Page 19 of Alien God

Who was left?

Would anyone even be here at all?

I opened the green door to the centre tower and pulled the human inside with me. I had no idea what would greet me here after being gone for so long.

But by the stars, I was about to find out.

CHAPTER NINE

Wylfrael

The door closed behind us with a soft thud. The entrance hall was just as I’d left it – a wide, tall space with dark green, shimmering walls. The floor, like the tunnels that connected the three towers to each other, was made of hundreds of shards of trees melded together. The colours had been chosen and placed carefully, creating a large pink, silver, and purple starburst in a deep green sky. I could see the floor’s design clearly – there was light. Firestones flickered along divots and shelves in the natural shape of the walls, casting a fractured orange glow over the interior.

So, someone is here, then.

Firestones only burned for a dozen days or so before they had to be replaced.

Ahead of us was a curving staircase that led upwards to the higher floors of this centre tower, called the Day Tower. White sotasha fur carpet spilled down the steps like a stream of foaming water. At the back of the hall, another door led into the kitchen and laundry areas, and a door back there led outside to the gardens and barns.

“You can stop that, now,” I muttered, casting my eyes sideways and down at the human. She was still fighting against my grip, her strange eyes darting back and forth, her breath coming fast and quick between red lips. I frowned, tugging her close and leaning down to inspect her face. Had her lips and skin not had a blue and grey tint earlier? When I’d first found her in the snow? I was sure of it, but now her skin was all pink and crimson, her cheeks flaming and her lips darkest of all.

Perhaps humans had colour-changing hide? I’d met other races with such a feature. I raised my free hand, drawing a fingertip along her cheek. Her pulling and struggling ceased instantly. Her eyes went wide – so wide I could see that the golden-brown part in the centre was actually a circle, with white all the way around. Strangely enough, the black of her eye also seemed much more pronounced than it had been outside. Swallowing up the warmth. Colour changing eyes as well? To what purpose?

“What is the meaning of this? Your shifting skin and eyes?” I asked, drawing my finger along the hollow of space below her left eye. Her skin shocked me with just how soft and delicate it was, plush and supple, blooming heat beneath my touch.

I knew asking her questions was pointless right now. But I couldn’t stop myself. I needed to understand her, and by extension, the humans who’d invaded my world. She did not answer with words. She merely trembled for a moment, staring at my face. Then, her lips flattening into a grim line, she raised her hand and knocked my finger away.

I let her do it, having found no answers in my exploration of her cheek. When my finger dropped, her hand flattened against the side of her face, pressing against the places I’d touched her. As if trying to shield herself from further touches. Or trying to press comfort upon a wound.

Had that simple touch hurt her? Stone of the sky, humans were even weaker than I’d thought.

I made a conscious effort to loosen my grip on her upper arm. Just in case.

I did not have more time to dwell upon the human’s physical fragility. A sudden clatter of movement upon the stairs drew the woman’s attention along with my own.

“Sionnach preserve me! Is that... Is that you, Lord Wylfrael?”

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