forehead. “You are too free with your lips, Colonel. I suggest you not make that mistake again.”
“Merrick, it’s all right,” the ambassador told him, in much the same tone one might use to shush a dog who was acting unnecessarily ornery. She shot a glance at Merrick and then turned her attention back to Pete. “Apparently the colonel holds to a much older tradition of how to greet a lady.” Was he imagining it, or had she felt the erotic tension between them too?
She gave him a slight, conspiratorial wink.
Before he could say or do anything more idiotic, like ask her to marry him, Al-Aziz cleared his throat. “As you can imagine, Ambassador, we have much to discuss, and I fear our time is limited.”
Olivia inclined her head in a regal gesture of concurrence. “Very well, Ambassador. Let us conclude the introductions and I will have our junior diplomats escort yours to their quarters.”
Merrick stepped forward. “I am Merrick, the ambassador’s bodyguard,” he announced brashly. Pete didn’t miss the sharp look Merrick cast at him, a look he clearly intended to impale the other man. That look said he did a lot more than just guard Olivia’s lush body, and anyone who intended to supplant him would have a fight on his hands. “Where she goes, I go, at all times and under all circumstances.”
Al-Aziz’s eyes brightened, and a knowing expression curtained his face. He smiled condescendingly. “How very interesting. Colonel Silva, here, serves a very similar function for me.”
Pete didn’t break his bearing, but his mind immediately began to race. Did that hawk-faced asshole just imply that he’s fucking me ?
Merrick snickered. Olivia’s smile slipped away behind her serenely diplomatic expression.
“Then I trust Merrick and Colonel Silva will have much to discuss.”
“Of that, I have no doubt,” Al-Aziz said coldly. “Shall we go inside, then?”
The two ambassadors started toward the portal. Merrick fell in behind Olivia, close enough that there could be no mistaking the proprietary interest he took in her safety. Pete followed Al-Aziz, leaving enough distance between them to clarify that not only did the ambassador have no claim on him but that which duty demanded, but that Pete did not consider himself to be properly part of the ambassador’s party at all.
Merrick favored him with a slight sneer and then turned his head and eyes straight forward. Meanwhile, the diplomats talked in quiet murmurs as they moved through the corridors.
Pete caught himself staring at familiar things with nearly open-mouthed awe. Smooth, gleaming metal lined many of the corridors, but some of them had been hewn out of native rock and polished to a high shine. He could clearly make out the paths in the centers of the latter corridors, where generations of feet had worn the stone smooth and polished. The exterior walls featured long panels of some clear material that allowed a panoramic view of the dizzying drop from the higher levels of the Aerie down to the dark plains below. On the horizon, a bright blue glow flamed, Dusk’s sun flirting with what passed for dawn here without ever actually managing to rise. Closer in, the lights of Galacia flickered and shimmered far below, each light marking the presence of a handful of humans. Farther out, toward the planetary north, he could just make out the cliffs that denoted the boundary between solid land and the sea beyond.
The scene was so utterly alien to him, a sojourner on a dozen alien worlds, that he could scarcely restrain the urge to gawk. It was beautiful and terrifying and majestic and frightening, kind of the way he’d always imagined hell looking. Everyone said it was supposed to be a terrifying, foul place, but if he were ever placed in charge of the netherworld, he would want it to look much like this did.
“Colonel Silva?”
The lilting voice bore a tone that suggested the owner had already said his name several times. He shook himself back
“Merrick, it’s all right,” the ambassador told him, in much the same tone one might use to shush a dog who was acting unnecessarily ornery. She shot a glance at Merrick and then turned her attention back to Pete. “Apparently the colonel holds to a much older tradition of how to greet a lady.” Was he imagining it, or had she felt the erotic tension between them too?
She gave him a slight, conspiratorial wink.
Before he could say or do anything more idiotic, like ask her to marry him, Al-Aziz cleared his throat. “As you can imagine, Ambassador, we have much to discuss, and I fear our time is limited.”
Olivia inclined her head in a regal gesture of concurrence. “Very well, Ambassador. Let us conclude the introductions and I will have our junior diplomats escort yours to their quarters.”
Merrick stepped forward. “I am Merrick, the ambassador’s bodyguard,” he announced brashly. Pete didn’t miss the sharp look Merrick cast at him, a look he clearly intended to impale the other man. That look said he did a lot more than just guard Olivia’s lush body, and anyone who intended to supplant him would have a fight on his hands. “Where she goes, I go, at all times and under all circumstances.”
Al-Aziz’s eyes brightened, and a knowing expression curtained his face. He smiled condescendingly. “How very interesting. Colonel Silva, here, serves a very similar function for me.”
Pete didn’t break his bearing, but his mind immediately began to race. Did that hawk-faced asshole just imply that he’s fucking me ?
Merrick snickered. Olivia’s smile slipped away behind her serenely diplomatic expression.
“Then I trust Merrick and Colonel Silva will have much to discuss.”
“Of that, I have no doubt,” Al-Aziz said coldly. “Shall we go inside, then?”
The two ambassadors started toward the portal. Merrick fell in behind Olivia, close enough that there could be no mistaking the proprietary interest he took in her safety. Pete followed Al-Aziz, leaving enough distance between them to clarify that not only did the ambassador have no claim on him but that which duty demanded, but that Pete did not consider himself to be properly part of the ambassador’s party at all.
Merrick favored him with a slight sneer and then turned his head and eyes straight forward. Meanwhile, the diplomats talked in quiet murmurs as they moved through the corridors.
Pete caught himself staring at familiar things with nearly open-mouthed awe. Smooth, gleaming metal lined many of the corridors, but some of them had been hewn out of native rock and polished to a high shine. He could clearly make out the paths in the centers of the latter corridors, where generations of feet had worn the stone smooth and polished. The exterior walls featured long panels of some clear material that allowed a panoramic view of the dizzying drop from the higher levels of the Aerie down to the dark plains below. On the horizon, a bright blue glow flamed, Dusk’s sun flirting with what passed for dawn here without ever actually managing to rise. Closer in, the lights of Galacia flickered and shimmered far below, each light marking the presence of a handful of humans. Farther out, toward the planetary north, he could just make out the cliffs that denoted the boundary between solid land and the sea beyond.
The scene was so utterly alien to him, a sojourner on a dozen alien worlds, that he could scarcely restrain the urge to gawk. It was beautiful and terrifying and majestic and frightening, kind of the way he’d always imagined hell looking. Everyone said it was supposed to be a terrifying, foul place, but if he were ever placed in charge of the netherworld, he would want it to look much like this did.
“Colonel Silva?”
The lilting voice bore a tone that suggested the owner had already said his name several times. He shook himself back
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