Page 6 of Stealing Samantha

Jaess smiled faintly and pressed his arm to Yanish’s. “Yes, I think you’re right,” he replied.

His foot touched the first step when the sound of his people shook through the air. Raucous rattles from the men, trilling hisses from the women, and the harsh snap of feathers and dark nails lifted to the ceiling filled his ears until he thought the noise might bury him. Jaess allowed Yanish to pull him back through the crowd towards the long bar at the side where they’d stood before. Once more he felt the press of unfamiliar feathers, his senses overwhelmed with the pungent scents of the endless mass of bodies. He closed his eyes as the other man led him, only surfacing when a cool glass was placed against his hand.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice unsteady in a way he’d rarely experienced. “I think I would like to leave after this.” He saw Yanish part his lips to speak and rushed to stop him. “Stay—I can find my way back. Don’t end your night’s pleasure on my account.”

Yanish frowned and his crown feathers wavered. He would’ve spoken again, but someone approached from behind, sliding their lithe body between them. It wasn’t Yanish’s ill-tempered friend as he’d half expected, but a dark scaled woman, her petite red-tipped feathers lifted up above her forehead as she grinned at him.

“Hello, landsman. You’ve astounded us all. I’ve never seen anyone dance quite like that before.” She reached forward and slid a long nail around the rim of his glass. “Are you new here?”

Jaess pulled his cup away as he met the woman’s dark red eyes. “I’m not from Verkissat, if that’s what you mean.”

Her smile grew sharper. “I can tell. You’re adventurous then?” she asked with a dangerous little sparkle in her gaze.

“No, not really.” Jaess took a sip of the mezal’el.

“Are you sure? I don’t think I believe you.” The woman lifted a graceful hand above her head and clacked her jewel adorned nails together. He forced himself not to flinch. Jaess knew she wouldn’t have to wait long for a glass of the same mezal’el to appear on the bar in answer to her demand. “In fact, I think you’re the type of man who wouldn’t be afraid of anything,” she said as she stepped closer. He closed his senses to the thick taste of her perfume. “Have you ever considered going to Earth?”

Jaess blinked. His wings lifted and his crown feathers rose despite himself. “Earth?” he repeated.

The woman’s smile was bright enough to cut now.

“Yes, Earth.”

4

“I never would’ve thoughtto see you here, Jaess.” His cousin, the Fleet Captain T’xith, was giving him another one of his penetrating glares, like he might be able to see directly into Jaess’ thoughts if he stared hard enough.

Jaess looked around the glossy jade walls of his cousin’s ship. “I didn’t hope to be here so quickly either, but I couldn’t turn down Lithi’s offer.”

“But a dance troupe? I hadn’t even heard that such a thing was planned.” T’xith was frowning darkly now, his serious face drawn in even more morose lines than usual.

“Lithi told me it was a recent development—a suggestion from the human princess, Lady Kat, and one of many recent cultural initiatives, as they’re calling them.”

“Recent?” T’xith hissed. “I received the orders yesterday.” He made a dissatisfied noise in his throat that wasn’t quite a rattle. It sounded uncomfortable.

“It’s surely the Lady’s will. I came to Verkissat to find you, to find a way to Earth, and here I am, already on your ship. I may not be Fleet, but I’m smart enough not to spurn the Lady’s blessing. She has accepted my offerings and granted my prayers.”

T’xith simply frowned again. Now that he’d spent a little time with his cousin aboard his ship, Jaess was quickly realizing that the T’xith who’d returned to their village had been much different thanthe captain.T’xith may have been older than Jaess, but he hadn’t remembered his cousin being so bossy—and nosy—before.

T’xith narrowed his eyes at Jaess. “Kayla said that you requested to speak with her privately. What’s this all about, Jaess?”

He swallowed down his sudden nerves. Jaess hadn’t planned to keep his true intentions from T’xith—in fact, his plan relied on his cousin’s assistance—yet now that it was time to reveal his goal in traveling to the human origin planet, he felt as uncertain as a youngling facing their first blooding.

“Lady Sam—Kayla’s sister.” The rest of the words he’d meant to say got caught in his throat as he watched T’xith’s green eyes flare brighter.

“You’ve taken a position among an Earthbound dance troupe, leaving behind your village, vocation, and life, hoping…what?”

“She could be my mate. She called my venom. If the Lady offers her gifts, I’d be a fool to not even attempt to take them,” replied Jaess. T’xith led them around the sharp curve in the hallway, his lips flattening into a disapproving grimace as he listened.

“Perhaps you were mistaken,” T’xith said stonily.

“Mistaken? About my venom?” He’d never believed his cousin stupid before. Strange, yes, confusing, maybe, but not stupid.

T’xith’s wings rustled behind him as a hint of his rattle bled past his lips. “You don’t understand, Jaess. Earth is—” T’xith bent his head forward and shook it side to side before he turned his face back towards Jaess. “If you thought Verkissat different from Vastiss, that provides you only a minuscule idea of how very foreign Earth is from Xithilene. You don’t simply land on Earth and find the person you seek. They cover their planet like a S’i’ith hoard, leaving no land untouched. Nothing about finding humans on Earth is simple.”

“Sam is Kayla’s sister. You both know where she lives. Surely it won’t be so difficult to meet with her,” he insisted.

“Yes, but the purpose of the cultural initiatives is to introduce all of Earth to our ways and art forms. You’ll be starting off on an entirely different continent from Sam—and I can’t tell you how long it will take until you’re anywhere nearby.”

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