Page 22 of Aria's Ascension

“Perhaps they are lax with security. The gladiators are contained at every stage. Zhrovni may not think extensive measures are necessary. Or, perhaps we have just been fortunate,” Kix offered, but she could tell he didn’t really believe that.

“No one’s that lucky, Firefly. Can you find the way out of here?” He looked taken aback, but his nod was firm. “Good.” Turning to Skaa, she drew in a deep breath. “I need to ask you for a favor.”

The shrewd woman narrowed her brilliantly blue eyes and waved her hand as if to say ‘lay it on me.’

“I need you to escape. If something happens and we’re caught, I need someone on the outside to help free us when the opportunity arises, someone I trust. But, that means you’d be out there on your own. You seem like a smart woman, and I know you’re a hell of a fighter, but I get the feeling your world and this one are vastly different. Despite that, you’d need to adapt quickly and stay completely out of sight. Can you do that?”

Skaa stared down at her in complete silence for a long minute. Aria could see the wheels turning behind her eyes as she weighed the logic in Aria’s words against the responsibility she’d assigned herself to watch out for the woman who was ‘small, like youngling.’ Finally, she pursed her black lips and sighed.

“I will do this,” she scowled. Stepping closer, she bent until she was staring directly into Aria’s eyes. “You will not die while I am gone.”

Before she could decide whether to be amused or touched at the stern demand, Skaa took her left hand in one of her lower ones, laid the other over Aria’s heart, put her upper hands on Aria’s shoulders, then bent low to rest their foreheads together.

Touched won.

Relaxing into the odd, sort-of hug, Aria whispered, “I’ll be okay.”

Skaa didn’t respond, other than to let go and whip around to pin Kix and Tirox with a glare. Pointing at them like a mother warning her children to behave, she clipped, “You will keep her safe, or I will have your hide.”

Aria cocked her head, a little taken aback at the threat, before she remembered something that had her chest squeezing.

I think she has a kid. Fuck. No wonder she was so quick to want to protect me. From her size and apparent age, I’m probably close to her kid’s height.

Kix actually looked ever so slightly intimidated and nodded solemnly, making her wonder what his mom was like. That kind of response was generally only seen in men who had powerful, stern mothers.

Tirox, however, appeared almost offended, as though the suggestion that he would do anything less was insulting. Straightening to his full height, the expression on his harsh, red face stony, he responded with a hint of growl coloring his voice, “It is my honor to protect my mate.”

Noticing Skaa appeared equal parts surprised and incensed by his challenge, Aria interjected before they could bow up to each other.

“I guess that means I can’t talk you into escaping with her.”

Everything froze. Even the elevator seemed to come to a standstill at her words.

Chapter 13

Tirox whipped around, his swirling eyes completely still and his mouth falling open in shock as though Aria had just asked him to cut off his arm. Kix made a strangled sound, and his emotions—angry disbelief, instant denial, and… hurt?—pricked at her like bee stings. Even Skaa looked appalled at the suggestion.

The hurt made her feel like an asshole, but she had to try and talk them out of joining her on what felt more and more like a dangerously futile mission.

Before they could voice the thorough chastisement she could sense coming, she raised her hand.

“Listen, I get it, and I’m sorry. If one of you suggested you should continue on by yourself, I’d laugh and call you an idiot. But, I cannot shake off the feeling that this is going to go to shit, and there’s no reason we should all take the chance. If you’re out there, free, you can come back for me.”

Kix and Tirox were shaking their heads before she finished.

Kix pinned her with his stare, the sparkles in his pupils going haywire and his features shifting into that predatory sharpness she’d seen in the lab.

His voice deceptively calm, he said, “No. We all escape, or we follow you.”

Aria opened her mouth to argue her point again, but he cut her off, slicing his hand sharply through the air between them.

“You will not persuade us. There is no circumstance on any world in this universe in which you could convince us to leave you, Aria.”

The use of her name in such a biting tone almost made her flinch. She didn’t know when she’d become used to them calling her by their various pet names, but she had, and the absence now drove home exactly how much she’d pissed him off with her suggestion. Pursing her lips, she glanced at Tirox to see if he would be more reasonable.

“Do not look to me, my beautiful, foolish female,” he growled lowly, eyes narrowed and angry. “Were you not likely to remove my hands, I would shake sense into you until you realize we could no sooner abandon you than we could rip the hearts from our chests and continue to live without them.”

“You are, indeed, being senseless, my small friend,” Skaa muttered. “If you know this is going to end unfavorably, why are you set on traveling this course?”

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