CHAPTER 3
The place Kita told us to meet her is one of the quieter levels of the station.
There are a lot of compartments on this level that house things that aren’t accessible to the public—servers, non-digital records, etc.
There's exactly one restaurant and it’s not cheap.
So fewer people come down here. The ones that do, usually do so specifically for the quiet.
That’s what makes it so easy to spot them… And to see Agan with them.
I hesitate, missing a step and Sirin turns when I stop completely.
“What’s wrong?”
I don’t know why I’d forgotten he’d be here. “I don’t like your nephew.”
Brows pinched, he glances over his shoulder before he asks, “Has he done something new?”
Technically, no. “He’s just not nice to me, or to Kita, for that matter.”
“I heard my name.” Kita pauses to kiss my cheek and glare at Sirin. “I’m not forgiving you yet.”
“I can live with that.”
She looks past him and makes an ugly, unhappy sound. “He was supposed to be busy today.”
Sirin looks between us, suspicion narrowing his eyes, but he doesn’t ask either of us to elaborate.
Kita forges ahead first, ignoring her brother and immediately hugging her mother.
I have met Aris before. Even if she doesn’t remember it. I can’t remember her dad’s name, so I guess we’re even.
He looks at Sirin in a way that… I’m pretty sure he’s not Sirin’s biggest fan.
But Kita’s mother likes her brother.
Aris reaches out and squeezes one of Sirin’s tentacles. They say their hellos in a flurry of words, some I can understand, others I can’t, some that are just too quick to catch. Either way, it makes me smile.
I don’t notice that Agan’s slid up next to me before he says, “You should probably go.”
I flinch, but if he notices, he doesn’t stop talking.
“This is a family thing. Kita can’t just drag you around like a stray everywhere she goes.”
One of Sirin’s tentacles wraps around my waist and pulls me closer to him. He doesn’t look at Agan. If not for the timing, I wouldn’t think he’d heard Agan at all.
“Aris,” he says to his sister. “This is my mate, Annika. Annika, my sister Aris.”
In my periphery, I see Agan change color. I can’t tell what those colors are, but they’re bright, which means he’s probably angry, or embarrassed.
Neither of those are good.
“It’s very nice to meet you.” I say, doubting they’re fluent English when they don’t remember they’ve met me before, but the last time I attempted their language in a more formal setting, Kita had a laughing fit that I was pretty sure was going to kill her.
“I’m confused.” Kita’s father says—his English isn’t great, but it’s way better than I thought it would be. “I thought Annika was Kita’s human friend?”
“Two things can be true, dad.”
“And this is Nenen, Aris’ mate.”
Before either Nenen or I can say anything, Agan blurts out, “What the fuck?”
This time, I’m not the only one who flinches.
“She’s not your mate, she’s a prostitute.”
The word has never bothered me before, but the way he says it… My skin flushes with static and my heart beats in my ears.
Sirin pulls me close to him still and Agan looks completely flabbergasted that Sirin isn’t disgusted.
“Doesn’t that bother you?” he asks, his voice pinched.
Sirin takes a moment before he asks, “Why would that bother me?”
“She fucks other people?”
Now, his voice is loud enough it’s started to draw attention.
Still calm and quiet, Sirin says, “I fail to see how that is any of your concern.”
“It’s disgusting.”
Kita makes a disgruntled noise. “No, what’s disgusting is you being this obsessed about it.”
“You knew?”
“Of course I know. New flash, it doesn’t bother anyone.”
He looks at his parents, but he doesn’t find what he’s looking for there, either.
“You should leave.” Aris says, looking pointedly at him.
He makes a choking sound. “You’re going to make me leave and let her stay?”
His father says, “She is not being a problem. You are.”
I press my lips together, not sure how we’re going to move forward, but Agan leaves and no one says anything while they watch him go.
No one says anything until Sirin looks between Kita and I. “Okay, I understand why you don’t like him.”
“Finally!” Kita looks like she’s ready to deflate with relief.
“Shall we eat?” Aris asks, tapping her tentacles on the floor in an Opodean clap.
Kita is emphatic when she says, “Yes, please.”
It takes a moment to realize it’s not an awkward subject shift. They honestly don’t care about what Agan said.
“Good. I’m starving,” Nenen glances at her. “And you will invite your other friend.”
“Dad,” she says, warning.
“You do not have to mate with him for us to want to know who he is.”
“Fine, I will let him know and if he decides to join us, so be it. But he’s only a friend.”
A friend that fucks.
Aris holds one tentacle out to me and Sirin lets me go to her.
“Hopefully, you still have an appetite after that nonsense. I would love to know more about you, Annika.” She wraps the tentacle around my arm and pulls me close, dipping her head down to conspiratorially whisper in broken English.
“And now I know why my favorite brother asked me to learn a language I didn’t know existed. ”
I should let it go, but I can’t. “What Agan said doesn’t bother you?”
“Of course not. Clearly we let him out of the pod before he was done maturing. I will have to have a conversation with him after we eat.”
“Now. Kita said you grew up on Lacuosa. Is that where… “ she struggles with the word.
“I do understand a lot of Opodean,” I tell her. “I just can’t make the words sound right. My tongue wasn’t structured for it.”
“Well then, we’ll make it work and you can help me learn the way I know you’ve helped Kita.” She slips in and out of the two languages, substituting what she doesn’t know for words that I can figure out.