Chapter Seventeen

I walked into Rel’s cafe with a very, very agitated Zafir behind me. Rel and Aldiner looked up when we came in. At first, Rel looked happy to see me—but then he noticed Zafir. I had to assume he could see through Zafir’s disguise. Or at least sense it.

“This is my boss, Zafir,” I offered when Rel shifted his questioning look to me. “Given ‘recent events’ I’m not allowed out without an escort…and his bosses want to confirm something.”

“Is that so?” Rel inquired dangerously. “Your boss, is he? An ally, or one of the ones…”

“An ally.” Zafir stepped past me and toward Rel, but not far enough to keep me from noticing he briefly revealed his eyes. “I’ll be blunt, as Elara assures me unfiltered honesty works best here.

“Someone attempted to murder Elara. They used a cocktail of hazardous toxins—in an admittedly sloppy manner—and our mutual bosses want me to inspect the places she frequents to rule out the possibility of outside tampering.”

“You’re accusing us—” Aldiner snapped, but Rel grabbed him by the scruff and kept him in place. The ruckus, however, made a familiar new face poke out of the back room.

“What’s all the…” the pale white Syldrari trailed off when he spotted me, his jaw going slack. Then, suddenly, his glow swirled between pink and yellow, and he fled back to where he’d come from.

“What…” Zafir stared after the shy Syldrari, and I let out a low chuckle.

I glanced over at Rel. “Taking in some interesting rescues, are you?”

He sighed and gave me an amused look. “Yes, well…with the gate broken, the embassy can’t ship them back home. A few of us have offered to take on the rescues as employees while they find their current again.”

“Was that the one…” Zafir trailed off when I shot him a smug look.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I laughed and moved off to perch at the counter. I rested an elbow on the surface and cupped my face in one hand, giving Rel an amused smile. “We’ll have whatever the chef suggests.”

“I suggest you tell me what’s going on.” Rel placed his hands on the counter and leaned down. “Someone attempted to poison you? How bad—”

“I walked in to find her unconscious on the floor, surrounded by the blood she had been coughing up before she passed out.” Zafir finally made his way over to the counter. “The issue is that our labs stopped studying those toxins ages ago and the samples were destroyed. Since our bosses can’t determine how someone on the inside would have—”

“She looks fine to me.” Casair’s voice came out of nowhere moments before he lifted me out of my seat and onto his shoulder. When I looked at him, I couldn’t read the expression he was giving Zafir.

“A feat of Syldrari technology,” Zafir answered pointedly. “If my chip hadn’t been able to identify—”

“Hmph. I’ll have to report to the boss about this.” Casair grunted, though he made no move to put me down.

“Are you well enough to be wandering around?” Rel frowned at me.

“She may be demanding, but I wouldn’t have let her out if she wasn’t recovered.” Zafir sighed and massaged his temples. “Since she demanded Syldrari food, and everyone else is busy, the options were let her go alone or escort her myself.”

“Or keep her under house arrest,” Casair pointed out dryly, causing Zafir to stiffen. I had to wonder what color he’d turned under his disguise, seeing as several of the Syldrari smirked at him.

“Casair, set her down.” Rel gave the man an agitated look before turning his attention to Zafir. “I’m sure she’s a handful. I can give you instruction in handling her type if you need it.”

“Absolutely not!” Zafir fidgeted with his glasses several times. “She may have caught me off-guard, but I won’t let her—”

“Hey, Rel, I’ve been meaning to ask about the colors Syldrari glow,” I interrupted Zafir’s train of thought with a smile. “It’s gotta be linked to something, right?”

“Moods and emotions.” Rel raised an eyebrow at me. “What do you want to know?”

“Is there some easy ‘guide to Syldrari colors’ then?” I asked, but he shook his head. “Okay… Zafir, hand me your data pad.”

Zafir let out a heavy sigh and did as I asked. I promptly pulled up a program that let me select colors.

“Okay, what about a grey like this?” I turned the screen so Rel could see it.

“Someone would be trying to go undetected if they turned that color. In water, it best simulates and reflects the surrounding ocean.” Rel tilted his head faintly, watching as I moved on to a shade of yellow—for a second, he looked concerned. “Ah, a yellow like that shows embarrassment.”

“Hmmm, okay…” I moved to purples next, several of which were suspicion or confusion related emotions. Then, I went to pink and Rel started to look very concerned. “How about this?”

“Oooh, are we playing ‘teach the human’ again?” Aldiner rested a forearm on Rel’s shoulder, while both Zafir and Casair remained rather quiet.

“This?” I held up a soft, pale pink and Rel let out a relieved sigh.

“Adoration. Were it closer to red it would be mixed with some degree of lust or sexual aggression.” Rel shook his head faintly. “Closer to purple or orange would be concerning. The former because it would indicate someone trying to get something out of you, such as information. Orange…I believe you humans call them love-hate relationships?”

“Okay, and this?” I moved over to a bright, pure neon pink that almost hurt to look at.

That got quite the reaction. The wooden spoon Rel had reached for snapped, and Aldiner suddenly lost all amusement. Hell, several Syldrari who had been listening in even walked over, looking like they were about to beat the snot out of something.

“Who has been showing you that color?” Rel demanded, discarding his broken tool and leaning forward on the counter. “Don’t try to say it was a ‘guess’ or ‘random choice’ either.”

“Uh…” I stared at him in confusion, though he quickly caught on that both Casair and Zafir were being too quiet.

“Was it you two?” Rel straightened to his full height. The corner of his eye twitched and his mouth pulled into a smile somewhere between sadistic and angry.

Aldiner called for the translucent white Syldrari, and together with the angry customers they dragged Zafir and Casair off into a back room.

“Uh, what was that all abou—” I started, turning to follow.

“Sit down and have a drink.” Rel ordered sharply, slamming a drink down on the counter. When I hesitated, he narrowed his eyes at me. “ Sit and don’t ask .”

“Um? Okay???” I inched over to my seat and sat down again.

“Some colors are…offensive,” Rel stated flatly when I opened my mouth to ask again. He leaned over the counter and gave me quite the intimidating-but-hot look. “There’s a few in particular that look bright pink to the spectrum humans can see.”

“Offensive colors? I hadn’t considered there might be—” I fell silent as Rel held a finger over my lips.

“Which is why we learn to control the colors we show. Now, enough questions.” Rel took a step back and pointed down at my glass. “ Drink . If there’s any remaining toxins in your bloodstream, this will deal with it.”

“Uh…right.” I picked up the glass and peered at the agitated Syldrari over the rim. “Sooo—”

“No.” Rel gave me a firm side eye.

“I was going to ask why those two specifically,” I continued anyway, watching as Rel pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Of the people you’ve been with, unsupervised, the two of them— What?” Rel stared at me when a giggle escaped me.

“You’re my supervisor now?” I teased. “If we’re going off people I’ve been alone with, you’d fall into that category too. And then there’s…”

“Ah…” Rel took a moment, then called something in his own language. A moment later, the white Syldrari came out and gave Rel a curious look—though his face promptly turned blue when he spotted me. Rel cleared his throat pointedly then said something to the shorter Syldrari.

“There’s my two favorite people!” A female voice exclaimed somewhere behind me. I grimaced before glancing over my shoulder to find Xilen prancing over with her entourage of questionably-clad…guards? “I came running the moment I heard you were here with some strange man no one had ever seen before, darling!”

“He’s my boss ,” I informed her flatly, as the man in question staggered out of the back room along with Casair. Both of them looked like they’d been chastised thoroughly. “Zafir, you gonna have anything to eat, or am I hogging all the food?”

“I’ll have—” Zafir fell silent and tensed when he spotted Xilen. She gave him an amused smirk and crossed her arms.

“Ahhh, he’s your boss, is he? Not your plaything?” Xilen asked me innocently. “I’m sure he’d be a fantastic stress reliever, dear. You really should consider acquiring his service.”

“ Xilen , please. Humans—” Rel started, but Xilen waved a hand to shush him.

“Please. Human or not, Elara should have all the relief she desires! Being a soldier is such strenuous work after all.” Xilen put her hands on my shoulders as if she were planning to give me a massage, her bust spilling around either side of my neck. She laughed when most of the men present tensed. “Ohhh, so that’s why you deny me! Well, I can’t blame you. She’s just so damn cute.”

“Uh…” I attempted to escape the woman’s cleavage. “Maybe, just maybe , they ‘deny you’ because you’re so pushy? I mean, they’re people. Not objects. You don’t just ‘acquire’ them.”

“If only that were true, dear.” Xilen let go of me and patted my shoulder, smiling. “The other queens take whomever they want and control their lives. I try to spare them that fate, but…” She glanced between Rel and Casair. “Some want a degree of freedom from queens that the R’selkti matron won’t let anyone have.”

“So, she’s a tyrant?” I raised an eyebrow. A collective flinch went through the men present, though Xilen’s mischievous smile broadened.

“You could say, in her greed, she tips the natural order toward the unnatural. She wants to make certain her offspring have their choice of the best males. She believes the power of a queen is hereditary.” Xilen perched on a seat beside me and propped her cheek against her fist, examining me. “When her spies realize that so many unclaimed males are hiding on this planet…”

“Enough,” Rel spoke quietly, placing a drink in front of Xilen. “We don’t need—”

“Please. Whether you ask for it or not, you have my support.” Xilen gave him an ‘I’m done with everyone’s shit’ look. “ I hear that even the R’selkti here have split off and removed their ties to her. Do you think that will go unnoticed?”

Casair grit his teeth and crossed his arms. Rel glanced at him though, and the man remained silent. I glanced between them all, debating if I could diffuse the situation, before I realized Aldiner was missing.

Well, missing until he suddenly appeared next to me with an arm on my shoulder, that is. He released an exaggerated sigh before speaking, “Come on . You flip between doting on her and ignoring her—what’s it gonna be, huh? You gonna get her some food, or should I take her upstairs and ‘entertain’ her until you’re ready to do your jobs?”

“What—” Rel cut off into a rather uncharacteristic snarl, his eyes narrowing. I had an inkling of just what sort of gesture Aldiner had made. Again.

“Don’t be greedy!” The white one exclaimed, latching onto my other arm. “Together, we can—”

“Get back to work. Both of you.” Rel’s unnaturally calm voice sent a chill down my spine, as did the outright murderous look he gave the other two Syldrari.

“Aw, I’m sure they could have used the practice!” Xilen teased, giggling.

“Honestly…” Zafir collapsed into a seat to my right.

“Regardless of what ‘they could use,’ I won’t permit my employees to use Elara for such purposes, especially when they don’t seem to realize she has a say in the matter!” Rel snapped, turning toward Xilen. He placed his hands on the counter and growled, though Xilen just had a sort of ‘yes, show me more’ look on her face.

“Yes, they do seem intent on treating her as if she’s a queen , don’t they? Poor things have been indoctrinated already…” She shook her head before giving Rel a sly smile. “I’m sure you’re doing your best to reeducate them.”

“Like a…” Rel promptly shut his mouth, spun around, and went back to cooking.

With her target now occupied, Xilen turned to me and Zafir. “Now then. Zafir, was it? Might you know how I could contact Lethe or a branch of the government who can provide me an escort? I’ve been invited to a party, you see…ah, and they wish for a tour of my ship. They require I have a ‘proper’ guard…whatever that means.”

“It means they don’t recognize your men as guards because they aren’t armed and wearing uniforms…” Zafir pressed his thumb and forefinger to his temples. “I’m not sure a military escort is a good idea, and we don’t know how to contact—”

“Of course you don’t.” Xilen rested a forearm on my shoulder. “Not. At. All.”

“Ah…” Zafir hesitated.

“Is she coming to play guard to the queen? Yes or no?” Xilen asked sweetly.

Zafir sighed and slumped back in his chair. “I’ll see what I can arrange.”

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