Page 55 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

Even though I know better.

Even though I know this kiss, like everything else between us, will eventually turn to ashes, I let myself pretend, just for a moment, that my need for her might be stronger than destiny.

That she could want me as much as I want her.

CHAPTER 15

LARA

The moment I finally admitted to myself that I was actually attracted to my captor—to the man who bought me and dumped me in his house to work in his kitchen—was the third time I tried to escape.

My second escape attempt hadn’t amounted to much. For one thing, the second prison break happened way too soon after that first disastrous zombie-ridden one—I hadn’t given Ivrael enough time to grow complacent again.

Either that, or I just had horrifically bad luck.

Really, I guess both are true, given that during the second escape attempt, I sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night and ran directly into Ivrael in the courtyard. He turned me around and marched me right back to the kitchen.

Then he called one of the burlier servants—a footman I recognized as having dragged that boy to the gallows—and told him to stand guard over the kitchen door.

I waited almost three months after that to try again, and I knew I should give it even more time. But the longer I stayed there, the more a pressure grew in my chest, screaming at me toget out. I knew I would die here—either painfully and slowly, or painfully and violently. Neither option appealed.

So I gave it just enough time for the guard to get bored with his new job and, more importantly, for Ivrael to leave home to attend to some Ice Court business.

Everyone was a little less precise in executing their duties while the duke was away. That time, I walked out the door in the middle of the day.

I’d been watching and realized my burly guard was nowhere to be found in the afternoon. That was also the time when, unless she needed my help with some particularly tricky or large recipe, Adefina often sent me to assist the housemaids—the ones who generally didn’t do any of the cleaning and so preferred to have the human sweep and scrub whenever possible.

Since Ivrael was gone and there were no guests to cook for, it didn’t take long for Adefina to send me to Ramira. I was supposed to ask the Icecaix maid if she needed help. But Ramira, of course, never knew what days I might show up to assist.

It took me about half a second to decide I didn’t want to clean. Instead, I walked through the door leading from the kitchen to the rest of the house, across the downstairs parlor, into the foyer, and then to the servants’ entrance on the far side of the house. I walked outside as if I were on a mission, some kind of assignment from Adefina or Ramira, and no one asked where I was going.

This time, I took Kila with me, tucked inside my sweater, nestled against the skin of my collarbone.

I’d snagged several additional tea towels to tuck around her when I grabbed my cloak and swung it over my shoulders. Although the tea towels might have been considered odd, no one noticed me hiding them under the cloak. And it wasn’t at all unusual for me to wear it when heading into the chillier areas of the main house—all of them, as far as I was concerned.

As soon as I stepped outside, I flipped my hood up over my head.

Kila fumbled around inside the sweater, and I had to clench my teeth against being tickled. Finally, her hands clasped the edge of my neckline from inside and her head popped out. She glanced around interestedly. “Are you sure about this?”

“We’ll find someone who knows how to get you back to the Starcaix lands.” I sounded more sure than I actually felt. But I wasn’t going to leave her behind.

“What if we don’t?”

“If we don’t, I’ll take you home with me.”

“To Earth?” Kila went perfectly still, and I glanced down to find her staring up at me, her green eyes wide.

“Sure. Why not?”

She frowned, worry sliding across her face. “I don’t know if raya are welcome on Earth.”

“You’ll always be welcome wherever I am,” I assured her.

She shivered, and I patted her shoulder with my pinky finger. “You can’t stay out here,” I reminded her. “It’s too cold.”

She gave a harrumph and wriggled entirely out of my sweater long enough to duck back under my hood, burrowing into my hair. “I’ve heard stories about rayas dying on Earth. Not the Eternal Dream—actual death. I don’t want that.”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure you get back to the Starcaix lands.”

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