Page 20 of The Alien's Cruel Starfrost Domain

Kila insists on going with me to retrieve the map, of course, even though there’s not much I can imagine her being able to help with. When I say as much to her, she puts her fists on her tiny hips and glares at me.

“I can keep guard,” she says. “No one ever notices me.”

“If you see someone, what will you do?”

She turns her hands palm-up to emphasize the point. “Warn you, of course.”

Right. If Kila has to warn me, it’ll already be too late. Still, tonight’s the night. I’m getting out of here and saving my baby sister.

I also intend to slice open Ivrael’s throat before I leave.

CHAPTER 6

IVRAEL

Imanaged to host Mib Svalkat in my home for almost thirty solar quintclicks—a full day—without allowing the baron to set eyes on the new woman in my household. I should have known it couldn’t last. It had long been rumored he had a taste for servant girls.

For the most part, I would trust the young women in my service to handle themselves. The Caix women, that is.

Those same rumormongers, though, whispered Svalkat preferred humans, that he liked to leave them drained, vacant-eyed, all vitality siphoned from them. Then again, I’d heard other whispers too, and those said he left his lovers satisfied, happy, content.

I wasn’t sure which outcome I feared more.

Turning Lara into a kitchen drudge had been designed to keep her safe for as long as possible, keep her from being noticed by bastards like the baron.

My own plans might require her death, but there was no reason for her to suffer in the meantime.

I still told myself that hiding her away, treating her as a servant,was for her own good, was because the Caix are cruel. Easier to lie to myself when the baron was an immediate danger.

But the longer she was in my home, the more I found myself wondering if there had been any kindness in stealing away her last year.

If I could have found a way to be absolutely certain Lara wouldn’t draw the baron’s eye, I would have implemented it. I even considered giving her that first night off. But any formal Caix dinner, even one served to only two people, requires servants to complete the work, and releasing Lara from that work would have drawn the other servants’ attention to her.

To avoid that, I simply asked Adefina to have dinner served in the small dining room, and to keep all kitchen staff out of sight when we had guests.

My cook frowned, but she could do little but agree. I hoped that would be enough to protect Lara from my unwelcome guest.

So when the dining room door swung open long enough to give a glimpse of Lara passing a tureen of chilled soup to one of the footmen, I flinched, barely stopping myself from getting up to slam the door shut.

Instead, I prayed that Svalkat did not see her.

The baron, damn his eyes, caught my aborted motion.

His interest piqued, he raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to glance through the doorway as the door swung in increasingly shorter arcs. “Who is that glorious creature?”

I bit back a curse. So much for my prayer.

“Who?” I managed to ask calmly as I reached for my wine goblet.

“The redhead.”

“Oh, her.” I gave a dismissive wave as I took a swig of wine. “No one. Or rather, no one important. Merely a new servant I picked up at the Trasqo Market the last time I was on Earth.”

“Oh, really?” He picked up his own goblet, finished it off, then gestured to the footman for a refill. “I didn’t hear of any auction—and it does seem as if someone that lovely would have gone to auction.”

My mind was scrambling, but I managed tomaintain a placid exterior, giving the Baron a tight smile. “Yes, well,” I hedged. “I have an agreement with one of the vendors.”

“That sounds expensive.”

---