Page 47 of Victoria's Discovery

Victoria blinked, heart skipping a beat as her eyes darted up to Vi’kail’s profile. She may be a little unperceptive at times, but she wasn’t dense. She understood exactly what Rellik had just implied.

Her instant hope that he was right had more to do with her own wishes than trust that he was reading the situation correctly. Because of that, instead of scoffing it off, the possibility that Vi’kail liked her instantly had her feeling both breathless and flustered… until the discomforted expression on his face, and the way he intentionally wasn’t looking at her, had reality crashing over her in a wave, bringing with it the entirely too familiar feeling of rejection.

Her smile died a swift death, but she grit her teeth, instinctively trying to hide her disappointment. Stupidly, for just that split second, she’d gotten her hopes up, despite knowing better, but that look on his face said in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t interested in her that way.

Still, even if he didn’t like her the way she liked him, he was her friend, and she didn’t want to drive him away, so she forced a smile like everything was fine and pretended his closed-off expression wasn’t a little illogically hurtful.

Swallowing, she turned to Rellik and Thrasin. “It was nice to meet you both. I’m, uh, pretty tired, but I’d be happy to answer questions tomorrow.”

Rellik nodded and, to her intense embarrassment, returned her smile with a small, uncomfortably perceptive, apologetic one of his own.

Victoria felt her forced smile wobble. She should’ve known it was too much to hope Rellik missed the googly eyes she gave Vi’kail and the subsequent deflation she was positive was painted all over her expression. Her mother always did berate her for wearing her emotions on her face.

She hadn’t thought her cheeks could get hotter, or for her embarrassment to become even more excruciating, but that look on Rellik’s face did it. It wasn’t his fault she’d forgotten for a moment that handsome, capable, compelling, enigmatic men didn’t go for self-conscious, easily flustered, awkward redheads with zero chill and a terrible habit of crushing hard on guys way out of her league.

Even growly Thrasin had a look of sympathy in his strange, white eyes when he handed her back the healing ring.

By the time she left the room with Vi’kail on her heels, her smile felt brittle, her nose was stinging with the threat of tears, and if her face got any hotter it was going to catch fire.

The rejection she knew how to deal with. The humiliation of Rellik and Thrasin witnessing it sucked, but she’d dealt with that before, too. It was the empathy from Thrasin that made her feel foolish. She must’ve looked more pathetic than she’d thought to cause someone who’d very clearly lived through some terrible shit to gaze down at her in pity.

Once they werea few feet down the hall, Vi’kail gave a soft, trilling whistle and called out, “Here, Snitch. I found her.”

Victoria stopped and turned around, wondering who he was talking to. They were alone in the hallway as far as she could tell. Understanding hit when she heard a familiar, anxious sounding warble a moment before Vi’kail’s pet, no longer invisible, came flying around the corner.

Holding out her forearm for it to land on, Victoria’s eyes widened when it immediately stood on its back legs and pointed a claw at her, chittering censoriously like a harried mom yelling at a misbehaving child who ran away in the grocery store.

When it paused its tirade to give her narrowed eyes, she quickly hid her delighted smile and nodded gravely.

“You’re absolutely right. Won’t happen again,” she promised solemnly, feeling guilty as hell in the face of its obvious worry.

Jesus, I was just cowed by a twelve-inch-tall alien pet.

Apparently appeased, it gave her a single, firm nod then sat on her arm and gazed up at her in concern, chirruping softly as though asking if she was okay.

“I’m fine, really,” she assured, giving its head a scritch. “I made some new friends while I was gone! Speaking of, where are Thegan and Thorn?” she asked, directing her question to Vi’kail.

To her confusion, he was staring at his pet a little sadly but met her gaze when she spoke only to quickly look away. “Still goin’ door to door, likely. I’ll retrieve ‘em. Maintain watch on her, will you? Ensure she doesn’t disappear again.”

The critter gave a determined little peep and crawled up her arm to perch on top of her head. Rolling her eyes, she started off in the direction of her room.

“I didn’t disappear. It was a strategic retreat. Totally different,” she muttered under her breath. Louder, she asked, “So your name’s Snitch? Are you a boy or a girl?”

In answer, Snitch gripped her curls and leaned over her head to give her an upside-down look of affront.

“Uhh, boy?” she guessed, going a little cross-eyed trying to meet its stare.

Proving that it was picking up on her mannerisms, it rolled its eyes then nodded and pointed a claw at the yellow circle on one of its large blackish green ears as though its existence should’ve made the answer obvious.

“Riiigghht. So definitely a boy, then. A teenage one with that snark,” she snickered.

Pausing in front of the door she was sixty percent sure was hers, she knocked, just in case, then input the code when no one answered and peered inside. Empty. Pulling a loose thread off her torn sleeve, she let it fall to the floor so the guys would be able to find her then went in and pressed the screen to close it behind her.

“Home sweet home,” she quipped.

Even to her own ears the words sounded quiet and kind of sad instead of upbeat as she’d intended. Realizing that, she straightened her shoulders and tried to shake off the glum feeling settling in her chest. There was no reason for it. She wasn’t dead or a slave, and she was on an alien planet which was awesome so, really, there was no reason to be sad.

“I’m just tired, that’s all. A good night’s sleep and I’ll be right as rain,” she murmured.

---