Page 37 of Veiled Vixen

“State your business,” the red princess demands, thrusting a plasma rifle at my chest.

“It’s me,” I say. Because I recognize this girl. Zeldine? Or Seline? Or something like that. She’s been in the harem for years. “Valor.”

“I didn’t ask for your name,” she spits. “I asked for your business.”

“I want to talk to Luck.”

“Oh, do you?” She laughs. Then all the men standing around her laugh too. Big men. Centurian men. Dressed in all black with their silver skin gleaming in the harsh lights.

I sigh, tired. Wishing I could go back in time and do things different. I hate that we’re divided now. I hate that our perfect balance of customs and cultures has been disrupted by this war. I hate that with each passing moment this station feels less like home and more like… more like a last stand.

Welcome to the final war. There’s no going back now.

“Just tell him I’m here, OK?” Then I take a seat on the steps and wait. Because all the Centurians are pointing their rifles at me with intent. It’s very clear I’m not getting one level lower until someone with more rank gives them the order.

Zeldine or Seline or whoever the fuck she is leans to the side and whispers something to a cyborg. He turns and disappears down the steps and she says, “What do you want with Luck?”

“It’s none of your business,” I say.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Valor”—she practically spits my name—“you’re not in charge here anymore. So it is my business.”

“I might not be in charge. But Luck seems to be. And my business is with him. Not you.”

“I’m the captain of Nyleena’s guard. So I beg to differ.”

“I’m just here to talk to him.”

“He’s not going to believe you.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

“I have a pretty good idea.”

“Well, you’re probably wrong, Zeldine. So just do your job like a good little soldier and shut your fucking mouth.”

She shoots me.

And just as I start to black out from the plasma voltage jolting through my spasming muscles, I hear her growl, “That’s for getting my name wrong after knowing me for seven years, you double-dicked asshole.”