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Leah was. Or her grandmother would die.
Flint had been very specific in his veiled threats.
“What if we decide to stay?” Sara asked. “They’re supposed to be the perfect match for us, right? Isn’t that the whole point? Come here, meet the guy of our dreams, save Earth from the Zavorians, fall in love?”
God, no.
Leah falling in love with her Quillon would be the absolute worst mistake she’d ever make.
If she had any hope of saving Nana, she had to turn her heart to stone. She was already filled with guilt at the idea of betraying a complete stranger.
Her Lightmate needed to be nothing to her. Another face she had to stare at for a month, nothing more.
The platform finally connected to the docking station. As far as space airports went, this place was a palace.
Massive and echoey, with dark floors and walls. They were smoky and matte, with something like lava coursing underneath the surface and lighting the path toward the huge doors at the end, which looked to have been carved out of a metal that couldn’t decide if it was steel or copper.
Leah had never seen anything like this. The architecture was imposing. Commanding. It looked like it had weathered a hundred wars, and had gotten stronger each time.
But it didn’t make her feel small. It made her curious. If this is what a Quillon docking station was like, what did their palaces look like? Their homes, their roads. Did they even have roads?
She shook her head. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t here on holiday.
She was here on an awful mission.
The four of them stepped forward, the human-Quillon liaisons barking more rules in the background.
“Stand up straight.”
“Remember tosmile.”
“Donottouch your Quillon in public. This is not the time to embarrass Earth.”
Those liaisons had been sent along to teach the matches the proper etiquette for dealing with Quillons. But since no human had ever met them, and Quillons liked to keep everything about themselves secret, those etiquette classes were more guesswork than anything else.
Two things they did know. The human matches couldn’t touch their supposed soulmates in public, and they couldn’t make eye contact.
Why, nobody knew, but Leah planned on following those two measly rules while she was forced to break all the others.
“Don’t forget,” Erin whispered out of the corner of her mouth as they advanced toward the doors, nervous and hesitant. “If the Quillonsdohave horns, you owe me five bucks.”
The trip here had been filled with rumors. Oh, the Quillons were super tall. Oh, they could breathe fire. Oh, they had horns.
Leah just hoped they were as fearsome as everyone hoped. The Zavorians needed to be stopped.
Her legs turned to lead. Earth was counting on the treaty with Quillon.
But the Quillons had been promising to help for so many years. They hadn’t so far. Leah’s hope had dwindled, and, even now, it was fighting not to bloom again.
The human matches had one month to decide if they liked their Quillons enough to marry them. Once those marriage licenses were signed, the treaty would take full effect and Quillon could protect Earth.
Ifthey were signed.
None of the human matches looked all that convinced. But neither Dawn nor Sara or Erin seemed as terrified as Leah felt.
The doors swung open with a heavy whoosh. A sweet, beckoning scent filled the bare docking station.
It took the breath right out of Leah’s lungs.
