Alix shook her head. "I don't think this is such a good idea."
Hands on hips, Zarina faced her. "No complaints. You said I could give you one last present, and you're not about to disappoint me!"
Alix opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it. No one argued with Zarina. Rina always got what she wanted. But what in the universe could she have planned?
She and Sway exchanged a wary glance.
"I hate shopping," he muttered, pressing the buttons to seal up the ship.
"No more than I do," Alix said, contemplating what it would take to outsmart Zarina. She doubted anyone could ever keep the princess from anything she set her mind to.
"No more whining, you two," Zarina said. "Trust me."
Over the next hour and a half, Alix was pushed and pulled until she thought she might actually strangle Zarina herself. She should have asked what Zarina wanted to give her before she agreed to this hellish trip.
They visited over a dozen clothing shops until Zarina finally found a blue dress to match that stupid choker.
And what a dress! Cut low in front, it barely held Alix in, but at least the back was high enough to hide her mark. Though the hem fell at her ankles, a giant slit opened the right side up to midthigh. Just thinking about it made Alix's cheeks burn. She couldn't possibly wear that to bed, let alone dinner, where people might actually see her.
Now she sat in a hair salon, with Zarina and some unknown hairdresser discussing her as if she were the main dish for a feast. She pulled at her wet hair, wondering if there were enough gel and makeup in the universe to make her anything other than plain.
"Quit fussing!" Zarina scolded, putting her hair back in her eyes as she talked with the hairdresser.
Alix bristled under the sharp reproach, tempted to tell Zarina what she could do with all this, but at least someone was trying to help her. Who was she to complain?
"I think we should take six inches off the length," Zarina said while the stylist combed Alix's hair.
Leaning over, she opened a slit so Alix could see her. "Is that okay with you?"
Alix lifted her brow, amazed Zarina had even asked. "Does it matter?"
Zarina frowned as if she'd slapped her, and a wave of guilt tore through Alix. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just didn't expect all this."
Zarina's frown wilted. "You could use a little makeover. No need to hide all the beautiful aspects of yourself."
She moved to Alix's side and pulled several wet strands of hair around Alix's face. "I was thinking of a style that came in a little around your face. Something soft and alluring. Maybe a couple of highlights?"
"I know just the thing," the stylist said, and Alix knew her opinion didn't matter in the least.
Yet she really didn't mind. No one had ever told her about fashion before. She'd never had anyone teach her how to wear her hair or makeup, and she welcomed Zarina's lessons.
On board her father's ship, she'd spent most of her time trying to look unappealing. But just once, she wanted to feel glamorous, to look like the type of woman who might turn Devyn's head. And if Zarina actually thought she could transform her, then Alix was willing to give it a try.
While they worked on her hair, she imagined meeting Devyn and rendering him speechless. An image of him holding her flashed through her mind and she knew if she could have one wish, it would be to go back to that night in the gym and make love to the only man who had ever made her feel beautiful, womanly.
Her heart heavy, she realized all she was leaving behind. Damn Irn and his interference. If not for him, she could stay with Devyn and maybe find what she really wanted. Why couldn't things work out for her as they did for Zarina? She sighed, knowing the answer only too well. It was just her awful luck. It would never change.
Once her hair was cut and styled, Zarina moved her to the makeup counter. Alix listened as the cosmetologist explained each step and how to wear every item.
The cold, liquid makeup felt strange against her cheeks, but if it would leave a lasting impression on Devyn, then she guessed it would be worth it. Besides, a little color never hurt.
When the woman finished and held the mirror up to her face, Alix gasped. She almost turned around looking for the woman in the mirror. Surely it couldn't be herself.
"I told you!" Zarina said with a triumphant laugh. She took the mirror from Alix and handed it back to the cosmetologist. "I'll take one of everything you used on her."
Alix wanted the mirror returned. She wanted to make sure it really was she and not some other person.
While Zarina finished with the cosmetologist, Alix stepped down from her chair and went to the full-length mirrors nearby. Hesitantly, she studied herself. No one could mistake the drab beige pantsuit and ugly black boots, but from the neck up, she looked like someone else.
True to Zarina's words, the stylist had lightened her hair a couple of shades to a pretty honey blonde. He had swept it up off her neck into an intricate braid and soft wisps of hair curled around her face and neck.
The makeup hid the tiny scar under her eye and somehow, the cosmetologist had made her eyes appear larger, darker, her cheekbones more defined. Breathless, she stood in awe of the temporary miracle and wished that she could freeze herself like this forever.
"Are you ready?" Zarina asked, stopping at her side.
Alix was speechless.
Zarina laughed and took her by the arm. "Just wait till you get that dress on. Devyn will be on his knees to keep you."
In spite of herself and the tiny voice that said she could never stay with Devyn, Alix liked the sound of Zarina's words. Following after Zarina, she left the shop.
Zarina went straight to Sway, who sat in the center of the plaza reading a small book. When he looked up, Alix got the biggest compliment of her life—his mouth dropped open.
"Alix?" he asked in disbelief, rising slowly to his feet.
A thrill rushed through her. No man had ever looked at her that way and she couldn't wait to see Devyn's reaction.
"C'mon," Zarina said, grabbing her by the arm. "We have a date I don't want to miss."
Chapter Eight
Devyn tried listening to his mother's discourse on his family's health and well-being, but despite his best effort, his thoughts kept drifting back to Alix. Checking his watch, he sighed. Alix and Zarina were twenty minutes late, which for Zarina was typical, but he found himself more anxious than normal as each second ticked by.
He could kill Zarina for this. He'd never intended to stay so long here, but his mother was insistent and he had no desire to hurt her. But he had to leave soon.
Where could Rina and Alix be?
Though his parents always preferred a private dining room in restaurants, he now wished they'd chosen a table in the main hall. At least in the public area, he could have watched the door for Alix's arrival.
What could be keeping them?
A hundred thoughts went through his mind— Zarina insulting the wrong person and ending up in jail again, or worse, Zarina running away and taking Alix with her. Maybe the two of them had tied Sway up and were even now boarding a shuttle off-planet. He should have never left them alone. Zarina could manipulate anyone into anything.
He fingered the tiny box in his pocket and a lump settled in his gut. If Alix left without his going-away present. . .
Dammit, he couldn't stand this any longer.
Just as he slid his chair back to check outside, the door dilated. Devyn looked up, relief spreading through him. Zarina stepped in first, her eyes glinting mischievously, and by that he knew she had been up to something. Sway came in behind her, a smug look on his face. What had they been up to? Suddenly, Alix stepped forward. Devyn's stomach lurched as if he'd been punched in the solar plexus.
His mind vacant, he could only stare. Curves he'd never guessed she possessed were outlined by the daring cut of her gown. She walked forward like a shy schoolgirl, but her body left no doubt that this was a woman full-grown, and still, somehow,
she maintained her competent air. A dangerous combination.
All his control dove south and his body burned with a painful need. If not for his parents, he'd toss Alix over his shoulder, bolt from the restaurant, and make sure she never left him.
Slowly, Devyn rose, his throat more parched than the arid dunes of Mallisor. Moving forward, he pulled out a chair for her. Alix looked up at him with adoring eyes, and he'd never felt so gallant, so masculine. For the first time in his life, he understood his father's behavior where his mother was concerned.
"Devyn, you're so rude! You could at least hold my chair, too." Zarina's voice broke through the fog clouding his thoughts.
Sudden realization struck him, and he flushed. How could he have behaved that way with his mother present?
His father seated Zarina, then turned to face him. "Why don't we exchange seats? I'm sure you want to sit next to Alix."
Devyn wanted to crawl beneath the table and hide. He looked at his mother, who hid her smile behind her glass. It'd be a long time before he lived this down. Clearing his throat, Devyn took his father's chair.
Don't look at her. But still his gaze drifted back to Alix.
"So, Alix," his mother said, and Devyn braced himself for her probing questions. "Devyn tells us your father owned a freighter?"
"Yes, ma'am," Alix said, twisting the napkin in her lap around her shaking fingers.
Devyn started to reach out to comfort her, but caught himself before his hands left his lap. Clenching his own napkin, he warned himself not to intervene anymore. His mother didn't bite and Alix could handle herself.
"Isn't it awful growing up on a tiny ship?" his mother asked, setting her glass back on the table. "My father was a smuggler, and he refused to buy a house until after he had three children scavenging in his cargo. He probably never would have bought one at all had he not been stopped one day by HAWC Probers. They were about to let him go when my brother, Calix, showed up with one of the boxes they were scanning for and asked my father what prinibben crystals were used for." Her eyes twinkled and Devyn smiled, proud of his mother and her charm.
Then her gaze turned calculating and his throat tightened. Don't let her go into her matchmaking program. Anything but that. Please, no cute Devyn baby stories. He'd have to leave if she started those.
His mother propped her elbows on the table, leaned her chin on her folded hands, and turned Alix one of those guileless yet perfect looks that won her a place in most everyone's heart. "But the worst thing about ships are those horrible fumes and stuffy noses." She shuddered and directed a conniving glance at him, Sway, and his father. "Men can be so unobservant. I swear I think most of them are born without olfactory glands."
"Mom," Devyn warned, but as expected, she just patted his hand and continued.
"Not that Devyn's like that. I made sure he learned how to care for a woman. He'd never subject his wife to such tortures."
Okay, so it wasn't the baby stories, but it was almost as bad. Devyn tightened his hand around his fork to keep from strangling his mother. When would she learn?
"Malena, maybe Devyn's not ready to settle down. He's happy the way he is."
Devyn could've hugged his father for those words.
"Vriska," his mother scolded. "You men think you know what you want." She smiled the coy smile that never failed to bend his father to her will, and Devyn knew his reprieve would soon end right along with his father's interference. "Until you meet the right woman."
His father's eyes glowed. "Let's just hope when Devyn meets her, she doesn't try to kill him."
Pain tightened Devyn's chest. He'd never told his parents the whole story about Onone, and he hated when his father brought up the fact that his own mother had tried to kill his father the first time they met. But his mother had acted out of desperation and fear, not the cold-blooded maliciousness that had spurred Onone's attack.
Frowning, his mother stabbed at her appetizer. "You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"
His father smiled. "How could I? The guilt from it has served me well all these years."
She snorted. "I should have aimed better. If my hand hadn't been shaking so badly, I could've shriveled your callous heart."
Alix listened to their playful banter. Her parents had seldom spoken. What few words passed between them had been coarse, direct orders from her father and submissive, mewling responses from her mother.
Yet all Valerian and Malena's teasing was good-natured. There was no malice lurking beneath their words.
She spent the entire dinner listening to them, picking up tidbits about Devyn's past, speaking only when someone asked her a question.
All too soon, dinner passed and Alix knew her reprieve had ended. Once more, she would be on her own, with no one to trust, or confide in. Alone. She closed her eyes against the despair that gathered in her heart.
Devyn's parents walked them back to Devyn's ship, where they said their good-byes.
When Malena stepped forward and gave her a hug, Alix thought she would finally succumb to the tears lurking beneath her cheerful facade.
"Take care, Alix. It was nice meeting you."
Alix nodded, afraid to use her voice. One word and she was certain she'd crumble.
Zarina also gave her a hug. "Watch yourself, shanna. Remember you've always got us if you need us."
She squeezed Zarina tightly, wishing she could repeat the last few days. "Thank you, for everything," she whispered.
Stepping away, Zarina smiled.
Alix stood beside Devyn and watched the three of them leave. Soon, she would be leaving as well. Tears gathered in her eyes, dulling her sight.
Don't feel sorry for yourself.
But still, her grief and sadness choked her. Just once she wished luck would befriend her.
"I guess you want to change," Devyn said, pulling her attention to him.
One last time, Alix admired the expensive cut of his suit, the way the black fabric emphasized the muscles she knew lay beneath the silk.
She cleared her throat. "I guess it'd be the prudent thing to do." She swept her hand over her dress. "It'd be hard to find an engineering job looking like this."
Devyn gave her a devilish grin. "I doubt that. In fact, I'll double your salary if you stay."
Alix gave him a sad smile. She liked his teasing. "Don't tempt me."
"And if I did?"
His eyes told her the earnestness of his words. What was he thinking? She'd give anything to know. But what could they have?
If she'd learned anything in her life, it was that everything caught up to you in time. Her father's brutal murder attested to that. He'd died as he'd lived—cold, brutal, and callous. A knife sliced through his heart the way his words had always cut through hers.
The past. How long could she run from what she was before fate caught up to her as it had her father?
And yet there before her stood Devyn, his dark eyes warm with concern. It would be so easy to stay. So easy to forget, to hope. Dare she?
Before she could stop herself she stepped into his arms. A wave of excitement tore through her when he didn't pull away. There was one thing she wanted, one last thing she would ask of him before she left. One dream she would still fight for.
"Love me," she begged, every bit as afraid he'd turn her away as she was that he would agree.
Devyn's answer came as an impassioned kiss. Alix opened her mouth, welcoming him, reveling in the taste of sweet wine on his lips. She needed this. For once in her life, she would not be denied.
Devyn shook from desire and the fear that she would pull away one final time and leave him more desperate. He knew he needed to leave, to finish his mission, but he also needed her. She was his life, his breath, and the thought of her leaving cut through his soul like a lason knife.
"Don't leave me," he whispered against her lips, holding her closer.
She didn't answer him with words, but her arms wrapped around his shoulders and he sensed that this ti
me she wouldn't pull away. And with that came the knowledge that afterward he wouldn't be able to let her go. All his intentions be damned.
Resigning himself to fate, Devyn scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his room.
Alix laid her head on his shoulder, no longer willing to fight herself. The future stretched out before her like a giant black hole—lonesome and cold, sucking all the light out of her life.
There had never been anyone in her life who made her feel like this, and she knew there would never be anyone else. She needed this night with Devyn. Maybe this one memory would be enough to take some of the misery out of the lonely nights to come.
The League 3: Paradise City Page 11
