Page 47 of Fated for the Alien Fighter

“You like me, don’t you?” Taryn said with a smirk, and nodded at a group of younger-looking Quillons, all gathered in a jittery group. They all looked kind of spooked about the market, wide eyes scanning the area as if something was going to attack them. Their tunics were a dull beige, and larger than their small frames.

Leah recognized hand-me-downs when she saw them.

“I need to talk to them,” Taryn said, more to himself, it seemed. “Zandyr would want to know.”

Zandyr…the Quillon Ambassador? Dawn’s match? Did he do charitable work as well? Dawn would have definitely loved that; her heart was big and her principles unbreachable.

Leah wasn’t as nice as Dawn, but her heart hadn’t turned to stone just yet.

Leah licked her lips. “Do you think, instead of jewelry, you can spend that money on buying some food and clothes for those kids?”

Taryn’s smirk turned into a genuine smile, more open than he’d ever shown around Leah. “I will do both. We are not leaving here without jewels, and they are not leaving this market without proper nourishment and clothing.”

“But—“

“As you humans say,deal?” he asked.

Leah frowned. Just how rich was Taryn, anyway? He looked like he had money, and something about him was elegant and poised, like someone who had grown up wealthy.

He kept staring at her, and something in his gaze told Leah he wasn’t letting her wiggle out of this deal.

“Okay,” she said and allowed herself her own smile. “I’ll meet you in the shop in a few?”

The symbols on his brow ridge furrowed. “A few what?”

“Minutes?Minnans?” She tapped her translator. “Just come find me when you’re done with the kids?”

“I will always find you,” he said, and sounded like he meant it. His voice turned the slightest bit solemn when he said things like that. Like he was making a vow.

Whatever he was doing, it made Leah’s heart flip.

With one last glance at him, she hurried inside the shop.

After all, nothing bad could happen if they spent a few minutes apart, right?

17

LEAH

Did Quillons’ imagination have any limits? Any at all? Leah whirled on the spot, taking in every shining nook and glistening cranny in the shop. It didn’t have shelves, but small alcoves carved into brown-purplish stone, large enough for a Quillon’s arm to fit inside it and retrieve the precious gems nestled inside.

They looked like small treasures in an underground lair, hidden by an ancient civilization. Each had symbols next to their alcove, ones Leah couldn’t read. The price, most likely, and judging from the number of symbols, they were expensive.

Gauzy fabrics hung from the ceilings, draping down in mesmerizing shapes. Slivers of light shined through, giving the entire place a warm aura. It felt like a nest, one Leah could get lost in.

She gently pushed some of the fabrics to the side, delving deeper. The Quillon voices outside started to fade the farther she walked inside. Taryn’s deep laugh clung to her the most, a secure tether to the outside world.

How was she supposed to pick one of them? To wear? On her own body?

The soles of her own shoes–not the borrowed strappy sandals Earth had deigned to give her–were worn and patchy. How was she supposed to wear such precious, glistening gems? First of all, wearing them in public was out of the question. Leah had never been mugged and she planned on keeping that perfect score.

She guessed she could sell whatever she chose once she got back to Earth–

As soon as the idea slithered into her mind, it filled her soul with bottomless sorrow. The only bright spot in the thought was seeing her Nana again.

But that meant she had to leave Quillon. Leave Taryn. How could she let him give her a gift? A lone memory of him and their time together? It would destroy her soul to look at it.

Leah shook her head.

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