridor, and her eyes widen when she sees me, and she drops her hand at her side.

“Is everything all right?” I ask, genuinely concerned as I approach her.

She narrows her eyes on me and folds her arms. “Yes, why wouldn’t it be?”

Although I’m not entirely sure what I saw, something is definitely going on between them. That much is obvious.

“I saw you with Amaros just now. I saw what he did,” I say, gesturing to her wrist. “Is there something going on between you two?”

She covers it with her other hand, clearly uninterested in confiding in me. “Are you jealous, Zarla? You realise there are males around here who prefer me over you, as hard as that may be for you to comprehend.”

I frown at her. “No, I’m not jealous. It looked like he was hurting you.”

She takes a step toward me, her expression cold. “You were spying on us?”

I open my mouth to speak, but she stops me by holding a hand up.

“I don’t know what you think you saw, but Amaros did nothing. He would never hurt me.”

I eye her for a moment, amazed at how easily lying comes to her, and realise her words are more to convince herself than they are for me.

“Stay out of my business. And stay away from Amaros. He’s mine.” She bumps into my shoulder as she storms past, leaving me speechless, staring after her.

Wow. I brush it off and continue down the corridor to find my father, hoping I won’t see Amaros along the way. Rimel and Yimel are, once again, guarding his quarters. Ignoring them, I pause and wait for them to open the doors. They don’t.

I roll my eyes and reach for the door myself. Yimel steps in front of me, blocking my path.

I step back and hold my hands up. “Okay, what’s the problem?”

Yimel doesn’t speak, as usual, and Rimel chimes in with a cocky smirk.

“State the reason for your visit, Miss Quinn.”

I narrow my eyes at him. He has never called me that before, and something about his tone is mocking. I have never had to state my reason for visiting my father before. Did he put them up to this?

Rimel arches a brow at me. “Well?”

I shake my head. “It’s just a casual visit. Is that a problem?”

Yimel moves aside, reaching for the door, and pulls it open.

“Of course not. You may proceed,” Rimel says with a wave of his arm.

My father looks up from his desk as I enter the room, and I spot Amaros standing behind him to his left, with Mikel, his other guard on his right. Amaros looks a little flustered, likely due to what just happened with Astelle. We lock stares for a moment before I focus on my father.

“Zarla, what’s going on?”

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