Enticed by the Alien Warrior (Warriors of Agron #8) - Hope Hart Page 0,1
decision, right?” I ask.
My cousin shrugs. “Girl, I was just going along with whatever plan you’d cooked up.”
I narrow my eyes at her, and she grins, nudging me with her shoulder. “I’m not saying it’s a bad plan, just that I practically got whiplash from your decision-making process.”
I sigh. Okay, so I may have a rather large chip on my shoulder about contributing to the cause. I’ve spent most of my time on Agron being a distraction while the other women got shit done. Now it’s my turn to help us get our ship fixed so we can finally get off this planet.
Not that this planet is bad. It’s barbaric, that’s for sure, although the Braxians have treated us like family since the moment Rakiz’s tribe rescued us. But when you’re plucked from your life without any warning, you’ll do just about anything to get that life back.
“Well,” I say as we turn and follow the guards toward the giant obsidian castle, “decision made. No turning back now.”
We have a lead on someone who can fix the thruster from our ship, but apparently the guy only visits Agron sporadically. Hence why we’re here.
Arix—the king on this side of the Colossal Water—has already left to do whatever it is he does. For now, his guards are going to show us to our rooms.
Rooms. In a castle.
Yeah, whiplash is right. Before this, we were sleeping in kradis—comfortable, clean tents, but tents just the same. This is a life upgrade, although I already miss the other women. Nevada and Ellie are both pregnant and due to pop any day, and I’ve become close with Zoey and even a few of the new human women who were trapped in a cage on the ship full of Dokhalls that attempted to take us back.
We leave the dock behind and enter the castle from the back, clomping up the black stone steps and along silver tiles that are so polished I can see my reflection in them. Our footsteps echo as we file down the hallway until we’re back in the main entrance hall. I can’t help but gaze up.
There are some places that make you feel small. The Grand Canyon. The redwood parks in California. The open ocean.
This castle is like that.
It’s made of some kind of black stone, but the word black doesn’t do it justice. It’s so dark that it seems to absorb the light, reflecting it back in the gleaming veins of silver that peek out here and there.
It would be gloomy and depressing if not for the massive windows above us, providing the natural light throughout the hall.
One of the guards clears his throat, and I glance at Sarissa. Both of us are standing here with our mouths open as we examine the entrance hall. I laugh.
“We’re like a couple of small-town girls in the big city for the first time,” I mutter, and she grins.
We follow the guards up the massive staircase, which leads to a landing. Above us, more corridors intersect, cutting through the air above and below one another in a dizzying pattern. People are hurrying down those corridors, a few of them glancing at us curiously, but they’ve obviously got places to go because no one pauses.
By the time the guards stop outside a silver door, I’m completely and utterly lost, and I can tell by the tiny line between Sarissa’s eyebrows that she feels the same.
“Do you guys have some kind of map we can use while we’re here?” she asks.
The guard smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “We will escort you anywhere you need to go.”
Sarissa and I share a glance. Arix referred to us as his guests. But if he expects guards to be with us each time we leave our rooms, it seems we’re really more like prisoners.
She nods, a silent agreement that we’ll discuss this later. The guard opens the door and gestures her in, and he stays behind to show her through the room, while another guard opens the next door down for me.
At least we’ll be close to each other.
“This is your sitting room, and through that door, you’ll find your bathing room.” He strides to the right, opening another door. “Bedroom. Please pull the cord by the door if you need anything and a servant will come to help you.”
The suite is gorgeous. I wander into the bedroom, my mouth gaping at the size of the bed. A vanity sits by an open closet, and I frown.