Page 17 of Scars & Starlight
Their frowns of confusion quickly turn into smiles of amusement, bigger with every second that I blabber.
“I’m just gonna shut up,” I mutter, taking half a step closer to Kairen as if I could disappear inside him where I can’t embarrass myself. The weight of his hand on my shoulder surprises me, but it doesn’t scare me at all. It feels comforting, safe.
“Everyone, this is Tara,” he introduces me. “Tara, these are Sovereign’s officers. They are…” He points at a grinning male with white hair and sparkly indigo eyes. “Caden, my first officer, cousin, and frequently the bane of my existence.” I can’t help but smile at his description of the Avaren, who, now that he mentions it, does bear a striking resemblance to the commander.
“Lirael, my chief medic, you already know,” Kairen says next, nodding at his other cousin. “Next to her is Kael, Sovereign’s chief engineer.” The light-haired male gives me a soft smile. “Then we have our security chief, Avenis.” Another stunning Avaren female, this one with short, blueish dark hair. “Zorath, the tactical chief.” A slim male with sharp, narrow eyes, though not unkind. “Rhaevik, the communications officer, is on the far end.” I nod at the male who, despite his title, doesn’t speak. “Orien is the intelligence chief.”
The male in question tips his head with a calculating twist to his lips. His yellow-orange eyes are incredible. “Pleasure to meet you, Tara,” he says, his voice low and even, like a whisper with the volume turned up. I swear it tickles my brain.
“Likewise,” I return with a smile. There’s something magnetic about him.
Kairen clears his throat. “And lastly, we have Cyrel. As chief science officer, she worked closely with Lirael to heal you.”
I nod at the female with curly, muted red hair who’s giving me a welcoming smile. “Thank you,” I say sincerely.
“It’s good to see you on your feet,” she replies, scrunching up her pixie nose with a mischievous grin.
“Yes, Tara,” Caden, the white-haired male purrs. “Looking forward to getting to know you as… intimately as our healers did.
My jaw drops while Kairen smacks the back of Caden’s head. He didn’t mean… “Wait, you guys didn’t… probe me or anything… did you?” I look from Lirael to Cyrel and then to Caden.
“What?” Lirael asks in a confused murmur.
“Probe?” Cyrel adds, just as befuddled as her colleague.
Feeling doubly embarrassed by my presumption, I backpedal quickly. “Never mind,” I rush out. “A stupid human movie thing.”
“No,” the first officer drawls out slowly. “I’d like to know more about this probing. What can we probe with?”
Judging by the movements of their bodies, Lirael just kicked her cousin under the table. Caden grunts, but the chaotic smile stays plastered on his face. This one’s a demon, and if I didn’t have nine pairs of eyes on me, I’d laugh alongside him.
“Let’s allow Tara to sit down and explain her planet’s politics before we overwhelm her with everything that is Caden,” Orien says in that mystery villain voice.
I snort but sit down on the chair at the head of the table when Kairen motions to it. When it starts shifting under me to adapt to the contours of my ass, I squeak and nearly jump back up, much to the aliens’ amusement.
“What I meant to say before this chair fondled me,” I mutter, making Caden choke on the drink he just took, “is that you guys probably know more about who’s in power around the globe than I do. I knew a little bit about the dudes in charge four years ago – and yes, it was mostly men – but with the internet and global media disrupted or downright inoperable, they could all be dead and eaten by the Ghorvek.”
At an unspoken command, Kiko chirps and hops up on the table. His eyes turn into projectors again, and he shows us a 3D image of one of America’s tech billionaires.
“According to all the information we could gather, this man, Jethro Besson, is the one giving commands on your continent,” Kairen says. I nod – this isn’t news to me. Even with the collapse of society, it pays to have resources and connections. These men takepretty young brides in droves and hide away in their mansions behind their armed security.
Kiko’s image shifts to an Asian man in a tailored suit, his face unreadable and detached. The next human leader.
Much more interesting than the humans I’ve mostly seen in the news before are the Avaren around me. None of them is paying attention to what’s being said – their eyes are on me, glinting with unhidden curiosity that makes me blush.
I’m not sure what could ever be fascinating about plain old me, but I hope I won’t disappoint them too badly.
10
KAIREN
With mounting alarm, I watch as Tara’s undertone turns green.
“We’re nearly there,” I soothe my human, whose eyes are locked on the approaching ground. I had her sit next to me on the Talon so she could have a clear view of the descent, but I see now it’s mostly just bringing out colors in her complexion I didn’t know humans possessed.
“If your nano mites are so powerful, why can’t they cure motion sickness?” Tara asks with a groan, her head now hanging between her legs.
“Huh…” I connect with the nanites I shared with her, envious that they’re one with her and I’m not. Yet.
