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The chef swallowed. It was clear the Commander let his military lifestyle leak into his treatment of his staff. Well, the ruling of the iron fist wouldn’t last much longer.
“I am going to speak to him because there won’t be any more of this bullshit,” she said, motioning to the chef. “He can’t treat people like this. We can’t read his mind.”
The chef was visibly shaken and reluctant to agree but, nevertheless, pointed down the opposing end of the hallway.
“He went to his office. At the end of the corridor, past the chandelier, on your left.”
Sarah thanked him and trotted in the direction he had pointed. A fire burned in her belly, the kind that was capable of erasing the past and the fearful little lamb she once was. Fire was an element of renewal, and that was what Sarah needed more than anything in the world.
Earth was her ashes, and the Drakonian planet would be her phoenix.
She moved past what she guessed the chef had meant by a chandelier. It looked more like foil, akin to the material on the walls, except with something slick and oily dripping off it in a lurching dance. The material was glossy and hung in the air with a looming ambiance.
Sarah wondered if Kael had placed it there intentionally, like a gargoyle in front of a cathedral.
She knocked without hesitation, already knowing what was going to be waiting for her. The sound of Kael's grunt was annoying but also weirdly sexy.
“What is it?” he demanded.
“It’s me,” Sarah replied.
“Have you looked at the notice?”
Sarah rolled her eyes, then went to grasp a knob. She forgot where she was already, correcting herself and sliding her fingers along the frame. There was a noise that sounded like locking, and for a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to let her in at all.
But the door slid open to reveal a smirking and somewhat amused Captain.
It threw her off guard for a second. Fangs jutted out from his top lip and pinned against his bottom one. It was an endearing feature that made him even more attractive.
Sarah managed to regroup herself and went toward him at the desk. When he sat up, she noticed the curved, chapel-style window behind him, silhouetting his mountainous frame. For a fraction of a moment, she thought about the paintings of saints in Christian churches that this one reminded her of.
Kael was clearly no saint. And she wasn’t even sure if there was an equivalent word for it for the Drakonians.
“How can I help you?” he said, the smirk slowly fading back to that stony and gruff gaze.
“You owe me an apology,” Sarah said, shooting out her pointed finger at him like a gun. “You spoke to me in front of your chef like I’m some kind of idiot. That’s no way to speak to someone you hired to take care of your child.”
Kael gave her his signature blank stare, a look that she supposed could be disarming for his foes and other, less tenacious, staff members. She didn’t crumble this time. She merely stared back, raising her eyebrows with expectation
“So?” she barked.
“So?” he replied, far too softly for her liking, as he spun around on his chair to rise. “Are apologies so freely given where you come from?”
He got to his feet, placing his hands behind his back in his usual stance. He stood before her, peering down over his nose without tilting his head in the slightest. He was giving her that snobby glance that made Sarah's blood boil.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” he asked, looking genuinely puzzled.
“You’re talking down to me again. You hired me, like anyone else in this palace, to do a job. To take care of something precious to you. That means I deserve at least a moderate level of politeness, right?”
Slowly, the Captain’s brows raised. Sarah could see how deep the grooves of the markings were when he did that. His golden eyes were watching her studiously in authentic fascination.
“You’re right,” he finally said. “I have been obscenely rude. You are new to this planet. You don’t know all of our customs yet.”
She wanted to blurt out that it didn’t matter what the customs were, he still owed her respect and decency, but she decided to save that for another time. At least he was hearing her, which she honestly wasn’t sure was going to happen at all.
“Thank you,” Sarah said, folding her arms again. “Now, where is your daughter? I can’t do my job if there’s no child around.”
