Page 62 of Aria's Ascension

“I am Rellik,” he finally answered.

“Good to meet you, Rellik. I’m Aria. These are my mates, Kix and Tirox. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

A genuine smirk quirked his lips. “I did.”

“So, you also know we’re getting out of here. You want to come with us, I assume?”

Wariness subtly tightened his features as if she’d asked a trick question, and he didn’t know how to answer or didn’t want to reveal how badly he wanted what she offered.

Oh, you have definitely been hurt.

“It’s not a trap,” she murmured softly.

He hesitated for a moment longer before he sighed and dropped the seductive pose, moving to sit more comfortably.

“Yes. I want to get out, but I was only locked down here a fewhesse—‘months’—ago. I— I have no knowledge that would aid us in escaping.”

Aria echoed his sigh. It made her sad that he obviously worried she would leave him down there just because he didn’t have anything to give her in exchange, but she understood. She’d seen that jadedness more than she wanted to over the course of her career.

Thinking he might appreciate the honesty, she decided to be blunt. If her gut was wrong and he ended up being a double agent, Tirox could always stun him to unconsciousness.

“Actions speak louder than words, so you’ll find this out for yourself eventually, but in the interest of speeding things along, I’ll just tell you. We’re the good guys. We’re not going to hurt you.” She paused for just a second to make sure he really heard her before continuing, “And we won’t take anything from you that you don’t give freely.”

She let that sink in for a moment. When he gave her a small, uncertain nod, she kept going.

“Wearegoing to take this place over, free all the slaves that aren’t too far gone, and imprison, maybe kill, the assholes running it. After that, we’re taking over the planet, one arena and slave market at a time. We’ll do what we can to help the prisoners Zhrovni and the other overlords really fucked up, but I can’t make any promises there. They may be trapped in stasis forever, if we can’t find a way to fix them. You don’t have to join us, and I’m not going to leave you down here just because you don’t have anything to give. But if you’d like to fight, we could definitely use the help. It’s your choice,” she finished meaningfully.

He needed to know she was serious, that he wasn’t a slave, and she wouldn’t ever treat him like one.

Emotions, too fast for her to read, flashed across his face in rapid succession before he finally settled on something halfway between incredulous and delighted.

A grin spread across his face, changing his features from merely gorgeous to absolutely breathtaking.

Goddamn, but he is pretty…

A soft growl from Kix startled her out of her momentary stupor. Closing her mouth, she blinked hard to focus on something other than how unreasonably attractive Rellik was when he smiled.

“Right. So. Ahem. You in, or do you want to go your own way once we’re free?”

“Oh, I am in. I am very, veryin,” he purred lowly, his grin changing to something dangerous and anticipatory.

Aria mirrored his smile. “Good. We’re glad to have you. Now, do you know where anyone else is hiding down here?”

Rellik’s expression grew serious. He looked reluctant but answered, “Yes. Three other than the, er, Sauran. But, I do not recommend you seek them out.”

She was shaking her head before he’d even finished. “No. No one gets left behind, not if I can help it. We’re all dangerous. But, that’s a risk I’m more than willing to take.”

He gave her a searching look and, when he saw that she wouldn’t be swayed, pursed his lips.

“As you will it, mysarasha. ‘Queen.’”

Aria blinked hard at that, but he kept going before she could adamantly insist he not call her that.

Pointing to various tunnels, he gave her a brief description of each being hiding within before warning, “Be cautious with the scaled one. He has been a slave too long. I think the violence has broken his mind.”

She knew immediately he was talking about the dragon.

Smiling tightly, she replied, maybe a bit defensively, “He’ll come around.”

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