Chapter 30
CORA
The observatory was incredible, built of the same salmon colored stone so many buildings seemed to be made from here, but roofed entirely in a glass dome that had a sort of lens effect, amplifying the view of the night sky so well that I could see rings on one of Venastea’s moons.
Della was kind enough to point out a few moons and planets that were visible, and I was wondering how I was going to get through the night without getting a crick in my neck, when someone called my name from somewhere on the steps below.
“Cora, Bay-beeee!”
I craned my neck to look past Zoddi, who moved to place himself in front of me immediately.
Rushing up the steps past onlookers in various stages of shock, curiosity, and disapproval, was Qhev.
His long hair streamed behind him as he climbed two steps at a time, dodging other gala guests in his way.
“You’re here!” he shouted from a few yards away, slowing as he approached me and my hostile bodyguard.
“Zoddi, it’s fine,” I said, stepping around him to greet Qhev. “I know him.”
“You know him?” he asked, his tone not matching his expression. “How?”
“I met him on BMM,” I admitted. “He’s just a friend, though.”
Zoddi’s brows raised to his hairline. “Uh oh,” he muttered, but didn’t interfere when Qhev reached us, and I threw my arms around him in a hug.
“I knew you were gonna wind up here,” Qhev said, all handsome smiles as he hugged me back. “The last time we talked, I knew it. Nearly broke my heart to lose our chats though.”
“You’ll have to show me how to contact you with my frame,” I said. “It’s so good to see you!”
And it was. His familiar face was such a balm in the sea of staring attendees that I took his face in my hands and pulled him down for a peck on the cheek.
Qhev’s face lit with appreciation, looking around us as he slipped his arms around my middle in a casual embrace. “Where’s your husband?” he asked. “Which one of these obscenely rich assholes snagged himself one of the hottest babes on Earth?”
“This one,” Yiri said, brushing Zoddi aside with a glare.
Qhev turned to look at him and froze. A beat or two of tense silence passed, and then my friend erupted in a deep, rolling belly laugh.
“Babe!” he nearly shouted. “You must be a magnet for famous males. It took you how many hours to catch not just my attention, but Yiri Ibar-fucking Ahlon’s, too?”
“You know Yiri?” I asked, slipping out of Qhev’s embrace, because Yiri’s dark eyes creased like he was thinking about his cekets again.
Qhev chuckled, looking my husband up and down. “Everyone knows who Yiri Ahlon is.”
“I’m no celebrity,” Yiri grumbled, his big hand gripping my hip and pulling me close to his side. “You should have told me your friend Qhev was the Qhev’in Kon.”
“Why?” Qhev asked, still smiling broadly. “So you could put a hit out on me?”
“Qhev,” I gasped. “Yiri wouldn’t do that.” I hoped.
“I’m sorry,” Qhev quipped. “You’re right. For his Aneah, I bet he’ll do it himself.”
“I guess rock stars aren’t as stupid as they seem,” Yiri said. Huh?
“Yeah, I’ve got a few brain cells to rub together,” Qhev said. “Like, now I’m thinking you’ve got to figure out how to kill me without pissing off your pretty wife.”
“He’s not going to kill you,” I said, glaring at Yiri for emphasis when he snorted. “He’s right. It would piss me off. I hear females make out pretty well in divorce here.”
Yiri stiffened for a second but then relaxed and looked down at me. “No one’s ever tried divorcing me before. I don’t recommend it, Aneah.”
“Before things get ugly, I’m gonna head in,” Qhev said, pulling a small frame from his pocket and tapping it against my clutch.
Inside it, my frame gave an answering bloop.
“There’s my contact data, babe. I’ll send you and the husband some tickets to my show next week. Let me know if you need more seats.”
After he disappeared into the gala, I turned to glare up at my husband. “You are not allowed to kill him!”
“Then you’d better not kiss him again,” he said. “I’d have to do something about it, and I don’t think you want me to put you over my knee and spank you in the middle of this crowd.”
“Killing someone seems less extreme to you?” I asked.
He gave me a long, significant look. “Yes, Aneah. It does.”
Yiri found me giggling through Qhev’s first game of Would You Rather, high off my ass and unable to stand without leaning on my friend or the wall.
Luckily, there was a couch on the upper floor balcony for us to rest on.
Unfortunately, Yiri didn’t seem to enjoy the sight of his Aneah cuddled up with an intergalactic rock star. Go figure.
“Would you rather never wear undergarments again, or never do your makeup again?”
“That’s a no-brainer,” I said.
“Right?” Qhev agreed. “Who needs underpants? If I couldn’t do a look, I’d let myself go anyway. Nothing but lounging clothes and unkempt hair.”
“Never wearing a bra again sounds like heaven, actually,” I said, bobbing my dizzy head.
“What’s that?” Qhev asked. “I’m getting a translation but no visual.”
I looked down at my chest before remembering what I was wearing. “Oh. I’d show you, but I don’t have one on tonight. Oh, good. My Husband’s here. Yiri tell Qhev about bras.”
“Zoddi, make sure Mr. Kon makes it to his hotel,” Yiri said, standing over us with a scowl on his face.
Zoddi leaned down to haul Qhev off the couch, but I lightly slapped at his hands until he let go. “Leave him alone,” I said.
Yiri’s scowl deepened. “Aneah.”
“Yiri.” I sent him a grouchy look right back. “You think I’m stupid?”
His lips parted in surprise. “Of course not.”
“So you don’t expect me to believe Zoddi’s going to take him to his hotel and not… wherever you keep people between pissing you off and going for a swim with the cekets?”
Zoddi looked at the floor, his lips pressed tightly together. Uh-huh.
Yiri’s eyes searched my face like he was looking for something awful, but after a few heartbeats, the lines between his brows relaxed.
“Maybe I’m the stupid one,” he shrugged, like getting caught was no big deal. “I did hope you wouldn’t notice.”
“We were playing Would You Rather,” I said. “It’s your turn. Would you rather leave my friend alone or never taste my pussy again?”
Yiri’s jaw clenched.
“Would you rather leave him alone or have to ask permission every time you want me again?”
Qhev, also quite high on sellah, started to titter quietly, a hand loosely held over his mouth. I shot him a shut up while I save your life glare, and he nodded, mouthing the Venastean equivalent of sorry… and laughed harder. Good grief.
“Would you rather,” I said a little louder, raising my brows at Yiri, “leave him alone or never fuck me again as long as we live.”
“You’re my Ibar chosen mate,” Yiri said. “Denying me forever would drive you insane.”
“Yiri Ahlon,” I said, popping up to my feet to stick my finger in his face. He had to steady me by the shoulders, and that definitely took some of the gravity out of the moment, but I forged ahead anyway. “I left the only planet I’ve ever known with nothing but my cat—”
“And your couch,” he reminded me. “That’s still on the way, Aneah.”
“My cat and my couch!” I said. “Who does that? Who-who, just hops on a spaceship and zips across the universe for a guy? A guy who’s always bleeding or not bleeding but is still somehow bloody?
A guy who says he swims with sharks! Yiri Ahlon, if you don’t think I’m already crazy, you need to think again! ”
Behind me, Qhev was wheezing, slumped half on the couch and half on the floor in a state of sellah-induced mirth.
“He’s coming home with us,” I said.
Yiri blinked. “What?”
“You heard me. I can’t let him out of my sight now. I’m worried you’ll kill him.”
“Cora, I don’t think—”
“You said I’d want for nothing if I married you,” I reminded him. “I want him.”
Yiri’s face went terrifyingly blank.
“I always knew a woman would get me killed,” Qhev said from the floor.
I rolled my eyes at both of them. “As my friend, Yiri. You’re being so dramatic. I like him. He’s funny. So we’re keeping him, got it? No murdering my friend. Now, take us home. We’re really high.”
Sighing, Yiri pulled me close and kissed my forehead. “Alright, Aneah.”