Chapter 3
Holly
Oh, no, he was hot.
And she had just been waving her butt in his face.
Holly dearly wished she could disappear right now. And simultaneously hated herself for the immediate flash of desire she felt for this alien man.
She wasn't speciesist, as Peony had once suggested.
She wasn't. She just thought it was kind of weird to be sleeping with a different species.
Sure, if that was Peony's thing, she wasn't going to kink shame, but she had never actually thought of the domini sexually, even when she had been admiring those she could admit were pleasing to look at.
Until this one.
She had met the previous First Scholar. He was an older domini male who had been turning gray as his skin and hair lost its ability to camouflage. This male was far younger and, despite being completely alien, positively entrancing.
The first thing she had noticed, because how could she not, were his glowing blue eyes.
Domini had three of them. Two lower, one upper, the corner of each pointed towards each other.
They had whites to their eyes, but they were the minority of the color.
Most of their eyes were taken up by color.
Even their pupil, while darker tinted, was still the color of their eyes.
His eyes, dark blue, like the deep sea, looked at her like she was an interesting bug under a magnifying glass.
And there was no reason for the thought of that kind of careful, dispassionate attention to send a zing of arousal down her spine.
Romival had a long tail as well, and it was by far the longest she had seen on any domini.
He had to fully curl up the end to keep it from dragging on the ground.
The tip had been encircled by three rings made of a silvery crystal that winked in the light.
His hair, his skin, had all taken on a similar hue as a result of the silvery robes that covered him from the neck down with only his tail pushing through a hole at the back.
He was the most conservatively dressed domini she had seen.
Most of them preferred very little clothing so their skin could change to the environment and not their fabrics.
He had a hip pouch like most domini though.
They were a climbing species and, as a result, they wore sealed bags on their hips, strapped to their waist to keep it secure instead of having open pockets or a purse that could spill and flail around while climbing.
His pouch was larger than most and appeared to be rather heavy even partially concealed by the voluminous clothes he wore.
His hair was longer than hers, by a lot, all the way to his hips, pulled back at the top, but otherwise left to fall freely and move with the wind. A sharp nose led to a hard line of lips framed by sharp cheekbones. There was nothing soft or forgiving about his features.
He looked like a wizard. Untouchable, alien, and buzzing with a strange sort of power that she couldn't identify but could most definitely feel.
She was not having the hots for an alien right now!
Especially not a nerd alien. And there was no doubt that the wizardly First Scholar was the biggest nerd on the planet.
He was tested and proven to be the smartest domini, leader of all academic disciplines from history to engineering.
The guy probably put Einstein to shame, and she was definitely not lusting over him.
No matter how sexy those nibble worthy cheekbones were.
His head cocked curiously at her. “Are you well, honored vora vakara?
That title – name, she corrected herself – made her flinch. Being called a warrior by the sexy wizard was like being doused in cold water.
“Er, yeah,” she mumbled, her ardor cooling as she rubbed the back of her neck. “I'm good. You, erm, you were coming to interview one of us about Earth, right?”
“Correct. Not this morning, however. I have a meeting soon. I wanted to schedule it now so we could take our time later.”
“Oh. Sure. Yeah. No problem. Let me just ask the girls when they're free,” she pointed over her shoulder at the open door leading into their suite of rooms.
Romival made a waving gesture with his hands that she knew meant 'no'.
“I only need to speak to one. Unless one of your number is an expert on your planet and the solar system around it, there's no reason it can't be you. When are you available to speak to me?”
“Me? Er, yeah. Yes, of course. Me, erm...” She was flustered and only becoming more so as she tried to stop mumbling.
“I have free time most afternoons that I leave open.
I'm sorry. I'm not really good with your timekeeping system.
I want to say it's around the... fourth mark?
Is that right? No, that's still morning. Er, sixth mark?”
Romival reached into his hip pouch and pulled out his combot.
The small, flying robot glowed with an inner purple and blue light.
It was made mostly of a rounded body with three wings coming off the back, stabilizing it as it flitted in the air, and a little camera like protrusion at the front that could record images and display them as an interactive holo display.
As it did now as Romival pulled up his schedule.
Holly didn't really recognize their calendar set up.
It wasn't in neat little boxes like months were on Earth. Instead, it was broken down into circles, little pie charts that were sectioned off to demarcate the individual marks in a day – each mark worth about two Earth hours by the girls’ estimation.
There were ten marks in a Universal Standard day, but fifteen marks in a Turv day.
Romival scanned through his pie charts before pointing with long, elegant fingers to one that had some open space. “I have a mark free in four days’ time at the ninth mark. Would that be sufficient?”
“Yes,” she squeaked before clearing her throat and trying again. “Yes. That's perfect. Four days from now. Ninth mark. Got it. Let me just add it to my schedule.”
She turned to grab her own hip pouch that she hadn't yet put back on, but Romival stopped her.
“No need. I sent the appointment to your combot.”
“Oh, you can do that? I mean, of course you can do that. What am I saying? Calendar sharing is hardly groundbreaking technology. I'm an idiot. I'm just... I'm going to shut up now.”
He was staring at her again. His head cocked slightly like a dog listening to a high-pitched sound as she babbled on like a moron.
Holly wasn't socially adept at the best of times.
Being under the dissecting gaze of a sexy wizard alien that turned her motor on like nothing else was enough to make her tongue fat and clumsy in her mouth and, for some reason, made her extremely self-conscious about the awkward placement of her hands by her side.
How did people hold their hands? Why did this feel so unnatural? !
He grunted in acknowledgment of her words, completely unaware of her inner turmoil, before saluting her again. “Very well. I shall see you again in four days. Thank you for your time. I am sorry, once again, for startling you, honored Vora Vakara. I shall leave you to return to your... dance.”
Dance?
What was he talking about? Did he mean her yoga poses?
Before she could ask, he had already turned and was walking back in the direction he had come from. His soft leather boots didn't make a single sound on the golden stone of the balcony, showing her how easy it had been to sneak up on her.
Blowing out a breath, Holly plopped her butt down onto the thin cushion that she had commissioned specifically for doing yoga.
“That was... humiliating,” she grumbled to herself. She could practically see all her little brothers falling over themselves laughing at her.
She had actually messed up the simple act of telling time.
Like, it was easier here than on Earth! No AM or PM or anything.
Fifteen in half was about seven. Seventh mark was equivalent to noon.
She couldn't believe she had been so stupid to say fourth mark was afternoon.
She had looked at the smartest man on the planet and told him she was free in the afternoon around ten AM.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered, smacking herself repeatedly on the forehead with the palm of her hand.
“That's certainly a way to fix it.”
She lifted her eyes to see that, once again, she wasn't alone on the balcony any longer. Hattie had finally woken up and come out to join her.
Hattie was adorable. Like a tiny, extra fluffy puppy or plush toy.
She was the shortest of their number with soft, lush curves that she felt no shame in showing off.
Freckles dotted her entire face, concentrated the most over her nose, giving her a speckled appearance that was complimented by the constant shine in her big brown eyes.
Even her hair had gotten the memo that she was supposed to be curvaceous and luscious for the long, thick, brown strands ended in natural ringlets at her waist.
In short, she was Holly's total opposite.
In looks and in personality. Hattie had taken to her new planet like a native and seemed only to miss the joy of a morning cup of coffee.
She loved trying new foods, listening to new music, meeting new people.
She even had a crush on a domini herself, though the male didn't seem to be returning her affections.
Holly might have been made bitter by jealousy, but Hattie was so sweet and kind and friendly and adorable that it was impossible to be mad at her.
“Romival was just here,” Holly said by way of explanation as she turned to roll up her yoga mat. “He's going to be interviewing me about Earth.”
“Oh? Right now?”
“No. In a couple days. Why?” Holly stood back up, turning to grab her hip pouch.
Hattie beamed. “I was hoping you'd want to go shopping with me.”
“Did you need something specific?”