Page 2 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

CHAPTER 1

LARA

As I follow the alien fae down the ramp of his spaceship onto Earth’s familiar soil, the noise of the Trasqo Market hits me first, their cries of “Come buy!” echoing around me, the babble of hundreds of voices as customers and vendors haggle with each other.

The sounds all compete for my attention, and I suddenly realize just how quiet the Icecaix lands are. I can hear cars in the distance, and even though I know the market is largely separated from my world, my heart leaps at the sound.

But almost immediately after that, the warmth snags my attention. It is morning here, and it’s winter once again. But this is a Texas winter—not the kind I’ve spent almost an entire year surviving in Duke Ivrael’s home.

The light suggests it’s morning, and… oh, God. The sun here is brighter, shining with a different quality. I can tell it will eventually offer warmth rather than only light, and for just a moment, I close my eyes and tilt my head back, glorying in its touch on my skin.

Then I snap back to attention.

If I’m going to grab my sister and escape, I need to be ready. I have to pay attention to my surroundings.

“This way.” Ivrael strides off with an unerring sense of where he needs to be. I trail behind him, turning my face up to the morning sun, realizing it’s the same sun Izzy woke up under today. My heart pounds at the thought of seeing my sister again, knowing that this is our best chance to get away.

Following him, I continue to refine my plans to escape—the ones I’ve been making since we left Trasq. They’re not very good plans, but they’re a start.

Of course, even those terrible plans require his henchmen to be absent.

Lucky for me, his doorman-turned-guardsman Tenyt stayed behind to watch the spaceship, so that just leaves his valet—also turned-guardsman—Khrint.

I glance over my shoulder at Khrint.

He’s even taller and more muscular than Ivrael. In fact, I’d say he’s downright burly. I’m not sure how I’m going to get him out of the way.

Then, from across several aisles, I see Izzy’s hair, dark red waves where mine is strawberry blonde frizzy curls, and all thought of disabling Khrint disappears. My breath seizes in my throat, and tears spring to my eyes. I blink them away, determined not to cry.

Ivrael makes his way to the same booth where he bought me the year before.

I hear Roland’s voice before I see him, the rumbling tones of malice and petty complaints sending a shiver of revulsion through me as he speaks to the short, toad-like vendor who’d brokered the deal between the duke and Roland. “I expect you to get me more this time.”

Ivrael moves to stand between us before I’ve gotten more than the barest glimpse of the man who’d sold me to him likecattle at an auction, the duke sweeping me behind him with one arm. I glare up at the back of his head, but it does no good.

Roland apparently doesn’t notice me, all of his attention on the duke. “There you are. About time you got here. I need more money this time.”

“Oh?” To anyone who hasn’t spent the last year as a servant in Starfrost Manor, Ivrael’s tone probably sounds mild enough. But the temperature around him drops by several degrees, and when I glance down, the brown grass just around Ivrael’s feet has turned hoary with frost.

“Yeah,” Roland says, his voice rising as he sees a chance to air his complaint. “The other bitch’s disappearance caused more trouble than I expected. You didn’t pay me enough to deal with the police questioning me over and over.”

“What are you talking about?” At the sound of Izzy’s voice, my heart lifts—but her next words send it plummeting again. “Dammit, Roland, I thought you said you had a lead on Lara.”

That bastard used the promise of finding me to get my sister here. I want him dead, maybe even more than I’ve ever wanted to see Ivrael die.

Unable to wait any longer, I step out from behind the duke, pushing the hood of my tattered cloak off my head.

Roland catches sight of me, and his face turns ashen. Maybe he’s afraid of what will happen to him if I get the chance to tell the police that he sold me to some alien elf dude.

I give him a long, slow smile as I think of everything I want him to suffer. He goes even paler, as if he can read my mind and it terrifies him.

That fear is the least of what he deserves.

Izzy’s gaze darts between Roland and Ivrael, and she blinks and frowns, as confused as I was when I was the one being sold in the Trasqo Market. But I note the moment Izzy sees me, the instant her confusion turns to shock.

“Lara!” she screams, throwing herself past Ivrael and at me.

I wrap my sister in a hug, holding her tight and whispering into her ear. “We have to run.”

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