Chapter 34
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Silks and gemstones swirled around us, glittering in the dying sunlight streaming from the windows. How had we already spent most of the day here wandering the estate?
Asher’s hand was light on my waist, leading me through the steps of the dance.
I needed to look anywhere but at him and those silver eyes that seemed to see straight down into my bones.
Yet I wanted to look. I wanted to know if I could see the same in him.
If I could somehow understand the dichotomy of this male: his kindness and his cruelty, his passion and his penance.
The next part of the plan was simple and yet so difficult I couldn’t even imagine how we would pull it off.
But as he turned me out, circling me with his hand dragging across my hip, I looked up to catch sight of Listra watching me.
I ran my gaze down his slender frame and up again before biting the corner of my lip.
By the time Asher pulled me into his arms again, Listra was already on the move.
“A drink, I think,” I murmured, signaling Asher.
His throat bobbed with a swallow, hand tightening on mine for only a moment before his chin dipped and he melted into the crowd. Only a heartbeat later Listra was there, sliding between two couples with a grin already curling across his mouth.
“Unwise for your master to leave you unattended,” he purred, voice more musical than it had been when he’d been addressing his guests.
I raised a brow. “And why is that?”
Listra stepped closer, hand sliding around my waist, thumb stroking the chains holding the fabric together. “Because someone might come and steal you away.”
Twisting my mouth into a semblance of a grin, I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Then you must be quick before he returns.”
He chuckled, pulling me close into the hold Asher and I had practiced for the melunceur, grip curling into my hair while I wrapped mine around his neck.
But instead of his other arm loosely hanging at his side, he tugged me closer with it, fingers splayed wide across my spine to feel the curve of my backside.
“I have enjoyed seeing your treasures,” I said as the dance began.
Listra hummed, lavender gaze sliding from my face down to the swell of my breasts. “I have many pretty things, but none as captivating as you.”
“I would imagine that line gets you between many thighs,” I breathed, tilting my face up to his.
One of his eyebrows lifted and his grin turned darker. “Oh, many, my darling. Though I do love a challenge.”
Rolling my lips together, I perused his face, down to his chest, and even lower before moving back up again. We were closer now than before and as we turned, I caught sight of Asher at the edge of the crowd, taking a deep pull from a crystal glass.
“Your master should slow down. This vintage of lagneia is quite potent.”
I turned beneath his arm, waiting to reply until he drew me back in. “Potent?”
“You have never had it before?” he asked, toying with the chains on my side.
Each brush of his hand against my skin sent shivers across my back, though it was barely an echo of what I’d felt in Asher’s arms. Similar to Lucien’s scent—like the slight pang of hunger without the frenzy of starvation. I shook my head at his question.
“Lagneia is an ancient drink of my people, harvested from langia blossoms that grow within the crystals deep in the sea. The effects are different for many species. For instance, Venyans, Akahzyrians, and the Nusjili are immune to its properties, while others react only when someone they desire touches them, skin to skin. Most, however, like my kind, are quite susceptible to its effects.”
I blinked. “And…what are those effects?”
His lids grew heavy, mouth shifting into something more supple and seductive.
Listra drew me closer until the length of his body pressed against mine and something unmistakable pushed against my stomach.
“Lust, my darling. A humming in your veins, a racing of the blood, and the simple urge to suck and fuck everything in sight.”
My heart picked up speed. I’d felt the heat, the racing of my blood, but I could not feel the overwhelming sense he did.
Perhaps my people were immune, or else there were boundaries on it.
Listra devoured me with his gaze, head dropping lower with each passing moment until his lips brushed the skin of my throat, right below my ear.
Nothing. No sudden need, no desire slipping between my thighs.
But I held still, staring up at the fire bleeding through the sky with the last of the dying day.
My mind slipped back to that quiet place where nothing hurt and everything was safe.
His tongue was hot as it traced the shell of my ear and nausea roiled in my stomach.
“What a delectable party,” a familiar voice purred and a wide hand curled around my elbow. “Is there room for one more?”
Lucien stood at my side, obscuring most of the waiting crowd with his wide shoulders. The silk of his shirt was beautiful, parted to expose the gleaming expanse of his chest. And though he wore a grin, the corners of his eyes were tight as they flicked between us.
Our host smiled widely, grabbing for the male and all but forgetting me for the moment as their lips crashed together.
I let out a quiet exhale of relief, scanning the crowd for Asher, but he was nowhere to be found.
However, Listra’s hand tangled in the chains of my bodice, pulling me closer while Lucien sucked on his lower lip.
“Is there a quiet spot we could be alone and get to know each other a little better, Senator?” Lucien purred.
A pang of panic returned. Lucien was not supposed to be a part of this, but Listra nodded fervently, grabbed our hands and pulled us bodily from the ballroom.
I only looked back once, but it was to see Asher slicing through the thickening crowd, gaze fixed on me.
Then we turned a corner and Listra dragged us down a flight of stairs, ending up in a darkened hallway much less splendid than the others.
Listra let go of my hand in favor of pressing Lucien up against a wall.
There was the wet sound of lips upon flesh, Listra’s moans echoing through the corridor.
A faint glow emanated ahead from around another sharp corner, but before I could take a step forward a hand closed around my wrist, yanking me toward them.
“What a lucky male I am”—Listra groaned and I could just make out Lucien biting softly on his throat—“to have the brightest gems of the night within my grasp.”
Horror crept up my throat and I was grateful for the darkness of the hall.
Of course we had talked about gaining Listra’s interest, but I’d hoped it would be through conversation.
Granted, I was not the most verbose or skilled at such thing, and though I’d known this was an eventuality, every cell in my body rebelled against the thought of touching him.
Even if it might get us closer to the stone.
Right now, this was the beginnings of a messy threesome with no opportunity to even question where our quarry might be.
“I think we might be the lucky ones,” Lucien answered. At the mouth of the hall a few voices slipped toward us, though I couldn’t see anyone approach. “Where have you brought us, Phyenix? Are you one of those filthy little boys who loves to be caught?”
Again, I could only stand there, breathing another sigh of relief as Listra refocused on Lucien, his hand falling from my wrist. I took the opportunity to wipe away my expression, even if I knew it would leave a blank mask in its place.
But the Louxurian senator wasn’t paying attention to me.
No, he fell to his knees in front of Lucien, hands sliding up the fabric of his pants.
“Second floor,” Listra whispered huskily. “This area’s artifact was taken hours ago for safekeeping off world—no one will find us here.”
I edged around them as Lucien stroked the male’s cheek. “You are a clever little pet, aren’t you?”
Maker. Listra’s attention remained wholly fixed on Lucien as I crept close enough to peek around the corner.
A tall pedestal stood in the center, rough-hewn from a gray stone that didn’t look native to the planet.
Beside it sat a small glass box on the floor I assumed had housed whatever he’d had moved, complete with a holographic plaque attached to the side.
A moan slithered around the corner—Lucien’s—followed by a slurp. I took a careful step so it made no noise and crouched beside the glass. With the dim light, it was difficult to read the words. Glass scraped across crystal before I was able to tilt it toward the light.
“What are you doing?” a deep voice snapped.
I dropped the glass as if burned, chest rising and falling rapidly. Shooting to my feet, I raised my hands in surrender as a white-clad guard stepped into the room, blaster pointed straight at my chest.
“I—sorry. I was just…”
“What are you doing in this section of the estate?” the guard growled, taking a step closer.
I waved behind me toward the hallway where Lucien and Listra were. “I was brought here.”
“This area is off limits.”
“Hey, now. Let’s all calm down.” Lucien appeared from around the corner, raising his hands quickly when the guard turned on him. “Our host brought us for a little…private time. You recognize me, don’t you?”
The guard didn’t even blink. “If Listra brought you down here, where is he?”
Fuck. Where was Listra? He’d been around the corner, mouth full of Lucien’s cock, only a few moments ago.
A flash of panic crossed Lucien’s face for barely a second before it smoothed into a warm smile.
“I’m afraid I tired him out after all the lagneia he consumed.
You know how it is.” He gestured behind him to the hallway.
“You, stand there,” the guard barked, directing Lucien to stand beside me. He kept his blaster trained on us while he searched for his master in the dark.
I turned toward Lucien, eyes widening in question, and, though he threw me a wink, it was brittle. All at once the guard straightened. “The fuck did you do to him?”
Lucien pointed at his chest. “Me? Other than suck his brain from his cock?”
The guard flicked the side of the blaster, releasing the safety with a hum. “You what?”
My mouth opened and closed before I moved forward, only to step back when the blaster flicked to me. “He’s joking.”
“It’s true, a crude joke at a poor time. I admit I talk too much when I’m nervous or drunk”—Lucien’s head tilted from side to side—“and right now I’m a little of both.”
Maker. The guard’s eyes narrowed on us, then on the glass box behind us. “We know there are at least two mercenary groups looking for what used to be in this room.”
I never thought I would be thanking my years at Ebyd III for the mask I could keep in place. Instead of gasping like I wanted to, I frowned and looked at the box beside my foot. “What was in this room?”
“Don’t play dumb, you ryk—”
But whatever insult he’d been about to say was cut off with a gurgle as a humming quara blade sliced across his throat.