Page 13 of The Alien's Cruel Starfrost Domain

“Cyan, prepare a translator injection.” Real-time translation. A boon for interspecies communication. A hindrance if I wanted to be able to say anything else without the girl understanding me.

“Forgot something important, did we?” Cyan’s tone dripped with mock sympathy. “And here I thought you were supposed to be the prepared one.”

“No.” My jaw tightened. “That’s why I had you doing translations while we were in the market.”

“Ah yes, making me do all the work. As usual.” The AI’s voice held a theatrical sigh. “Whatever would you do without me?”

A panel opened in the ceiling, and a metallic arm lowered a hypodermic spray before me with an unnecessarily flourishing motion. I plucked it out of the air and applied it to the girl’s neck.

“There. Crisis averted thanks to your ever-reliable AI,” Cyan said sweetly.

“Good enough,” I muttered.

“You’re welcome,” she sang out. “I do so enjoy cleaning up after your oversights. Keeps my circuits fresh.”

I’d brought two footmen with me on this trip—my security lead and personal valet Khrint, who’d been with me for cycles, and a young man I was considering having trained as part of my security force and put in place to play the role of underbutler.

The underbutler candidate, whose name I could never remember, glanced nervously at Khrint when he heard the tone Cyan took with me. The valet gave a tiny shake of his head and patted the air in front of him, as if telling the young man to calm down.

If he was going to be part of my regular security team, the candidate would need to learn to differentiate among the various roles I played—Duke of Starfrost on Trasq, and captain of a starship when I was off-world. The latter could be questioned by underlings. The former could not.

Any security footman would also have to get used to the way Cyan and I interacted. She was one of the few who could tease me with impunity.

I loaded Lara into the crystal cryocasket, where she lay as if encased by diamonds and ice. The cryosleep took hold, her skin growing ever paler as the chamber slowed her heartbeat. I placed the stasis fruit I’d fed her back into its specialized recycler, where Cyan would create a new one for me.

“You two can load in,” I told the two security footmen, gesturing at their cryocaskets. “Cyan, lock us down for takeoff,” I added when Khrint leveled a look at me. “Don’t worry,” I said to the footman, my tone pointed. “Cyan can watch me at least as well as you can.”

Khrint huffed, but headed back to his cryocasket.

Truth be told, I wanted to spend longer staring at the beautiful woman whose protector had betrayed her to me. My jaw clenched at the thought.

I couldn’t regret the difficulties the coin I gavehim would cause in the next year. I only wish I’d been able to destroy him the way I wanted. Unfortunately, I couldn’t give the bastard as much trouble as I would prefer to. After all, I still needed him to deliver Lara’s sister to me on the eve ofhereighteenth birthday.

In the meantime, I would have to decide what to do with Lara for almost an entire human year.

“Dammit,” I cursed under my breath, using the humans’ language—the best language for curses. Humans were so superstitious.

I moved away from Lara’s cryocasket and threw myself down in the captain’s chair. She was far too tempting. My cock twitched at the thought of her. At the memory of her soft, pliant body pressed against mine, it hardened entirely.

I scrubbed my hand across my eyes, determined not to give in to my baser urges. That had never turned out well for me before—and none of those women had been half the temptation that Lara was turning out to be.

I could still smell her scent on me, deep and sweet—like snowfly honey, sliced carcenda fruit, spiced bardenberry wine.

I was desperate to touch her again. I ached to wake her up, tell her everything. Bury myself in her and make her mine.

No, I decided. Better to place myself in my own cryocasket. With any luck, I would have too many duties waiting for me at home to have the energy to spare for her once we got there.

With a determined nod, I laid in the course for home, my ship lifting smoothly off the ground and into the air. I consoled myself with the thought that once we were firmly on course, and I’d shifted us to FTL, I would knock myself out to get past the disorientation of the wormholes, retreating into the dark, dreamless cryosleep that always seemed as if it must feel so much like the Eternal Dream.

But for now, I couldn’t quit watching her. Lara Evans. If I was right, the girl was heir to an unusual power, one that I desperately needed to bring my plans for my world to fruition.

I had timed this purchase precisely. But I didn’t want to draw too much attention to either the girls or my actions. And so I had arranged for the quiet sale in the Trasqo Market.

I hadn’t counted on how she would make me feel.

With a sigh, I climbed into my own cryocasket, took a bite of the stasis fruit Cyan had placed there for me, and waited for it to take effect.

In the meantime, I stared at Lara’s lovely profile through the cryocasket panes separating us and promised myself I would be able to do whatever it took to save my people.

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