Chapter 16
ADRYEL
"I need to get you back—"
"Do you even want us here?" The words came out before she could stop them.
He stopped walking. Turned to look at her fully for the first time since they'd left Khalzin's room.
"Not if it jeopardizes the safety and security of our world."
The words landed like a door closing. Flat and final and completely rehearsed. She'd heard that tone before — officials, guards, people with something to protect who'd decided she wasn't worth the trouble.
She crossed her arms.
"So that's it. It's all about your world, huh?"
Her hands were shaking. She was aware of it and furious about it. She balled them into fists anyway, because she wasn't going to let him see it. She wasn't scared. She was angry, which was a completely different thing, and she needed him to understand that.
"I'm a Gol-Vett. It is part of my duty to protect my world and my people. I have no larger duty than to that position."
There it was. The armor that had nothing to do with bone ridges.
"Then why were you even there? Why were you going to even try to mate with one of us?"
Something shifted behind his eyes. Just briefly.
"Because Khalzin asked me to."
She looked at him for a long moment. Read the flatness of it. The way he didn't elaborate, didn't dress it up.
"But you didn't think it would work, did you?"
He opened his mouth.
"Don't even say anything. You don't have to. I can tell just by looking at you." She'd gotten good at reading people who didn't want to be read. It was how she'd survived. "You had no faith in this at all."
"And with good reason," he said. "Look at the chaos. The casualty list grows by the hour."
"Great, there's a few less red skinned humanoids in the world. Darn."
He closed the distance between them in two strides, stopping close enough that she had to tilt her chin up to hold his gaze. She didn't step back.
"And from the Galactic Alliance. There's how many of your people here? An entire ship's staff, plus the contestants? They're dying too, by much larger numbers so far than our people. And I fear that none of you will get off this planet safely."
That landed differently than she expected. She'd been ready for cold. She wasn't ready for the weight behind it.
"Not if we don't figure this out."
"If I don't figure this out."
She put her hand on his arm. "If we don't."
He looked down at her hand. Then he covered it with his, and the warmth of it caught her off guard.
"I'm not letting anything happen to you," he said.
"And I'm not going to let anything happen to you, either." She tilted her head, letting the smile come because she'd earned it. "I'm way smaller than you. I can sneak into all kinds of places. Hear and see things that I shouldn't."
"Why does that not surprise me?"
She grinned.
“I must be out of my mind,” Stron said.
Adryel wasn’t going to dignify that with a response.
Stron wasn’t happy that she was there, with him. They walked through a different part of the main city than what they’d toured over, and she found it absolutely beautiful.
Even if he was horribly annoyed that she had come with him.
Still, she didn’t care. He wasn’t about to leave her back there in that tower, sitting around staring out the window at the smoke that still seemed to be burning even now, days later.
She had to do something.
If only to make sure this wasn’t the Rhysgarrds. Why that would even be a possibility, she didn’t know, but she couldn’t help feeling like she’d brought this whole thing down on the Galactic Alliance’s program, like a space wraith, ready to suck the life soul out of any breathing entity.
So if she had to stick by Stron to get some answers, then that’s what she was going to do.
Her feet crunched on the ground—a mix of organic tree and hard stone, as they walked along a sidewalk of a neighborhood she never remembered reading about in the training.
Little branches and twigs laid about. Trees and branches were everywhere wrapping the area like some kind of secluded place, separate from the sleek world she’d seen before.
Stron ducked under the low-hanging branches with a kind of rhythm as though he did this every day. It was like watching a machine move with precision in the middle of this organic world.
Where in the stars was he taking her?
Overhead, tree canopy covered most of the sky, while golden-orange sunlight streamed down through the branches like rays illuminating sacred spots of ground.
Even through the trees, she could see the sun starting to get low in the sky, and her feet were starting to ache.
Today had been a lot.
Too much.
She hoped they were getting closer to wherever they were going.
She made herself breathe and focus on where she was, this quaint little part of the world.
Residential, but not new. Homes built up incorporating wood from the trees, some of them even looking like they were built into the trees. Or into a cluster of them, anyway.
It felt like something out of a dream, really. A magical child’s story. She expected to see a winged humanoid emerge from a window and start sprinkling glitter all over everything.
It had that energy.
So not what she would ever think that Stron would be connected to.
Stron, looking far more minimalist and sleek than this ornate and organic area, stuck out against the aesthetic.
He turned and walked up a path to one of the homes. This one, with warm yellow paint, wrapped in branches of trees, clashed with his polished appearance.
Of course, he always stuck out to her. He placed his hand over the panel of the house.
It scanned him, the technology so well camouflaged with the wood, she hadn’t even noticed the panel at first.
The arched door covered in wood grain released, clicking open for him.
“Where are we?” Adryel asked as she followed him inside.
A deceptively larger place from the inside than it looked from the outside.
Tall ceilings, arched up toward a point.
Branches of the trees had been used to create walls, so much of the edges and corners looked like branches growing from the floor.
It had a general round shape, like they were inside the trunk of a tree. A large, round tree.
And art on the walls. Tiny decorative statues littered alcoves, some carved in stone, others in wood.
A couple had that unique golden color of citricite, carved into little Kantenans, with big horns and weapons.
The contrast between his put-together self and the old, cozy vibe exuded from every centimeter of the place.
“This is my home,” Stron said as he led her through a small foyer into a larger open area. The wood and nooks in the walls continued, creating such a contrast from the apartments she’d been staying in, it almost seemed unreal.
Old, plush furniture that looked comfortable and well-used created a warm feeling, and honestly, it was the most welcoming looking place that Adryel had ever seen. She wanted to run over and plop on the couch and just take a nap, without a care in the world.
Run her fingers over the imperfect, hand-carved frames. Like she could feel the essence of the log it had been carved from. The pillows and cushions looked like a lot of butts and heads had pressed against them, giving the place a feeling of an old person’s home.
A cozy place with so many small things and little touches, he must have lived there a very long time for this to be his place. It made her wonder the story about all the little figurines on the walls.
Were those his toys as a kid?
She glanced around, stroking the edge of a little table. “This is not what I expected you to be living in.”
“Why not?” He asked.
“It seems, well, old. Magical or something. Like from a story. It doesn’t look like something a big red guy like you would live in. Someone with your fancy clothing.”
This did make him smile. “I am glad I can surprise you.”
“I don’t know if I’m surprised or if I’m worried.” She started walking toward the food prep area, and saw that mixed in with all the older pieces were some modern touches. Shiny mixed in with the antique.
Her stomach growled as she automatically headed for the food prep area.
Food seemed like a really good idea.
She inhaled a breath.
Something smelled good over there.
“I cannot say that it has always been mine,” he said as he followed her. “It’s been in our family line for many generations.”
He pulled out two clear cups from the antique cabinet that was high enough that Adryel would probably need a ladder to reach. “Drink?”
Adryel nodded. “Please.”
He made them both a cup of some kind of red tea that smelled divine as he spoke.
“I always liked the house. My parents thought it was too small,” his words, punctuated by the click of a stirring wand.
“My mother felt this place had become beneath her station, as a partner of a Coalition member. Too small for her to be hosting events in.” He waved his free hand in the air as he spoke.
“Oh, darn. Too small,” Adryel said sarcastically. Because while it wasn’t huge and open like the apartment in the tower, it was cozy and warm and felt more like a home than any place she’d been so far here.
She watched him move with practiced grace, barely looking as he picked up what he needed for the tea.
“Exactly,” he said and smiled that annoying half-smile of his. “The house remained empty for a while, until I was old enough to move in.”
He stood on one side of the counter, and she climbed up in the chair on the other side, and he placed the cups between them.
“Are all the homes here like this?” she asked as she sipped on the warm tea. “Like they grew out of the trees?”
“Here in Carvonday, yes. There’s a fantastical element that I adored as a child.”
“And now?”
“And now, it feels like home.”
She smiled. “Must be nice.”
He inhaled a breath, and glanced around. “I think…” he leaned to the left, and put his hand on a panel.
The counter shifted, opening up, and a platter began to rise.