Page 73 of Decadence

“I would never do that, Jaxis,” she said slowly; carefully. “I owe him my life too, and he and I… we’ve already gone beyond the point of no return.”

The burly warrior stared at her for a moment, and his death-glare made her skin crawl all over. After what felt like an eternity, he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, giving her a sharp nod of approval. His eyes flicked across to his partly eaten plate of salmon, and he seized another morsel of fish with his fork.

“What is an… Enkaladu?” Sienna asked, unable to contain her curiosity. Jaxis had uttered the word with a certain reverence.

“It means protector," the Kordolian replied between mouthfuls.

Protector? Huh. That sounds about right.

But before Sienna could dig any more information out of him, the doors unraveled, revealing a hovering black drone-platform-thing with a clear domed lid.

“Transport is here,” Jaxis announced. “I will send this… this…”

“Red sockeye salmon crudo,” she filled in.

“Yes. I will send this crudo to the boss. He will appreciate its significance.” The warrior inclined his head, his eyes narrowing. “But this is merely a morsel compared to what we would usually eat.”

“Believe me, I’m only just getting started.”

Jaxis uttered a command and the dome-lid of the hovering platform slid open. “Put your dish there.”

Wordlessly, Sienna placed the second plate of crudo on the transport, admiring the vibrant simplicity of her creation.

Jaxis uttered another command and the damn thing closed its lid and silently floated away, disappearing through the doors and into the darkness beyond.

Taken aback, Sienna took a moment to ground herself, looking around at the wide array of ingredients and tools.

“Seriously though, this place is amazing.”

“It was created for the exclusive use of the mates,” Jaxis said proudly. “Our females are given nothing but the best.”

“Only the best will do, huh?” God, it all seemed so over-the-top, but also thrilling and intriguing. She could totally imagine these intense, larger-than-life aliens going overboard with the pampering.

This was so different from what she’d expected Kordolians to be like.

As Sienna eyed off a basket of potatoes—rare real ground-grown ones, with the rich red dirt still caked on them—Jaxis silently and swiftly laid down his fork on the plate and moved to the entrance.

A second later, the doors opened.

How had he known?

The warrior stood to attention, his hands dropping close to his weapons. But he quickly relaxed as soon as he caught sight of the newcomers—two humans and one Kordolian.

“Took you long enough,” Jaxis grumbled. Sienna thought she could detect a tiny hint of relief in his voice. “This one thinks she can manipulate us with alien food.”

“But she is human, what did you expect? Their most effective weapons aren’t the combat kind.” An amber-eyed Kordolian walked toward them. He wore an easy smile, yet he moved with the feline grace of a predator. He wore a simple flowing black robe-thing that was belted at the waist, over loose black trousers and supple black boots. Perhaps this was what passed for casual attire in the Kordolian world. No weapons were visible on his body, but he still managed to look supremely dangerous.

He reminded her a little of the General, and a little of Ikriss. If Kordolians had different tribes and ethnicities, then Ikriss and this guy would be from the same background.

They had similar sharp, elegant features and a certain restrained savageness that she was only beginning to appreciate.

But where this guy was relaxed and fluid like water, Ikriss was intense and tightly controlled, and she always desperately wanted to know what her Commander was thinking behind the many barriers that he put up.

The newcomer took a deep breath. “Smells good,” he said, his gaze honing in on the half-eaten plate of fresh fish. “Like sashimi with a touch of sour acid.”

“You know sashimi?” Sienna asked wryly.

“Rykal…” A woman reached his side, shaking her head. Her expression was half amused adoration and half exasperation. Sienna stared at the human in shock, forgetting her manners.

---