Page 40 of A Darkside Interlude

“You went and found him, didn’t you?” she whispered in her brother’s ear, speaking in rapid-fire Eskulin. “What made you so sure he was actually going to come for me?”

“I was spying on you last night, remember? I saw the two of you kiss. There was no way he wasn’t coming for you. He’s totally in love with you.”

Mari punched him in the arm. “Idiot. There’s no way you could read all that from a single kiss.”

“Why not? It happens in movies all the time.”

“This isn’t a movie, stupid. What about your MQ exam? You were supposed to get a day-pass for Teluria and register—”

“I couldn’t care less about the stupid MQ exam. You’re my sis, Mari. I couldn’t just let them sell you to some creep.”

A lump formed in Mari’s throat. Unable to speak, she hugged Artoo a little tighter.

“You’ve looked out for me every single day of my life,” her little brother whispered. “Idiot. There was no way I was gonna leave you behind.”

Mari became aware of Iskar, who was watching them with a cryptic expression on his face. He gently guided her toward a cockpit type area, where a young Kordolian with orange eyes was lounging in the pilot’s seat. He gave her a cursory glance but said nothing.

“Take a seat, Mari,” Iskar said gently. “We will be leaving soon. I will be back shortly.”

“Where are you going?”

Iskar’s voice turned glacial. “There is some unfinished business I must take care of.”

Faster than she could blink, he turned and disappeared into the shadows, and Mari was reminded that her Kordolian was not a man to be messed with.

Chapter Nineteen

Iskar twined his fingers with Mari’s as he led her down the ramp. After they’d returned to the Central Galleries in Teluria to retrieve Xalikian and the others, the trip back to base had been short and uneventful. “This is one of our bases on Earth,” he said quietly. “Our core unit is stationed here, but the land itself belongs to a human.”

“Oh?” That surprised Mari. She’d heard rumors of brave settlers who carved out their existences in the desert, but she’d always thought those stories were exaggerated.

“There are humans here. I am not the first Kordolian male to become mated to a human. In time, you will get the chance to meet all of them.”

“This is… amazing.” Shielding her eyes, she looked up at the clear blue sky. A child of the city, Mari had always felt at home with buildings crowding her on all sides. Even the narrowest and dingiest of streets provided some sense of security, a place to hide.

Here, there was nowhere to hide. The merciless desert stretched out around them for thousands of kilometers, and the vast blue sky soared overhead, reminding her that she was just an insignificant speck in the grand scheme of the Universe.

A flurry of activity surrounded the landing-pad. Kordolians wearing sleek black uniforms and dark glasses assembled beside the ship, greeting Iskar with some sort of fist-on-chest salute.

He said something to them in his strange, melodic tongue.

They responded with a single sharp word: “kyai!” At least, that’s what it sounded like. Mari assumed it meant yes in their language. They were respectful, deferent, obedient…

Interesting.

She cast a sly sidelong look at her mate. “What exactly did you say your official title was?”

“I didn’t.” He shrugged, the beginnings of a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. “But if you must know, these days I am known as the Head of Security of the Darkstar Corporation.”

Head of Security? The reception they’d given him suggested he was much more than that. Mari frowned. “Corporation? This looks more like a military base to me.”

Iskar cryptic smile told her there was more to the place than he was letting on. “We are different things to different people, but you are correct, my love. This used to be a military base, but now that we are stateless, we have become mercenaries.”

Mari felt a little dazed, but in a good way. Everything was happening so fast. There was so much new information to take in, and the wide open space—the damn vastness of the place—was a little overwhelming.

She felt the opposite of claustrophobic—if there even was such a thing.

Iskar must have sensed her mood, because he put his arm around her shoulders. “Fear not, Mari. You are in the safest zone on the entire planet, and you are mine. They can’t touch you here.”

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