Close Liaisons (The Krinar Chronicles 1)

Noticing the robe and slippers that Korum must have left for her, she put them on and went in search of the restroom. Surprisingly, there wasn’t one connected to the bedroom. Peeking out into the hallway, Mia spotted the bathroom door. She made a quick beeline for it, not wanting Korum to know that she was awake yet.

After taking care of business, Mia gratefully brushed her teeth with the toothbrush that he left for her and washed her face. Staring into the bedroom mirror, she was surprised to see that she actually looked quite well. Her pale skin was almost radiant, and her eyes looked unusually bright. Even her hair – the bane of her existence – seemed silkier, with dark brown curls glossy and nicely defined. Whatever shampoo he had used on her yesterday clearly worked miracles. As did orgasms, apparently.

Mia wondered where her clothes were. Her tummy rumbled, reminding her that the dinner last night was already in the distant past. Still wearing the robe, she decided to go in search of food.

Entering the living room, Mia heard voices coming from somewhere to her left.

Thinking that Korum might be watching TV, she headed in that direction. The voices got louder, and she realized that they were speaking in a foreign language she’d never heard before. Slightly guttural, it nonetheless flowed smoothly, unlike anything she was familiar with.

Mia’s breath caught.

She had to be listening to the Krinar language – which meant that Korum likely had visitors, and there were other Ks in the house. This might be her chance to learn something useful, she realized even as her heart skipped a beat.

Quietly approaching the room, she was startled when the heavy doors abruptly slid open in front of her, revealing its occupants and exposing her to their eyes.

Korum and two other Ks stood around a large table that had some kind of a three-dimensional image displayed on it. At the sight of her, Korum waved his hand and the image vanished, leaving only a smooth wooden surface.

Mia froze as three pairs of alien eyes examined her.

The expression on Korum’s face was cold and distant, unlike anything she’d seen before. The other male K, about Korum’s height, had brown hair and hazel eyes, with a similarly golden skin tone. The female was a bit lighter-skinned, closer to Jessie’s color, and the silky hair streaming down to her waist was an unusual shade of dark red. Her eyes were nearly black and looked enormous in her strikingly beautiful face. She was also tall, probably close to 5’9”, and wore a dress that looked like it had been poured on her curves. She could have easily stepped off the pages of an old Victoria’s Secret catalogue – if they had first air-brushed the image, of course.

Standing there in her bath robe, Mia felt like a naughty child getting caught stealing from a cookie jar.

There was no help for it. She cleared her throat, heart pounding in her chest. “Um, hi. I was just looking for the kitchen –”

A small smile appeared on Korum’s face, warming up his features, and his distant look vanished. “Of course,” he said, “you must be hungry.”

He turned toward his visitors. “Mia, these are my . . . colleagues,” he said, seeming to hesitate slightly at the last word, “Leeta and Rezav.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Mia said politely, eyeing them with caution.

She had a strong impression that those two were not happy to see her. Leeta stared back, her beautiful mouth pinched with dislike. Rezav was a bit friendlier, curving his lips in a half-smile and inclining his head graciously toward her. Speaking to Korum, he asked him something in their language, to which Korum absently nodded in response.

“Okay, well, I didn’t mean to intrude,” Mia apologized, her pulse roaring in her ears. “I’ll leave you to your work.”

Korum gestured toward the kitchen. “Feel free to grab some fruit or whatever you wish. I’ll join you soon.”

With a muttered thanks, Mia escaped as fast as her shaking legs could carry her.

Entering the kitchen, she sank down on one of the chairs, hugging herself protectively. Her head spun in a sickening manner, and her stomach churned with nausea.

Because in Rezav’s question, spoken entirely in Krinar, Mia had caught one familiar word: charl.

* * *

By the time Korum came to the kitchen, Mia had managed to compose herself.

At his entrance, she gave him a small smile and continued eating her blueberries as though she had not a care in the world – as though she had not just heard him confirm her worst fears.

He came toward her and bent down, thoroughly kissing her mouth. For the first time, Mia simply endured his touch, the bile in her stomach too strong to allow her normal sexual response.

She didn’t know why she’d needed this confirmation. For the most part, she had believed John when he’d told her about the Ks and their atavistic approach to human rights. Yet some small part of her must have been clinging to the hope that John was mistaken – that Korum would feel differently about her, that she was somehow special in his eyes.

To hear him admit that she was his glorified sex slave – his human pet – was like being punched repeatedly in the stomach.

If he had treated her with cruelty from the very beginning, it would have been easy to hate him. Instead, his arrogance toward her was often tempered with tenderness – and that made the whole thing so much worse. Despite her better judgment and common sense, he had succeeded in getting under her skin, and today’s revelation felt like the cruelest of betrayals.

Sensing her lack of response, he pulled away and frowned slightly. “What’s the matter?” he asked, perplexed. “Are you feeling all right?”