She pulls out a pair of leggings and wiggles them on, then a tank top and a long-sleeve shirt over that. A skirt and a pair of socks that go halfway up her thighs before she bunches them back down around her calves.
Nothing is the same color.
“Boots and coat are by the front door.” She holds her arms out and does a little turn. “How do I look?”
“Beautiful.”
“I have a feeling that would be the answer no matter what I was wearing.”
“You’d be right.”
I put on my suit while she does her makeup and hair, and she watches me with twisted brows.
I don’t make her ask why. “There have been instances when we’ve had to cut the meetings short to deal with an incursion.”
A frown twists her lips. “Have you seen that today?”
“No… but I don’t see everything.”
“You will not be in any danger,” Arc says, arms crossed, watching us from the doorway. It’s not foresight but determination that makes him confident enough to say that.
His suit has frost on the shoulder. There’s green blood on the sleeve—not his.
“And you,” he looks at Kissu, “are not coming.”
The zurgle lets out a little huff and then slides to the floor, plopping his head down on his legs.
“Do we need to put the fire out before we leave?” Chrys asks as she follows Arc out into the front.
“No, it’s fully self-contained,” Risk says. I flinch.
Somethingcatches on fire… I can’t see what and I can’t see who’s there, but I know it’s not soon and not here.
“You okay?” Arc asks, softly, going to the sink in the kitchen and washing the blood from his arm. He knows as much as I do.
“Yeah…”We’ll figure that out when it gets clearer.
Risk holds Chrys steady as she steps into her boots and then hands her her coat. I haven’t seen this one before. It’s fake fur in a riot of neon colors with a black patches, forming a version of the round-headed big-eyed aliens Earth used to think were their only cosmic neighbor.
Something Arc got for her.
She smooths down her short hair and checks her lip piercings with her tongue before she looks at us and nods. “Let’s go deal with the consequences.”
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
CHRYS
As we driveinto the underground parking structure, I have a feeling Jess would object to being thought of as an evil queen… so I shift the mental image over to one of a dragon, and Arc’s lips twist as he tries not to laugh.
A fire-breathing overprotective being is more fitting of my eldest sister. I doubt her brief time on this planet has changed her at all.
“Ready?” Shock asks as he opens the car.
They’ve each asked me at this point, and even though I want to say no… “Probably not, but let’s do it anyway.”
Risk is right behind me, but Arc is the one who takes my hand and leads me inside.
