“Uh-huh,” she says again, and my abs tighten. Something about the way this female pretends to be unimpressed with me makes me want to bend her over and make her scream my name. “Look, I appreciate the offer,” she says, as if she’s refusing another course at dinner, “but I’m not really on the lookout for a ‘tumble.’”
“And that’s entirely why you need one,” I tell her. “You have a lot to do if you’re going to get off this planet. You’ll think more clearly after a few nights in my bed.”
She blinks. “Did you just offer to fuck the focus into me?”
I shrug. “If you’re going to leave this planet, don’t you want to experience all it has to offer?”
“Now you’re making it sound like your cock is the eighth wonder of Agron.” She rolls her eyes.
“I don’t know what the eight wonders are,” I say. “But my cock would definitely be wonder number one.”
“You’re insane.”
I shrug. “You and I both know this is going to happen. It’s just a matter of when. How much time do you want to waste before I make you come harder than you’ve ever come before in your life?”
She studies me. While she’s feigning boredom, I’ve spent my life negotiating with council members and leaders from across Agron. I know reluctant interest when I see it.
She opens her mouth, and I frown at a knock on the door. I made it clear I wasn’t to be disturbed.
“You should put some clothes on.”
“Excuse me?”
This again. “Perhaps humans really are hard of hearing.” I wave my hand, gesturing to her robe. “No one will see you in your nightclothes except me.”
She grinds her teeth, then strides to the door and flings it open before I can stop her. I’m going to bend this female over my knees and give her a good spanking. She obviously needs it.
I stalk toward her, pulling her behind me, but it’s just Bevix—one of my advisers and closest friends. I left instructions that I was only to be disturbed in an emergency, and I can tell by the look in his eyes that another attack has happened.
I grind my teeth. “Vivian, this is Bevix.”
To Bevix’s credit, his eyes may light with interest when he looks at Vivian, but they immediately clear when he glances back at my face. He has always been quick.
Bevix nods hello at Vivian, who moves away, wrapping her gauzy robe more tightly around her.
“Korzyn asks you to come to him immediately,” he says, eyes flicking between me and Vivian. He’s being careful not to say anything she could pass to others, obviously on Korzyn’s orders, and I nod, glancing over my shoulder at Vivian.
“We will talk about this later, lovely.”
Vivian
I throw myself on Sarissa’s bed, and she raises her eyebrow at me as she leans back against her stack of pillows.
“What’s going on?”
“Arix said he wants me.”
Sarissa smirks. “And that’s somehow news to you?”
I run my hand over the velvet throw at the end of her bed, and she sighs.
“Do you want him?”
I keep my eyes on the lush dark-red blanket. “Maybe.”
She nudges me with her foot. “Do I need to sit on you and tickle you until you tell me what I need to know?”
I laugh, finally meeting her eyes. Sarissa has always been stronger than me, and she used to torture me by tickling me when we were kids. If she was really mad, she’d hold me down and spit in my hair.
I may have been younger and smaller, but I always retaliated in the sneakiest way possible. Once I dyed her hair black while she was asleep. Of course, I could only reach certain spots without waking her, and her pillowcase was ruined, but the look on her face when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror was worth the icy lecture from my mother and the inevitable grounding from my father.
She eyes me. “What are you thinking about?”
“That time I dyed your hair. You looked like a skunk.”
She glowers at me, but we both burst out laughing. “My mom nearly killed you.”
“You deserved it. It’s your own fault for sleeping like the dead.”
She laughs, and I chew on my lip.
“Arix is probably just playing with me.”
Sarissa opens her mouth, but I’m already climbing off the bed. She snaps her mouth closed and shrugs. “I’ve arranged for the guards to take us back to the marketplace today,” she says.
“I thought that woman said her contact wasn’t arriving for a few weeks?”
“True, but I want to get to know the lay of the land. Plus, if we sniff around for long enough, we might get lucky and find someone who can help us find a replacement for that chip.”
According to Alexis, our ship is run almost entirely by artificial intelligence. And while the electronic systems all work together, it’s unlikely we’ll be going anywhere without the control chip, which is about the size of a SIM card.
There’s a chance that Alexis can figure out a way for us to get out of here without the chip, and while a few of the other women are willing to take the chance, most of us are attached to our lives and don’t like the idea of being blown apart in space.
Unfortunately, whichever Dokhall was piloting that ship was a step ahead of us, and he took the chip with him. If we knew who had it, we could try to negotiate with him, but with our luck, it’s likely he was one of the many creatures Dragix turned to ash in the last battle.
Sarissa stretches. “If we can find a replacement, most of our problems will be solved. Plus, we have Kate.”
My stomach twists in both fear and anticipation. I want to get off Agron, but obviously, none of
