Even still, she straightened her spine and sniffed, “This will do, Vixy. I suppose.”
Vixron’s lips pressed together. “I will inform the Prime Leader of your satisfaction when I see him next.”
“So,” Crystal said quietly. “What now?”
Lainey sighed, her eyes straying back out the window, at the impressive view of Luxiria.
She was itching to go back onto the terrace, but already, her skin was turning red and blotchy from the intensity of the two suns. Being a redhead, nine times out of ten, meant fair skin. Fair skin never agreed with the sun. She’d always been jealous how easily Nadine had tanned during the summertime, when Lainey had to cover herself with large brimmed sun hats and the highest SPF money could buy.
“We wait,” Lainey said, shrugging her shoulders and going to stand at one of the larger windows. There was a ledge right at its base and Lainey couldn’t help but notice that it was the length of a 76-key keyboard. “Like we always have.”
Her eyes found the jagged peaks of the mountain and she traced their outline with reverence.
Crystal sighed, “I’m going to take a bath. Might as well swim in there while I’m at it.”
Lainey heard her retreat down the hallway they’d just come from.
As she looked at the view, her hands rested on the wide ledge. She placed her fingers in the starting position, imagining black and white keys in place of stone. And she began to silently play Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 20 in C sharp minor.
* * *
“I have sentCruxan back to his outpost,” Vaxa’an told Kirov later that night in the war room, the moment he stepped inside after receiving summons.
The door closed behind him. Kirov frowned. “Why?”
“He received news from some of his guards stationed there. That they heard about a Luxirian crystal arriving with a relief batch of warriors earlier this morning.”
“He thinks one of them has the crystal?” Kirov questioned, but he already knew. “But how? We’d already questioned all the warriors on duty here multiple times.”
“Perhaps they lied. Perhaps they handed it off to a warrior who could take it out of the Golden City,” Vaxa’an growled. “I am questioning my decision to let those two females out. I cannot completely trust my warriors anymore.”
Kirov’s jaw tightened. “Only a few know they left. They will be safe. I will be there during the nights when I return to my dwelling and I will be diligent in ensuring no males come near them.”
Vaxa’an watched him carefully. “You will need to return to Troxva soon for the lunar celebration. You have been away from your outpost too long.”
Kirov inclined his head. “I will leave in a few spans. I wanted to finish the armor technology I have been developing.”
Vaxa’an’s eyes went back to the Com screens in front of him.
“Besides,” Kirov added, “if I leave, there will be no more Ambassadors left in the Golden City. You should call on Lihvan or Rixavox to return in my absence. As a precaution.”
“As if I could tear them away from mated life,” Vaxa’an said, huffing out a short breath. With a tap of his fingers, he powered off the Coms and Kirov realized that he probably hadn’t left all span. Again, Kirov didn’t envy Vaxa’an his role, his responsibilities. “But you are right. This is not the time to leave the Golden City without at least one Ambassador. I will call on Lihvan to return once you leave.”
Kirov jerked his head in a nod.
“Go,” Vaxa’an said. “Get some rest. You look as if you have not slept in a rotation.”
Kirovfeltlike he hadn’t slept in a rotation.
“Cruxan suggested I go find a female to mate,” he muttered.
Amusement poured off his friend. “That would do you good too. Nothing will take the edge off more.”
Kirov eyed Vaxa’an and before he turned to leave, he said, “Perhaps you should take your own advice and return to yourluxiva.”
Behind him, Vaxa’an growled, “Planning on it. She will not sleep tonight.”
Once outside the command center, Kirov boarded a hovercraft and shot up into the sky, flying towards the terrace where he resided. Once the five Ambassadors’ dwellings came into view, his eyes immediately sought out the one where the human females now lived.
