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"Help me Niara?" He asked, opening his arms and I rushed into his embrace.
"I won't help you commit anymore treason, but I will help you get out of this." I promised.
"They threatened to expose me to Vissigroth Myles, if I don't give them more intel about our atmospheric defenders," he laughed dryly, "as if I had that kind of information."
As if summoned by mentioning his name, first a servant entered, flustered and agitated, "Baron Nathan, Viss—"
"Vissigroth Myles is here," the Leander entering behind him announced himself. As if there was any mistaken him for anything other than a vissigroth, our vissigroth.
His scales were on full display on his bare chest and I swallowed. I had never seen him this close before. Many rotations ago he was here to talk with our father, but I had only caught a glimpse of him then. Now, he stood inside our great hall, which wasn't so great to begin with, smothering the place with his all-consuming presence.
Nathan stepped away from me and the vissigroth smirked, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything?"
My face heated under his leisurely perusal of my person. In sync, his left eyebrow and lip curled up and I felt his burning gaze taking its fill.
"It's not… we are not… this is my sister, Niara," Nathan stuttered combobulated.
"Sister?" Somehow Myles made this one word sound like so much more, implying and contemplating things that made my skin burn, even more than my face.
"What did we do to deserve the honor of your visit?" I managed since Nathan had turned white as a sheet and seemed to have lost the use of his tongue at the same time.
"That is just the question now, isn't it? What did you do?" Myles asked, leaning with his shoulder and hip against the wall, regarding Nathan and me equally attentively.
"We—"
I interrupted my brother before he could dig his hole any deeper. It was obvious the vissigroth already knew something, I just didn't know what or how much. Either way, he was our absolute ruler, if he decided to put us to torture, I was sure we would tell him what he came here for to find out one way or another. My father had always preached that honesty was the best approach to any situation, so I went with that.
"We made a mistake. Which coincidentally we were just discussing when you arrived." I gave Nathan a sharp look, one that didn't seem to escape Myles and I cursed myself for making us look more suspicious.
"Does said mistake have anything to do with the Chrymphten, by chance?" Myles asked just as nonchalantly as if discussing the main course for dinner, his eyes however betrayed his composure, small flames burned in their black depts, creating a fearful lump in my throat.
What little bravado I had managed to keep, left me and I waved my hand over to the couches by the hearth, "Would you like to take a seat?"
"I would not."
His stance didn't change, he kept leaning against the wall as if discussing the weather, same with the tone of his voice. But his eyes… oh his eyes, I swore I could read our death in them.
"I was desperate, I—"
Again I interrupted Nathan, "We lost our trade with your people when you entered a new one with the sirens. We were desperate for credits—"
This time Myles interrupted me, with an icy edge to his tone, "So this is my fault?"
"No, no. Not at all." I hastened. "I'm just simply trying to explain why we—"
"Committed treason?" He threw in.
I lowered my head and managed a nod.
"It wasn't her fault." Nathan asserted and I didn't have the courage to interrupt him again. "We bought a transporter to take to Ackaron to sell quanip and graff. The Chrymphten intercepted me and… and bought my cargo."
"I see, easy credits," Myles encouraged Nathan to continue, but his eyes rested on me.
"It was stupid," Nathan admitted.
"And treasonous," Myles added.
"We only tried to survive," I finally found my voice again and a little outrage poured back into me. "Our city was about to sink, we didn't have the funds to repai—"
