Page 196 of Scorching the Alien Empire
A smirk. Tiny. Barely there. Uncommon but unmistakable.
Only eagle-eyed sleepy Todd and I would notice it.
Wonderful.
“You honor me, Balsar,” Dracoth rumbles, pride blooming through our bond like an inferno. “If this is your will...” He sweeps his gaze over the space-hobos, their beady eyes alight with fervor. “Then take your place among us, my loyalShorthairs.” He gestures to the cracked plaza beneath their feet with his oversized red shovel-hand.
Of course, Dracoth keeps his creepy little toy soldiers.Yippie.
“Hah!” Balsar barks, nearly drowned out by the whooping cheers of the space-hobo collective. “You won’t regret this! We’ll use these credits and the Elerium to recruit and buy—”
“You spoke in error.” Dracoth slices through noise like those razor-sharp claws he keeps tucked away beneath his fingers. “I am no god, no War Chieftain. I have borne many defeats, many shames.”
What. The. Fuck. Is he doing!?
My ears are ringing, blood rushing so loud I can barely hear. He’s throwing away our plans,everythingwe’ve built. This reeks of aboy band farewell speech. A speech he’s kept hidden from me. His wife. His Mortakin-Kis.
Before us, the bone-through-the-nose brigade mirrors my confusion. They shift, mumble, eyes flitting from each other to him like kids watching the Dad I never had cry at the dinner table.
Wait. Wait.Maybe... maybe he’s setting me up? Stepping down so I take the lead? Nowthatwould be the sweetest surprise gift ever.
He runs a hand through his short crimson hair, eyes distant. “Krogoth was the first. I failed to hunt him. He spared my life. In return, he tore my hair in shame.”
He’s praising Krogoth. Again.Lexie-enemy number one. The guy we have to kill.
I grip Dracoth’s arm. Nails digging in like needles, sharp enough to draw blood if not for those obsidian vambraces.
“Okay, I think you’ve used up your year’s word quota, today, babes,” I hiss through a smile faker than a politician’s promise. “It’s got you all muddled. Maybe lie down for a day or ten, yeah?Let me take over for a bit?” I whisper for his long ears alone, straining on tiptoes failing to reach his towering head.
With all my subtle might, I lean my weight on his arm, but it’s like pushing against Mount Frown-More—solid. Immovable. Scowling. The rude prick doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t blink. Doesn’t evenacknowledgeme.
His focus is locked on the murmuring crowd, expression distant and unreadable, ignoring me.
It makes me feel... tiny.
Invisible.
Like he forgot I was even here. Like I’m just background static while he spirals into whatever glorious martyrdom fantasy he’s currently hard for.
I want to scream. Want to slap some sense into that angular jaw.
But I don’t. Instead, I lower my hand, breathing in through clenched teeth.
This fashion show has already turned hobo-chic disaster—no need to add more drama. If I spank him in public, it’ll only undermine my authority further. No. Let him flail. Let himfail. I’ll clean it up later.
“Good thing you failed to hunt the High Chieftain,” Jazreal calls, injecting some much-needed levity. “Or the Scythians would be rearranging our guts up there.” He jabs his spear at the overcast ruby sun like he’s trying to make the universe’s largest shish kabob.
“You’d still be dancing those Glaseroid inwards all the way back to Klendathor,” Drexios laughs, though in his typical prickish style there’s a razor buried within. “Oh, look at me take flight! Long legs so graceful and light—fluttering through the void like starlight.” He skips through the plaza, arms and legs fluttering dramatically like a demented schoolgirl.
Great. Now the freak show’s doing stand-up.
Good-natured laughter erupts from the space-knights, echoing strangely through the hollowed-out husks of industrial buildings.
Jazreal smirks with the undamaged side of his face. “Your rhythms are as tiresome as your fighting skills—Prospect weak, and—”
“I was weak in Crucible,” Dracoth cuts in, voice low and hollow, his eyes distant as they fix on the infernos burning across the horizon. “I failed to defeat the Voidbringer. Failed to stop the droid legions. Forced to flee to Argon-Six...”
Oh no. Not this again.
