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"That simple." I straighten from the doorframe. "You fulfill your end of the bargain, I fulfill mine. No complications."
She nods, a tight smile forming on her lips. "Sounds perfect. This should be easy for the both of us."
Easy. The word hangs between us, and I almost believe it. Almost.
But I have a feeling that nothing with her will be easy.
8
TRINITY
Vael straightens from the doorframe, his massive frame blocking most of the light from the corridor. The crimson Aerasak sky casts strange highlights across his ash-gray skin, turning the sharp planes of his face into something almost beautiful in its alienness.
"I'll leave you to wash up and rest," he says, already turning to go. "There are clothes in the wardrobe. I sent word ahead to have it stocked. We can discuss more details tomorrow."
"Wait." The word slips out before I can stop myself.
He pauses, those unsettling red-gold eyes fixing on me with a predator's focus.
My heart hammers against my ribs. This moment—right here—is what I'm good at. All my training, all my careful study of men's desires, has led me here. I know my role. I understand the transaction. It would be wrong of me not to uphold it now that he has me in his house.
I rise from the bed with practiced grace, closing the distance between us. His heat radiates against me, a physical force all its own. I slide my hand up his chest, feeling the solid muscle beneath the fabric of his shirt.
"Why are you leaving so soon?" I ask, modulating my voice to that perfect balance of innocent and provocative that I've spent years perfecting.
My fingers trace the edge of his collar, a whisper of contact that usually makes men shudder with anticipation. Vael remains perfectly still, those eerie vertical pupils dilating slightly as he watches me.
"I thought we could begin our... arrangement tonight," I continue, holding his gaze as I trail my hand lower, across the flat plane of his stomach toward his belt. "No time like the present, right?"
His hand catches mine with startling speed, halting my progress. Not rough, but immovable.
"Trinity." My name on his lips sounds like a warning.
I tilt my head, confusion threading through me. "Isn't this what you want? Why you brought me here?"
Vael leans down until his face is level with mine, close enough that I can feel the warmth of his breath against my cheek. My pulse skitters wildly, prey-instinct screaming danger while something else entirely pools low in my belly.
"Listen carefully," he says, his voice a deep rumble that I feel more than hear. "We have an arrangement, yes. But I'm not interested in whatever performance you're offering right now."
I blink, momentarily thrown off script. "I don't understand."
"Don't you?" His thumb traces a small circle on the inside of my wrist where he still holds me, the unexpected gentleness of the gesture making my breath catch. "I've watched you since the moment we met. The mask you wear is impressive—it fooled many others, I'm sure. But not me."
Heat flushes my cheeks, embarrassment and something like anger tangling in my chest. "This isn't a mask. It's who I am."
"No." The certainty in his voice unnerves me. "It's who you've had to be. There's a difference."
I try to pull my hand away, but he holds firm. Not hurting me, just... keeping me there, in this moment I can't seem to navigate.
"What do you want from me, then?" My voice emerges sharper than intended.
Vael's lips curve into something not quite a smile. "I want you to stop treating this like another transaction where your body is the currency." He releases my wrist finally, but doesn't step back. "I can smell your fear beneath the arousal you're forcing yourself to feel. It's... distasteful."
The bluntness of his assessment lands like a slap. I take a step back, wrapping my arms around myself.
"You don't know anything about me," I whisper.
"I know enough." His gaze slides over me, not lascivious but assessing. "I know there's attraction between us—real attraction. It's written all over you—when you're too busy being irritated or curious instead of scared of what I'll do to you."