Page 26 of Aria's Desire

Sin nodded commiseratingly. “Confusing.”

Rellik chuckled wryly. “And still we will wait, hoping like fools she will choose us one day.”

Feeling Sin’s eyes on him, Rellik turned and raised his brows questioningly.

“You are well? Being here?”

Taken off guard, he hesitated before responding. Being back here was… strange. He was not entirely sure how he felt, only that it was a tangle of mixed emotions.

Seeing his home again left him with an almost hollow sensation in his chest. He’d been wary, but tentatively hopeful, when Aria decided they would accept the emissary’s invitation. And, yet, now that they were here, he desired nothing more than to return to the complex, his new home.

“You do not like it here,” Sin rumbled when he didn’t answer. “Your face shows your feelings. Odd, for you. You are unsettled, I think.”

“I… don’t know what I’m feeling, to speak truthfully. I’d hoped… I don’t know what I’d hoped for. An apology, perhaps.” Shaking his head, he realized how absurd that sounded. “Foolish of me.”

Foolish or no, it was the truth. He wanted an apology, an acknowledgment from the Queen that she’d broken the age-old agreement between a female and her males.

Males spent their lives tending to their female, caring for her, seeing to her wants and needs before their own, raising the young she bore. In return, there was an unspoken promise that the female would protect her males, offer security, and safekeeping.

Ishtal had broken that agreement, and Rellik found he still held a wound.

“Is it foolish?” Sin challenged, his gaze keen, knowing.

“To think I might receive one? Likely.”

Sin harrumphed. “Mm. Cock muzzles aside, this Ishtal does not seem cruel or compassionless. Perhaps you will find the healing you need to let go of your hurts.”

“Perhaps.” Shaking off those thoughts, his mind returned to its favorite puzzle: Aria. Glancing repeatedly from Sin to the closed door of the bathing room, he lowered his voice. “About our Queen…”

Immediately picking up on his tone, Sin looked at him sharply, an anticipatory smile curving his lips. “I knew you would devise some craftiness.”

Rellik grinned briefly, but it faded. What he was about to propose was bold and unconventional, but being back here, seeing the stark difference between Aria and the females of his own kind provided inspiration, of sorts. He just wasn’t sure how his friend would react to his idea.

He was still not sure how he felt about his own idea, as far as that went, but desperation was a damned persuasive voice. Gaia knew he’d passed desperate months ago.

For all that Gaiaeshi males were schooled in the arts of pleasure, they were taught to be demure, to perfect the balance between coy, tempting, and reserved. After all, most did not want to be chosen for their bed skills alone, but to be valued, truly valued, for the other virtues they provided.

Those teachings had gotten him exactly nowhere with Aria. So, perhaps it was time to throw them off the proverbial cliff. She already valued them for the other skills they possessed. It was her heart they fought for now.

“We seduce her. We stop waiting for her to initiate and go on the offensive.”

Instead of appearing shocked or disapproving as he’d feared, Sin looked surprised, yes, and a bit daunted, but that quickly gave way to calculation and excitement.

Before Sin could respond, Aria returned. The opening of the door startled them both, and Rellik was sure his expression was that of a child caught stealing treats, but he thought he schooled his face quickly enough.

“Nothing to report so far. Tirox and Kix said they’re still looking and that it’ll probably take them another day or tw—” She looked up and immediately narrowed her eyes on them. “What is it? Did someone drop off another outfit?”

Rellik almost smiled. He should’ve known she’d pick up that something was off. She was, at times, entirely too perceptive. Of course, others it seemed as if she was blind to everything that was not right in front of her. And sometimes even then.

“No, mysarasha. We were just—”

Sin spoke over him. “We were speaking of customs. That some are… ill-suited and should be left behind.”

Turning to stare at his friend, Rellik caught the piercing look Sin aimed at Aria. Glancing back at her, he saw her eyes widen, as though that was the last thing she’d expected him to say. Rellik was going to have to find out what, exactly, was going on between those two. There were undercurrents he didn’t understand.

Aria narrowed her eyes on Sin, an odd kind of wariness passing over her beautiful features, before she cleared her throat and peered through the glass doors of the balcony to the darkening sky beyond.

“We should probably head to the feast,” she murmured. “Ishtal said to be on our guard, that she anticipates some of her people won’t respond well to all this.”

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