Page 76 of Aria's Ascension

Shielding her eyes with a hand, she followed the wall with her gaze, searching for the section with the spectator seating. There had to be an entrance there they could use to get in.

Spotting it, she pointed and called out, “There!”

Despite having been at least a mile away, Thrasin got there in under a minute. He landed with a surprisingly gentle thud, touching down on a section of seats that wasn’t covered by a canopy to offer the spectators shade.

After climbing down, she directed Kix and Rellik to find an entrance while she spoke to Thrasin.

When he lowered his head, she laid a hand on his snout, absent-mindedly stroking her thumb over his smooth, warm scales. She kept her voice gentle but firm, knowing he wouldn’t like what she was about to say.

“I need you to stay here.”

When he started to jerk his head back, she hooked a hand in his nostril to keep him there and met his eye.

“Please. I don’t want you going through that transformation again. Not so soon, anyway. Besides, we need someone to watch our backs and make sure no one comes in behind us.”

She saw something pass through his eye, something that had her narrowing her own, but he finally gave a single nod.

“Thank you.” Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to his nose then spun around and ran to where Kix was waiting for her.

The door Kixfound led to a level of the arena obviously meant for the public. It looked like a mix between the concourse of an airport, the lobby of a hotel, and the concession area of a stadium. Restaurants and shops, most selling odd, inexplicable things she didn’t recognize, lined the outer wall.

In the center was an atrium, showing what had to be at least eight or ten floors above. It was deserted, thankfully, all the patrons she imagined usually filled it gone to get their sadistic kicks elsewhere. The shop owners and whatever employees Zhrovni had were gone, as well.

Also missing was a door conveniently labeled ‘This Way to the Labs.’

“Kix, can you feel him?”

Cocking his head, he frowned for a moment before his eyes cut to the left. “Yes, very faint. This way.”

He led them to an unmarked door with a familiar control panel next to it and closed his eyes. Aria tried to suppress the anxiety she was sure he could feel pouring off of her, not wanting to distract him, but she knew she wasn’t successful. Her heart was pounding, and her mind kept supplying her with horrific images of finding Tirox bloodied and mangled, because she’d taken too long to get to him.

She startled slightly when a hand slid into hers and jerked her head back to gaze up at Rellik a little wide-eyed.

He didn’t say anything, just held her stare with his fiery, orange eyes. The look on his beautiful face was one of certainty and absolute confidence. Not in himself, but in her.

She didn’t know when she’d earned that kind of trust from him but, oddly, it was exactly what she needed to see. Some of the pressure squeezing her chest relaxed, and her heart slowed its frantic hammering.

Leaning down until they were almost nose to nose, he flicked his tongue over her bottom lip, startling a gasp out of her, and groaned softly, “I will enjoy watching you kill him, mysarasha.”

Her stomach clenched and her nipples tightened, but the door hissed open on an elevator cubicle before she had a chance to respond… or mentally lament her apparent weakness for bloodthirsty men.

* * *

They sprinted down empty hallways,taking turn after turn until Kix finally skidded to a stop in front of a door.

While he focused on finding the code, she addressed Rellik.

“Are you sure you want to do this with us?” she demanded on a breath of sound, not wanting to alert whomever waited on the other side of the door that they were there. “I don’t know what we’re about to face, and we don’t have any weapons. There’s a very good possibility we won’t make it through this.”

Rellik shook his head and reached up to cup her cheeks. “I am with you, my little Queen. Perhaps, among your people, kindness is commonly given. It is not so among my own and an even more rare commodity in this city. It is a blessing I cherish, moreso because you give it without expectation of anything in return. That you are fierce, brave, and deliciously lethal, in addition? My fall is complete. I am yours, even if you never invite me into your circle.”

“You… you can’t seriously be telling me you’re willing to die, because I was kind to you,” she whispered, shocked.

He smiled softly and gently swept his thumb over her lips. “Ah, but I am. And you will accept my devotion, because it may make the difference between saving your beloved mate and not.”

Aria swallowed hard. He was right. That made her an absolutely shit person, but she was willing to accept his help, even if it meant he died. There was zero chance she could convince Kix to stay behind where it was safe, but she’d had her chance to leave Rellik in the cave. She hadn’t stopped him from joining them, even though she knew what they were getting into.

“I have it,” Kix whispered.

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