Page 80 of Aria's Ascension

Clearing his throat, he faced forward again and explained, “It is what they call the beings under mental inhibitors. The Federation made it illegal to own sentient beings as slaves. In answer, some sick, baseborn mongrel founded Veiling technology. Now, random beings may find themselves slaves, for if their minds are locked behind the veil, they cannot be self-aware and, therefore, are not legally considered sentient.”

Aria stayed silent when he paused, waiting for him to choose whether or not to keep going. She needed this information, but she could get it from someone else. She wasn’t going to make him continue, if he didn’t want to.

After a couple seconds, he blinked and added, “For a time, the Federation tried to implement new laws to hinder the trade, but it is, and was, too widespread. They have all but conceded defeat now. It is still illegal to own an Aware slave,” A snarl curled his hips. “though, that does not stop most pleasure lounges from keeping one or two in the back for their patrons to abuse for an extra handful of credits.”

When he fell silent, Aria moved to walk at his side and reached down to gently clasp his hand. She didn’t know whether he’d accept her offer of comfort, but the moment her hand touched his, he tightened his fingers around hers and held on.

Bit by bit, the tension in his body eased until his grip was relaxed and the flinching around the corners of his eyes went away.

In an effort to tame the rage she felt at what he’d just shared, and distract him from the dark place she’d inadvertently asked him to go to, Aria prompted him to describe the layout of the remaining levels.

Floors three through eleven were lodging, where off-planet attendees stayed. The twelfth floor was for storage and manufacturing all the things it took to run the place. That’s where Zhrovni kept the ants locked up. Levels thirteen and fourteen housed the alien version of a garage and parking levels.

Once they arrived, Aria stopped in her tracks and gaped.

The garage was a massive, open space taking up the entire floor, filled with various-sized vehicles set in tidy rows from smallest to biggest. The runners themselves were like something out of a science fiction movie.

Sleek and shiny, they had long, enclosed, bullet-shaped bodies with no obvious means of propulsion. Rellik assured her that wings would unfurl to stretch out to either side. The tops were covered in what he called converters which, from what she understood, were basically high-tech solar panels, and the bottoms were lined with little, metal bubbles called gravity negators.

She left him and Kix behind to discuss how the technology worked, her firefly always the curious scientist, and started for the closest one. The smallest were roughly the size of a sports car and were made to carry two, while the biggest were the size of a double decker bus.

Running her hand along the side of one, she jumped when a seam appeared out of nowhere, and a door dropped down like the ladder on an airplane.

She started to climb the stairs only to find herself abruptly facing the other direction.

Turning, she saw Thrasin and Tirox disappearing inside the interior.

Aria sighed and shook her head, not surprised, or even upset, they’d crept up behind her and snatched her off her feet so they could check it out first. She was getting used to these overprotective, alien men and their penchant for moving her about like a doll.

Pivoting back around, she climbed up behind them.

The interior was set up similarly to an airplane, with a cockpit in the front and a cargo area in the back. She found Tirox inspecting the forward cabin and Thrasin searching the cargo area.

“Any boogiemen hiding in here?” she asked drolly.

Thrasin glanced back at her and answered seriously, “No.”

Aria smiled and shook her head. “Good.”

Rellik and Kix entered behind her, both their gazes landing on her first, then sweeping the space, before turning to look at Tirox in the cockpit. Dual expressions of alarm spread over their faces when they spotted her massive barbarian poking around in there. In lockstep, they moved to intercept Red from touching the button at which he was staring.

She felt her brows slowly rising as she watched them. She hadn’t thought they were all that similar, but observing them now and remembering how they’d nerded out over the mechanics of the runners, she realized they were actually more alike than she realized. They got along well, too, which made her smile for reasons at which she wasn’t willing to look too closely. Because two mates was enough. Plenty. She didn’t need anyone other than Kix and Tirox.

Her gaze flicked to Rellik then Thrasin.

She tried to imagine them with other women and immediately ground her teeth together so hard her jaw ached.

Burying the possessive rage the image inspired, before Kix picked up on it, she rubbed her forehead and sighed.

Save the spaceship people now, deal with feelings later. Good plan.

Chapter 44

After Rellik gave them all a crash course on how to operate the runners, they split up. Each of them was going to fly one of the large, bus-sized ones since they didn’t know how many people they’d need to transport back.

Settling into the pilot’s seat, Aria grinned widely as she felt the runner come to life beneath her and leaned forward to peer out the side of the massive window—or screen, as Rellik called it—that made up the majority of the front, so she could see the wings unfurl. They looked like metallic, dragonfly wings, glittering like prisms in the light of the garage.

Placing her hands on the touchpads set into the armrests, she copied the movements Rellik showed them, prompting the runner to lift off the ground then swinging it around to follow the one he was in to an outer wall.

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