Page 21 of Her Alien Spy

“And if I don’t do what you want?”

“If you don’t…” Andethor patted his shoulder, almost as if he were a friend. “If you don’t, your people will find out about everyshady deal you’ve done, every time you put your own barbaric greed over the good of the Paraxian empire. I guess, when that happens, you might decide to just run.”

Andethor met her gaze, then bent, so his mouth was close to Xiaron’s pointed ear. “If you run. I will find you. And you won’t like what happens when I do.”

He stood up straight, then gave Julia a small nod. She got up, patting Xiaron’s shoulder as she did, standing next to Andethor as he watched Xiaron rise from his seat. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home, now. You’ll call a special session of the council. And you’ll give your unequivocal support to joining the Alliance. If I don’t see that exact news on my feed in the next…” he pretended to consider for a moment, “twleve hours, as time is told on Paraxia, you can kiss the opulent little life you’ve stolen for yourself goodbye.”

She’d been at war. She’d fought. And she’d never seen the kind of hatred in anyone’s gaze before that she saw in Xiaron’s at that moment. It was a look of bitterness, of rage, of a caged beast who knows it’s been defeated.

He tossed a glare her way for good measure, then stormed out of the room. They gave it a few moments, and then Andethor turned to her. The cold, hard gaze was gone, replaced with the personality she was used to seeing from him. And even though he looked at her with warmth, with concern, there was an uncomfortable twist in her stomach. She’d seen so many personalities from him, just in the last hour and a half. Slimy Savis. The cold-hearted spy. And now the Andethor she knew, or thought she knew.

Was any of it real? He was clearly a master at getting what he wanted from people, of being who he needed to be to get what he wanted. She’d been with someone like that before, and she believed the persona for far too long.

“Hey. What’s going on?” he asked quietly, concern in his dark gaze. Of course he’d picked up on her discomfort. He paid attention.

He was trained, and paid, to pay attention, she thought, before she could shove the thought aside.

“Nothing. I’m fine. Glad that’s over, though,” she said with a soft laugh, trying to keep her voice light. He furrowed his brow, watching her. “What do you think? Can we get out of here?”

“Back to the cottage?” he asked, and she nodded.

Chapter Nine

He nodded and gestured toward the door. He kept a respectful distance from her as they walked back to their cottage, and she was grateful while also missing the closeness they’d had on the beach.

That felt like a long time ago. Another life, another reality.

I’m overreacting to this, she thought to herself as they walked. He’d told her he was a spy. Warned her this would be weird. He’d been straight with her.

Well. He’d been straight with her when it had become advantageous to do that. Up until that point, he’d been fine lying to her about who he was.

Even knowing she’d given him a pass for that, that she’d told him she understood… seeing all of it the way she just had made her feel like everything was upside down.

They got back to the cottage, and she grabbed some clothing and ducked into the bathroom.

The first thing she needed was a shower.

She scrubbed every inch of herself, washed her hair, then dried off and took her time drying her hair, pulling it up into a messy bun, and generally pulling herself back together again. She felt a little more like herself, a little calmer, by the time she opened the bathroom door.

Andethor was sitting on the sofa, quietly speaking into a communicator. Not the one he usually used. This one was much smaller, more the shape of a large pill.

She grimaced. She guessed that would make it easier for him to hide it, if he ever needed to. He gave her a small nod and continued speaking, listening occasionally, and she realized he was talking to someone. She’d thought he was just recording a log of the mission or something.

Andethor nodded toward the small kitchen table, and she saw that there was food waiting. Of course there was. And even with as weird as she was feeling, her stomach rumbled. Breakfast had been forever ago.

She took her tablet to the table, helped herself to a pasta dish he’d ordered, and settled in, reading and enjoying her meal, trying to focus on the adventure story she was reading instead of listening to Andethor.

He spoke in a low voice, very business-like, his words short and clipped. She couldn’t help hearing him say that he’d be returning to Asterion Station, and he asked for a few days’ leave. Apparently, it was granted, because he thanked whoever was on the other end of the communication, and then a few seconds later, he was up and walking into the dining area as well.

Andethor sat down and added some sort of fish to his plate, as well as some of the spicy roasted vegetables she had on her plate as well. They ate in silence for a few moments.

“My supervisor is pleased, for the moment. He’ll be more pleased once it’s confirmed that Xiaron actually followed up on what we told him to do.”

She nodded, watching him as she chewed a bite of her pasta. “Do you think he’ll do it?”

“His kind only cares about self-preservation. Now that he’s against a wall, he’ll fold,” he said with a shrug, still studying her closely. “I’m more concerned with you. Something changed back there.”

She shrugged. “It was strange, seeing how easily you could switch personalities.” She took another bite, focusing on her food, aware that he was still watching her closely.

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