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Ki’Remi rose to his feet.

Damn.

He was in all-black, wearing a dress shirt open at the throat to reveal the ink curled over his collarbones, fitted trousers, and polished boots.

Jewelry glinted on his neck, wrists, fingers, and ears.

He owned the room with pure magnificence.

His locs fell in a wave over one shoulder as his dark and unreadable gaze swept over her.

‘You dressed for the occasion,’ he murmured, his growl a quiet, possessive utterance. ‘Stunning,kidaya, beautiful.’

Heat flickered down her spine, so flustered she forgot again to ask for a translation for the word he’d used on her.

He gestured that she take her seat.

As she did, she tilted her head, keeping her tone light as her pulse betrayed her. ‘I considered coming in my scrubs.’

‘That would’ve been unfortunate.’

‘For who?’

His mouth twitched as he settled in his chair. ‘For me.’

Her breath hitched, but before she could reply, a sleek server approached, her violet-hued skin glowing under the bar’s ambient luminosity.

‘What can I get you,khosi?’ the attendant asked, a floating holo-menu illuminating in her palm.

Ki’Remi flicked his wrist, scanning the options with lazy precision. ‘Rum for me, neat on the rocks, and the lady—?’

Issa arched a brow. ‘Suggest your best.’

Ki’Remi’s lips quirked with amusement. ‘A moon dust cocktail? A Celestial Eclipse?’

‘What’s in it?’ Issa asked, intrigued.

The host smiled, her voice silken as she listed the ingredients.

‘Aged starfruit liqueur from the Nightfall Isles. Dark elderberry extract, a smidgen of Tansinian nebula honey. Plus, an infusion of crystalline ice from the frozen rings of Vaelos-9. The final touch is liquid stardust, a rare mineral that shimmers like the constellations themselves, suspended in a swirl of deep indigo.’

Issa’s lips curled in curiosity. ‘I’ll have the Celestial Eclipse.’

The hostess inclined her head, and the mixologists commenced their alchemy within moments.

Issa’s gaze followed their artistic shaking, stirring, muddling, and blending techniques.

It was a safe choice that allowed her to avoid the scorching eyes across from her.

The mixologist began weaving their magic.

Midnight-hued elixir dispensed in streams of iridescence, cascading through the air like captured space light.

A glacial mist unfurled from a frost-coated decanter, settling over the bar as a sommelier drizzled nebula honey into it in delicate spirals.

Her libation was complete with a wrist flick, a burst of flames.

The final flourish, a vial of liquid stardust, was uncorked and poured into the center of the cocktail. The drink bloomed with cosmic clusters, tiny starbursts flickering into existence within the deep violet swirl.