Page 92 of The Alien's Cruel Starfrost Domain

“Here she is,” the maid says in a sing-song voice as we reach the buffet table, and I’m reminded of children taunting one another on a playground.

An Icecaix woman, taller and thinner than me, stands with a short, squat male. They turn to face us, and I realize the male is the same one I saw arriving.

“Duke Ivrael’s human pet,” the woman cries out happily. “Come play with us.”

She’s wearing an ivory ball gown draped across her body, and I realize it’s practically transparent—I can see herslim body under it, the darker tint of her nipples. The male catches me looking and flashes a hungry smile, baring sharp, pointed teeth coated with blood.

The woman delicately chooses a thin slice of raw venison, leaving behind tiny red splatters on the snowy white tablecloth as she lifts it from the serving platter, blood trickling from the spiced cut to pool under it on her own plate.

“Have a drink,” she says.

I try politeness first. “No, thank you.”

“I said you should drink,” she insists.

The male grabs me by the back of my neck and the woman tilts the wineglass against my lips. The red liquid inside smells both fruity and rank, and my stomach turns.

The last thing I want is to drink from her cup. I shake my head mutely, but she’s insistent, tilting the cup higher and higher, and the male’s hold on my neck is like iron. When I still don’t drink, she snarls and reaches over to pinch my nose closed. I try to pull away, but I can’t. Unable to stop, I gasp for air and choke on the fetid wine, spitting it out but also finally swallowing some despite myself.

Both Caix laugh, and the room spins around me. He gazes at me ravenously, his bulbous eyes glowing. Her long white hair falls like silk across her bare, marble-white shoulders, and once again, I mentally compare the pallor of most of the Icecaix to Duke Ivrael’s more golden-toned skin.

Suddenly, I want to see the duke more than anything else in the world. But when I search the banquet hall for him, he’s nowhere to be found—and oddly, I find myself unnerved by his absence. I try to tell myself it’s only the Icecaix lady’s overly avid expression, that I’d feel better if I knew Duke Ivrael was around to step in for me, that I’m uncomfortable with the thought of the Ice Court roaming unsupervised in the duke’s home.

But none of it rings true.

I simply want Ivrael.

“Come with us, human,” the woman says, her voice reverberating oddly in my ears. I try to resist, but my words slur into incomprehensible echoes, and everything around me smears into a blurry haze.

Someone—the woman?—takes my hand and draws me away from the food table, then backs me into a corner of the room, their bodies blocking any exit I might try to make. Not that I’m trying to leave. Something has made me complacent, pliant, willing to follow directions.

“Drink more,” the woman says, handing me a wine glass filled almost to the brim. This time I upend it myself, swallowing down the entire putrid concoction. Within seconds, my head is spinning.

It crosses my mind that the couple must have drugged the wine, but I can’t bring myself to care. I lean back into my corner, peering around the two Caix hemming me in as I search for a glimpse of Ivrael.

The room spins and rolls, the walls expanding and contracting as if breathing, and I watch them, forgetting to look for him for a long moment. Then a strange golden light flashes past me, and I’m reminded of the duke’s hair color.

“So pretty,” I murmur aloud—at least, I think it’s aloud, but I can’t actually hear myself speak—and go back to looking for Ivrael.

When I don’t see him, I thump my head back against the wall and sigh out his name.

The two Icecaix glance at each other and snicker, their high-pitched laughter distorting into synesthetic neon flashes flickering across their faces as the room tilts sideways.

“Kiss me, human pet,” the male says, his voice turning to smoke as he steps closer to me and licks his thick lips with a tongue that slides out of his mouth like a snake, sinuous and scaled.

I nod and bend toward him—but something buzzes in front of my eyes, distracting me.

“Ooh,” I say. “That’s cool.”

It’s tiny and leaves sparkling lines of green glitter behind it when it speaks. “What are you doing? Come with me.”

I stare at it, enchanted.

“Lara! Come with me.”

Oh, andit knows my name, too.

“How lovely,” I murmur, but the words get lost on their way through the room.

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