Page 14 of Aria's Desire

That one had been retrofitted to turn into a prison cell at a single command. If whomever was listening in turned out to be trouble, they could lock it down and prevent them from escaping.

“As you will it.”

There was no surprise in his voice that she’d guessed they had a visitor, only the faintest notes of pride and relief that she knew he let slip in specifically for her to hear.

Shutting it off, she slipped the comm back in her pocket and looked up to find Sin already shifting for the flight back.

Fine. She’d said what she had to say. The rest was on him.

Chapter 9

Walking into conference room L-3 with Sin on her heels, Aria was met with Tirox, Kix, and Rellik all standing side by side.

Any other day and that image would make her stop and stare. Today… okay, it still made her stop and stare, but it also made her… sad. Or maybe the emotion was actually frustration? She couldn't tell. She felt like a fucking mess of tangled feelings. But now was damn sure not the time to sort through them, so she shoved them down.

Compartmentalization at its best.

Meeting Kix’s gaze, wondering how he was handling being around people, she caught flinching at the corners of his eyes, and stubbornness tightening his jaw, and had to fight the urge to grind her teeth.

Tirox was looking back and forth between her and Sin, standing behind her, and Rellik was staring at her with a carefully blank expression.

What a delightful fucking mess her personal life had become.

Looking past them, she saw someone seated at the conference table and blinked slowly but kept any other shows of surprise off her face. It was a male. AGaiaeshimale. One of Rellik’s people.

“Hello,” Aria greeted coolly, passing between Tirox and Kix as she walked farther into the room, her gaze never leaving the male’s face.

He didn’t show any incomprehension at her greeting, telling her he had a translator, which surprised her. Rellik said his people lived in hiding, and didn’t have any contact with aliens, with the obvious exception of Salesh. So, why did he have a translator?

He rose and bowed elegantly, his pale horns ringed with thick silver bands, catching the light and drawing her eye. Briefly, she wondered what they meant. Straightening, he kept his gaze fixed on what she was pretty sure was her chin.

“Warmest greetings, Sarash—”

Cutting him off, Rellik’s pet name for her sounding wrong coming from someone else’s lips, she corrected, “Aria is fine.”

His gaze briefly met hers before dropping again to her chin. “Apologies. Greetings, Aria. I hope I find you in gracious spirits.”

She cocked a brow. “That depends on why you're here.”

Another fluid dip of his head, his expression not changing at all with her blunt statement. “Of course, you are right.”

She waited a beat but when he didn’t explain, prompted, “So, whyareyou here?”

“If you allow, I come with an invitation from my Sa”—his gaze flicked to Rellik before he changed what he was about to say—“Queen.”

Perceptive one, wasn’t he? She hadn't thought she’d looked at Rellik when she corrected him. Maybe she hadn’t, and he was guessing, but it was a hell of an accurate guess, if so.

“An invitation to what exactly?” she asked as she took a seat at the head of the table, waving for him to sit as well.

“My Queen, the beautiful and benevolentIshtal, has sent me to invite you to visit her Queendom,Aehri. She desires your presence to begin talks of the possibility of an accord between your Queendoms.”

Before she answered, Aria scrutinized his expression, looking for any hint of nefarious intention. There was nothing but polite, blank tranquility. Even her little passenger wasn’t sending her any signals about him. And to think, she’d thought Rellik had a good poker face. This male put his to shame. He was a blank canvas. Even his body language told her nothing. He sat with perfect posture, but seemed at ease.

When she first met Rellik in the dungeon, he’d used sex appeal to hide himself, accustomed to being valued for that alone. His movements were intentionally seductive. He’d prowled when he walked, posed to display himself when he sat.

This male didn’t.

While he wasn’t anywhere near as handsome as her seductive devil, he was still attractive. He didn’t behave as though he was, however. He wore modest clothing that covered his body, had no tattoos that she could see to enhance his appeal, was missing the piercings Rellik sported so very well, and carried himself as someone who was accustomed to being looked over. In fact, the only thing that stood out on him were the silver bands on his horns, polished to a flawless shine.

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