Page 54 of Scorching the Alien Empire
“You don’t know what you’re missing,” Drexios replies with a smirk, his voice laced with dark amusement.
“An earache and the most regrettable five minutes of her life,” I cut in, unable to suppress the acid dripping from my words.
Sandra giggles, covering her mouth, while Drexios’s single red eye gleams down at me in the dim purple light.
“Are you sour because of that disgusting growth?” He flicks a finger toward the too-cute Todd perched on my shoulder. “I’ll cut it off.” With a jarringsnap, a razor-sharp claw extends from the tip of his finger.
I flinch back, shielding Todd protectively with my hands. “Hands off the royal cherub!” I snap, glaring silver daggers at the wannabe Todd murderer.
The guards whip their heads around, their scowls dripping with disapproval. But I don’t care. I’ll shatter every window in the universe with my screams if it means saving my chug bug.
Todd, finally disturbed by the commotion, unfurls his plump, segmented body. His singular black eye snaps to Drexios, mirroring the confusion spreading across Drexios’s stupid face. Todd stretches taut on his spindly legs, his mandibles clacking threateningly.
“It’s a voiding cyloillar,” Drexios mutters, his tone tinged with surprise. His expression twists into disgust. “And the fattest, ugliest one I’ve ever seen.”
Todd clacks louder, as though Drexios were nothing more than a giant jelly stick in need of eating.
I gasp, utterly offended on Todd’s behalf. “Todd isnotfat or ugly! He’s the most—”
“—Voiding parasite,” Drexios interrupts with a sneer, his massive hand darting forward to snatch at Todd.
A wildfire of fury and terror courses through me. Instinctively, I reach for my Mortakin-Kai, my Dracoth, through the sacred bond between us. The silvery flame of my soul roars in the shared space we alone inhabit, crying out for the heat of his blood-red fire. His rage answers mine, burning hot and protective, filling me, completing me. Together, our fires blaze—a searing union of silver and red strong enough to scorch the cosmos to ash.
My focus sharpens, as clear and focused as Drexios’s gleaming claw hovers inches from Todd.
“Don’t youdare,” I hiss, summoning a goddess shield with a flash of will. Its barely visible edges shimmer in the dim purple and green light as it snaps into existence, interposing itself between Todd and Drexios.
A spine-tingling screech of claw against impenetrable glass jars my senses. Drexios’s red eye widens in shock as his strike deflects harmlessly, the force of it sending his hand off-course and his hulking frame stumbling sideways.
“You’re doing it now, aren’t you, sorceress?” Drexios drawls, recovering quickly, his wrist rotating as though testing for damage. His head hangs sideways, his lips curling into a predator’s grin. “Yes... look at those pretty eyes of yours. Red and silver, oh, how they mist, how they burn—just like one of us.”
He straightens abruptly, his leering face looming closer, his gaze crawling over my skin like Todd’s horrible stepbrother.
“A little pink Klend—”
“Oh, shut up,Drex-iot,” I sigh, flicking my wrist lazily at him. Four of my divine barriers spring to life, shimmering into existence and boxing him in.
Drexios’ gaze darts around the silvery walls, his expression shifting from infuriating smugness to delicious panic.
He pounds his fists uselessly against the barriers, the muffled thuds as dull as he is.
“You’re boring me now. Go sit over there like a good doggie,” I coo, willing my barriers to shift to my right.
Slowly, inexorably, Drexios is carried along, despite his frantic punches and claws scraping down the invisible surfaces. His curses grow muffled as the barriers press him against the black marble like the universe’s ugliest, noisiest wall decoration.
Finally, a loud exhale escapes me.Poor little Todd.This cruel, heartless universe is no place for his soft, plump perfection. Just like me, he’s too beautiful, too misunderstood. Jealous bitches can’t handle it. They lash out, trying to destroy what they’ll never have, what they’ll neverbe: divine.
I gently stroke Todd’s rubbery body, whispering soothing words to lull him back to his adorable, curled-up beauty sleep. His mandibles twitch once, then relax. My gaze drifts to Dracoth, high up on his throne, staring ahead like a big boring red statue. Not a single flinch of acknowledgment that his so-called Second nearly skewered our precious royal cherub like a shish kabob.
My irritation flares, narrowing my eyes and curling my fists into trembling balls of rage.
This is his fault.I should be up there with him—his goddess wife—not down here with the riffraff.
Can you feel my anger through the bond, Dracoth? You big, red, Mr. Frowny Face!
“Do you think Drexios is going to be okay in there?” Sandra asks, her gaze locked to our right, her voice laced with far too much concern for some unknown reason.
“He’ll be fine,” I snap, not bothering to look at her, my eyes fixed on the stone-faced Dracoth. The longer he ignores me, the more my annoyance burns, fueling the growing storm inside me.
