Page 66 of The Pleasure Contract

My eyes bounce away from his body only to land on Az out there still playing his sport, shoving a spear through the belly of a monstrous creature like he’s some kind of warrior god.

Damn it, I am not here to admire professional Xaviann athletes!

That’s when I see it – the back of Senator Glex’s horned head as he strides out of the Lords’ Gallery and into an area that I don’t think I’m allowed to follow.

My shoulders slump.

“Well, fuck, human,” Zyre says, chuckling softly into his drink. “I know it’s not been the best game to watch, but it can’t have been that bad.”

“What? No… It’s not that. I was just hoping to speak to your father more.”

He regards me for a moment before leaning forward to place his drink down on the coffee table, his elbows resting on his splayed legs. “What do you want from him?”

All I do is blink back. Is the jig up if I spill the beans to Glex’s son? Has this whole mission folded before it even began? I swallow and manage to say, “I want him to care… I want him to care about something very important.”

Zyre sighs and leans back against the couch. “Let me know if you figure out how to do that.”

“It-” I take a shaky breath. “Him caring about this could mean the difference between life and death for other humans – humans like me who were stolen from our homes and sold on to God-knows-who for God-knows-what.”

Zyre’s golden gaze holds mine for a moment before dropping down my body. “Fuck,” he mutters to himself, lifting his butt off the couch to fish around in his back pocket. He brings out a golden case. Flipping it open, I see what look like cigarettes, except they’re rolled in black papers with flecks of gold. “Do not tell my coach or my father about these,” Zyre grins, holding the case out to offer me one. “Finest moonweed you can find in the Capital.”

I hesitate and glance behind me at Zek. He’s standing behind the bar, watching me while simultaneously re-polishing their glassware. He shakes his head at me.

“Um… Thank you. But I don’t know how that stuff affects humans.”

Zyre shrugs. “Suit yourself,” he says, taking a match and striking it against his right horn to light it. Taking a drag, the end of the moonweed lights up in a lime green color, and I watch as Zyre blows pink smoke into the air – smoke that somehow creates the form of a small drak flying through the air.

The imposing male sits back, one arm spread across the backrest behind me as he blows smoke directly above us. “If you want to get my father to care about something, all you need to understand are two words. Self. Interest,” he says before taking another drag. “Senator Glex doesn’t do anything unless it benefits Senator Glex. Be it for wealth, influence, or self-image. Take his investment into this team,” Zyre says, gesturing around us. “Do you think he would spend anything on this if it didn’t mean he could bring other Lords and Senators here to show off? Do you think he would pump time and money into something if it didn’t mean he could present himself as a savior of the Capital’s team to the common folk?” Zyre shakes his head and scratches at his chin with his thumb. “The very first time that male learned the rules of this sport was the day he spent his first credit on the team. He is only ever interested if it makes him money, gives him influence, or makes him look good. There’s no room for anything else.”

“But,” I start, shifting in my seat. “Him backing this cause would make him look good, right? He could help change the laws so that humans are protected and-”

“He already has causes. He makes a big song and dance about every one of them. People trust the male who runs a whole conservation planet, after all – it makes him look blessed by the Goddess San herself because he’s so overflowing with kindness and caring.” He shudders like the whole thing makes him feel sick before leaning in, beckoning me to do the same. “Listen, you need to know what buttons to push with my father? I don’t know what it is about that planet, but if I were you, I’d start looking there.”

“The conservation planet?… The one Zann has been sent to?”

Zyre nods, quickly looking around to see who is watching us before ducking down again, leaning close enough to whisper. “My family has owned it for generations. It started as a vacation planet, but people forget that part. It’s the jewel in my father’s crown whenever he’s trying to explain what a great and charitable male he is, but-… he really did not like Prince Zannador being sent there, even though the king insisted. There were heated conversations about not letting him see certain operations. My thinking is that the best button you could try pushing is-”

A loud thump and cracking noise interrupts our whispered conversation. Both our heads whip up to see the glass wall in front of us. A huge fracture reaches across the pane, fanning out from one area where something had hit it. Hard.

And that something was standing right there, on the snout of his drak, glaring through the spiderweb lattice of glass cracks like he wants to murder Zyre right now.

“Get. The fuck. Away from her,” Az growls through the glass.

Leisurely, Zyre puts the moonweed to his mouth again, taking a long pull on the cigarette while leaning back against the couch. The plume of pink smoke he puffs in the direction of the glass looks suspiciously like a human female. It’s definitely hornless, for sure. And I won’t lie – those ample curves look a lot like me.

The pink smoke Lois disperses along the window’s surface to reveal Az’s furious expression on the other side.

I watch as he grunts and slaps his chest. It takes me a moment to realize he’d tapped himself out of the game, his game-stone no longer glowing as he settles back in the saddle and flies his drak off to presumably exit the arena.

Unhelpfully, Zyre chuckles, his head tipped back as he blows smoke up into the air. “Well, I guess we know which button to push to get to your prince, hm?”

30

Az

“I’m going to fucking kill him.”

Varrex shoves me square in my chest. “No, you are not.”