Plutonian

Chapter 7

"Aria, you don't look so good." Cassandra frowns in concern and walks over to me.

"It's all an act. She can't be trusted," Stela says but she walks closer and inspects me too.

"Oh there you are! Come along, everyone's dying to meet the three of you," A tall Plutonian with a plunging neckline and a lopsided purple wig rushes to us.

We are soon dragged off to the crowded ballroom, thriving with humans and Plutonian's alike. I find it harder to distinguish between the two as they intermix and mingle with one another.

Outside the confinements of the city the humans are dressed in torn, worn down clothes and shoes, they do not speak and do as instructed at all times.

Here however, the humans are decked in bedazzling jewels that adorn their rumbustious hair styles and clothing. I see them laughing and touching the Plutonians around them and after a while I almost can't tell the difference between the two.

The three of us are placed at a table to eat but we are soon whisked away by Plutonians who wish to get to know us.

For once I am thankful for Stela's boisterous, self-indulgent attitude who does her very best to steal the attention of any man and occasionally woman who converses with us.

Cassandra speaks when spoken to but sometimes I catch her eye on me. For me the world swirls ever so often and all the vibrant colours of moving lips merge into one. When I am able to focus I try my best to nod and smile and occasionally laugh when everyone else is.

There have been multiple male Plutonians, all tall and broad shouldered with eager eyes and very friendly hands. They graze my bare arms shamelessly but it is only when I feel a cold hand crawl like a blue serpent across my back do I snap back to semi-consciousness.

My eyes meet the steely blue ones of Lazarus IX and I visibly flinch when his hand goes lower. I take a step back away from him even though it is obvious my actions have angered him.

Up close I notice that his eyes are sea green, a unique colour for a Plutonian and his hair is peppered with flecks of gold that gleam under the bright lights above. He is exquisite in every sense of the word and I would have been entranced by his otherworldly beauty like everyone else, if it weren't for the way he grabbed my arm in a vice like grip like he owned me.

He pulls me towards him and whispers into my ear, his cold breath sending shivers down my spine.

"My dear Aria that is no way to treat a leader of the army. Unless of course you didn't know who I was?" He leans back and gleams at me with flawless white teeth. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lazarus IX, leader of the front line and extraction teams and soon to be leader of the Plutonian Army."

I nod my head and swallow hard. Even through the high dose of painkillers I can feel the sting in my arm. This man doesn't hold back and he's going to lead the army. God bless all the other lesser civilizations in the galaxy.

Ignoring my discomfort he brings his hand down my back again.

"I have never seen anything so beautiful," He whispers sadistically. "This must have been so painful, you must tell me how you lost all that skin in the first place."

I open my mouth to speak but I am unsure of what to say. Thankfully he doesn't wait for an answer.

"I must say, you had me transfixed this morning. You were so vicious, so..so desperate to win, so hungry for blood," He twirls a lock of my hair around his fingers and I try to distract myself from the overriding nausea he is causing by looking anywhere else. It is only then that I realize there is someone else staring at me.