Page 82 of On a Rogue Planet
His nostrils flared. “You should have lied.”
“The fabric’s too fluid, anything beneath would have left lines.”
“Be quiet.” He gripped her arm. “By my side. All the time.”
Her cousins trooped in. Dathan whistled, Zayn grinned like a fool, and even Niklas smiled.
“Mal, you are a vision.” Dathan circled around them. “And CenSec, I didn’t think you’d scrub up this well.”
“Only five minutes to teletransportation,” Zayn said, moving to the controls.
“Four minutes and twenty five seconds,” Xander said.
Mal smothered a smile.
“Okay, I’ve sent your biosigns through to Technis Control so they can lock onto you for the teletrans.”
Xander grabbed Malin’s hand, his hold tight.
“Right.” Mal swallowed. She really had avoided thinking about the teletransportation.Please don’t let us end up in a wall or muddled together.
“Good luck. Both of you,” Niklas said.
“Thanks, Nik.”
Dathan came over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Listen to the CenSec. He’ll protect you with his life if he has to.”
Mal saw something in her cousin’s eyes. Had he softened toward Xander? Well, wonders never ceased. She nodded.
Zayn tossed them a cheeky salute. “One minute.” He shot Xander a grin. “And five seconds.”
“Ready?” she asked Xander.
“Ready.” His hand tightened on hers.
Suddenly, light bloomed around them, a bright blue that twisted and turned.
There was a moment of disorientation. A feeling of flying apart and coming back together.
She blinked, and they stood in a small room. Two people, a man and a woman, stood at a console nearby.
“Welcome to Technis and the Technomancer’s Ball,” the woman said in a bright voice.
Stiffening her spine and pasting on a smile, Mal slipped her arm into Xander’s. “Come on, honey. I’m terribly thirsty.”
They moved in the direction of the door the woman pointed out.
“Honey?” A hint of a smile on his lips.
A bit more time with him and she bet she could bring out his smile. A real one that he felt deep down. If only she could keep him long enough to hear him laugh. The thought made paintwist inside her. Once this mission was over, Centax would be his only thought. She would be a distant memory. Hopefully a pleasant one.
“You’re right, you aren’t a honey.” She pursed her lips studying him. “Maybe hottie?”
He shook his head and they stepped into the ballroom.
“Sweet scrap,” Mal breathed.
The cavernous room was spectacular. She’d never seen anything like it.
