Page 47 of Alien Wants A Wife

Cavern.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“Joking?” Roan asks, and he’s looking at me with the expression I’m coming to realize is him being confused byEnglish. Either what I’ve said didn’t translate or the translation was too literal for my meaning to be clear.

“This is incredible, Roan. Killan.” Understatement of my lifetime.

I shake my head, blinking a few times as if expecting the sight before me to disappear. Maybe it’s a dream. Maybe I’m still back on Earth and all of LOVE GALAXY has been some bizarre hallucination. “Did you… Did you make this? Or find this? Or… what?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Lydia agrees, still pressed to the wall, as far from the edge of the platform as possible.

Killan doesn’t stop scowling long enough to answer my question, but he does uncross his arms, and I think maybe he’s at least a bit pleased by our reactions.

“The cave was always here,” Roan says. “Our parents bore through the ceiling to open it up to the light, and my family planted the trees.”

“What are you farming? Fruit? Timber?”

“This is not our farm.” Roan's eyes are practically sparkling. He’s excited. “This is merely our arboretum.”

“Oh, of course. Because everyone has their own arboretum!”

“They do?” He looks crestfallen.

“No! Can we go down?” I gesture at the trees. The tops of their highest branches are nearly level with our walkway. “Can we get closer?” If I were to lean right over the handrail, I might be able to touch leaves.

“This way.” Roan walks a few meters farther down the walkway as it snakes along the side of the cavern wall until he reaches a ladder. Four stories down is suddenly looking farther and farther away, and my breath catches: I’ve got to climb down without any ropes or other safety equipment. Evidently, Ril’os aren’t scared of heights. And I probably wouldn’t be either if I were them. I glare at Roan’s muscles. There’s no way he’saccidentally falling off an impossibly long ladder when he’s got four arms with which to hold on.

Only having two arms makes me woefully under-prepared.

“Hell no.” Probably thinking the same thing as me, Lydia backs away from the ladder and promptly walks into Killan, who’s standing behind her. He holds her shoulders with his three hands, keeping her steady—or keeping her from touching his bare chest; I can’t tell which.

When she doesn’t immediately shake off his hold, I realize how scared she is. Terrified, in fact. With a white face that has drained of color.

“I do not have time for this,” Killan growls.

“I’m not—” Lydia begins, finally pulling away from him.

He doesn’t let go and he doesn’t let her finish whatever argument she’d been about to retort with. “I have work to do. Correspondences to answer. I am not going down there and wasting another day ignoring administration chores. If you insist on slacking—” he says to Roan—“then I will instruct Lydia on how to help me in your stead. Yes?”

“Oh, umm…” Lydia chews her bottom lip for a moment, clearly surprised by Killan’s suggestion. “Yes. Yes! I can help you do… whatever it is you need to do.”

“Good.” He turns, directing Lydia to turn too, and together they head back the way we’d come.

“Huh.” Stunned, I watch the pair disappear into the kitchen. “I guess Killan has a lot of admin work to do today.”

“I guess...” Roan does not sound convinced, and the way he’s staring after his brother with his mouth slightly open proves how surprised he was by Killan being almost tactful.

“If you need to get to work—” I begin, but Roan shakes his head.

“I will climb down first.”

“You’ll catch me if I fall?”

He smiles—an unnatural, forced smile, but as genuine as a natural one. “Yes.”

A deep breath. “Okay.” I nod my consent. I’m dying to go exploring. I hadn’t realized how cooped up I’d been feeling, not being able to go outside because of the wind. Suddenly, my legs are aching with the need to move. I resolutely ignore my fear of falling and grab hold of the ladder, following Roan.

Roan

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