“Surely you remember your denzeration, Zane Trystan,” Tilda joined in. Her smile was tight despite the lightness to her voice. She was beautiful, the kind that caused jaws to drop and people to stare stupidly after her.
Her skin was a deep shade, the look of someone who’d been in the sun for days, her blond hair long and swirling around her shoulders almost to her elbows. The dress she wore was every bit as formfitting as the one Delaney did, though it concealed a hell of a lot more skin. Her sleeves were long, but the front didn’t dip quite so low, and when she’d been standing, Delaney had noted that the Basilissa was in a long green skirt that dropped to the ground.
Her eyes were almond shaped, like her daughter’s, and the color of warm, freshly baked cookies. The ring around them was a shocking violet that was actually more pretty than freaky. She was thin, but tall, willowy. And the way she moved, almost as light as air. She came off so serene, it was hard to imagine she was the mother of someone as selfish as Olena.
That she was half the reason Delaney was being held there against her will.
“Certainly,” the Zane sneered in response. Leaning back in his chair, he kept his gaze on Delaney as if hoping to jab her with his next words. “I’ll never forget the stench of that planet. How anyone could live there among so much filth is beyond me. Let alone enjoy it.”
“I take it Earth wasn’t to your liking, Zane.” Delaney boldly held his gaze, skewering another piece of the green stuff with her fork in the process. Weirdly, it wasn’t bad. Sort of tasted like a mixture between sugarcane and sweet potatoes.
“Not at all, Lissa,” he replied, though her statement had clearly been rhetorical.
“I suppose it wouldn’t be.” She shrugged a delicate shoulder and absently reached for the golden goblet at the left of her plate. Inwardly, she prayed she wasn’t about to drink something that tasted like cat piss. Outwardly, she sipped at it, staring him down over the rim.
His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. “And just what do you mean by that?”
“Oh, nothing.” She replaced the goblet with a steady click against the metal table. “Nothing at all.”
He opened his mouth to argue but was cut off by the Basileus.
“Olena, have you been told about the Tandem yet? We’re holding it explicitly in your honor. The Zane was kind enough to suggest it.” He watched her through blue-and-green-rimmed eyes. Right now he knew she wasn’t really his daughter, and yet all his senses were claiming otherwise. What must that be like?
“That was nice of him.” She hoped. For all she knew, a Tandem was a ritual sacrifice. That definitely seemed like the sort of thing Trystan would be all for.
Tilda tried to cover up Delaney’s obvious lack of enthusiasm. “It seems our daughter has spent so much time on Earth, she’s no longer thrilled by the same things here as she once was.”
“It’s just hard getting interested in the same old things once you’ve pet a lion and gone parasailing.” Delaney latched on and went with it. She took another sip of her drink, deciding she liked the almost-fruit-punch flavor. “They also let you bungee-jump,” she went on, not sure how much they really knew about Earth activities and not wanting to push her luck. “It’s a lot of fun.”
“Isn’t that where they dive off cliffs with only a string to hold them?” Ruckus asked, addressing her for the first time that morning.
She glanced his way and couldn’t help the mischievous smile. “Oh yeah.”
“You did that?” This came from Trystan. He was skeptical but also curious. She’d take either of those things over anger from him any day.
She had to admit, when he wasn’t pounding walls and standing close enough for it to be impossible not to note he was a giant, he was attractive. His hair wasn’t shaved on the sides like Ruckus’s and Pettus’s, which she’d gathered was their version of a military look. Though it was still thick on the top and shorter on the sides.
He was wearing the same navy uniform he’d been in yesterday, and seemed really at ease in it. He certainly wasn’t having the same issues as she was with her clothing, anyway.
“Twice.” She beamed at him, and relished his surprise because it meant he hadn’t thought she was capable. Perhaps Olena wasn’t the type to take risks? She mentally snorted. If that’d been the case before, it definitely wasn’t now. Forcing her identity on a human? Probably the biggest risk of them all.
Especially considering there were two possible wars resting on the deception.
The Kints couldn’t figure out what Olena had done, and they couldn’t discover what Delaney was doing now. Who she really was. She wondered what would happen to her if they did. Would the Basileus still uphold his end of the deal? Send her back to Earth in time for the war with the Kints to begin? Or would they even get the chance to make that decision?
Trystan didn’t strike her as the type of guy to forgive and forget. He’d probably kill her.
“We should make our way outside,” Magnus stated then, sliding his chair back to stand. When he did, the rest of them got up as well, Delaney scrambling to follow suit.
Someone really should have filled her in on the etiquette before putting her out there in the open. It was hard to keep up with all the rules when she didn’t even know what they were. She assumed that was what they’d been hoping to get into, but Trystan had to go and ruin it.
Ruckus should have filled her in last night, but they’d both been distracted and tired. And honestly, part of her had seriously hoped she wouldn’t be around long enough for an alien etiquette lesson to be necessary.
But what if she was trapped here for months and had to learn all their customs? The world dimmed around the edges for a moment, and she stopped breathing.
“Olena?” Magnus called her.
“Lissa Olena?” Ruckus touched the side of her arm, and she immediately snapped out of it.
Swallowing, she glanced over at Magnus and tried a shaky smile. “Sorry. Daydreaming for a moment. What did you say?”
“I asked if you minded Ander Ruckus accompanying you outside. Your mother and I have some more preparing to do for the Tandem.”
“Of course, Father. That’s no problem at all.”
She wondered if the Zane found Magnus’s request odd. Technically, seeing as how they were betrothed, shouldn’t he be the one accompanying her to events?
She guessed not, because when she risked looking over, Trystan was already moving toward the door closest to his left, not even giving her a backward glance.
Maybe he’d make this easy on her after all.
CHAPTER 9
“It’s a game,” Ruckus told her as he led her through the metallic castle toward the back.
She’d never been this way before, but she was too caught up in his explanation of what a Tandem was to pay much attention. From what little she did process, this part of the castle looked exactly the same as the part she’d entered through yesterday. There wasn’t a single doorway without a soldier flanking it, each dressed in the forest green and gold, and black pants tucked into boots.