– S C O R P I O N –

I was mindlessly swiping at holo images of Sector 1 security. Anti-air turrets. Facial recog every 10 feet. Timed patrols. Imperial patrols. They even had a back door set up that linked a nano ray from a satellite... space. Merridian even had weapons in space.

I sighed and sat back in the smooth rotating chair. A dimly lit office room was hardly the tech hall of my previous keep. Lined with our people and equipment. Now it was more of a work from home or wherever you could find a secure link.

No guards lingered in the small space but instead lurked outside. When my chair rotated back to the long wall of glass at the back of the room I watched the late afternoon sun start to disappear beneath the sky towers. Even in the distant realm of Sector 48 we had a full view of Sector 1.

As it had always been. A part of me wondered if they had it designed as a reminder. Not as the rumours had suggested–that the emperor truly built glass above the clouds so he wouldn't have to witness the outskirts–but because of his own self glorified god complex.

I snorted to myself and hit the small pad on my wrist. It glowed and the wall of glass instantly morphed into a thick forest with the faintest sounds of wind and tree rustle carrying through the confines.

I watched it for moments more. I wondered what forests must have been like. The real, untamed ones. Not the bio-farms or tower gardens. Endless green. It was almost instinctual to find shelter in the thick concrete confines but back then... the centuries before we built upon mile after mile... was the quiet deafening?

A comm link interrupted my pondering.

"Incoming request from Grumpy Bastard." A cheery voice announced.

I almost fell off my chair. Either I've been hacked or...

"Accept." I said flatly.

"Scorpion, I trust you–"

"Have you been in the address vault?" I interrupted.

A pause over the link. "No I believe not. Why do you ask?" He returned cautiously.

"Because you were just announced as... never mind." I pinched the bridge of my nose. I was running a network of Underworld assassins and cut throats and someone is finding the time to–

I froze. Then let out a loud puff.

"Is Makayla still with you?"

"Indeed she is. We have just walked through our new base of operations with my dear sister." He drawled with a low voice.

I sat up at this. "You made the choice already?"

"It met standards and more. A gem below a brick."

"I never knew my second was so poetic." I mused with a grin.

Silence followed a beat. "Would you like to speak with her? We can continue the inventory when we return. The craft is close."

My grin faded slightly. "Yes do link me to her and close the line, thank you." I said a little more briskly.

I heard a dark chuckle before a light ping. "Forwarding link to Xavier, Makayla."

"Confirm."

"Alex!" Her excited voice came through the link. It broke my seriousness and a smile ghosted onto my lips.

"Miss Xavier..." I returned slowly.

"I just met Proximo's sister. I had no idea he had... well any relationship with another human, let alone family."

I laughed loudly and spun my chair as I kicked off the desk. "She is quite the contrast to our beloved Proximo. But better with numbers." I agreed.

"Yes. Especially when she thought Proximo and I were an item."

The grin stretched wider. "Oh?" I could hardly keep the laugh out of my voice. "I bet he was so at ease with this news."

"He looked ready to throw himself from the building instead of look around it." She deadpanned.

I shook my head and leant back further into the chair. "The things he has to bare for me. I do wish I could have been there."

She paused at that. "So how was your date with the devil?"

"Wonderful. I was tempted to kill him with the fish he offered me, but embarrassing him was far more entertaining."

"I hope his ego can recover." She muttered sarcastically.

"Now, now dear. Enemies make fast allies."

"Until you grow bored of them." She retorted not missing a beat. "Hopefully I can expect a better fate when the great Scorpion tires of me." She said with exaggerated sorrow.

I smirked at the forest in the glass.

"Don't hold your breath. I wait and want every second with you." I finished more seriously.

I could practically feel the heat rising to her face in response. Her voice grew quieter as she responded. "I think we can have more than a few seconds tonight."

I chuckled and let my fingers drum along the arm of the chair. "Anything in mind Makayla?" I asked innocently.

"Oh you know. A nice chat, some evening entertainment and then dessert."

Her choice of words said enough. Enough to be acceptable in company but also to send my mind racing. "Must dessert come last on that agenda?" I asked in a dark voice.

"Yes." She said too quickly making me laugh. "Save the best for last, Scorpion."

I all but knew Proximo would be doing his best to look uninterested in that craft with her but could practically see his smirk from my office.

"As you wish. I could wait all night for dessert. My appetite is endless with you in the room." I returned easily leaning back.

An uneasy throat clearing sounded over the link and I bit my tongue to suppress the next laugh.

Instead of answering my words she spoke at normal volume. "Yes we should try that restaurant, I've heard great things."

"You are such an adorably awful liar." I answered her.

"Yes, yes Alex we can also get you a colouring book."

I heard Proximo's laugh on the other side.

"Keep talking, your imperial majesty. See where it gets you tonight." I warned her slowly. Then I suddenly remembered. "Oh I did have something to ask you actually."

She had humour laced in her voice as she answered, "What's that?"

"Next time you change my Second's name in my comm, you can at least make it insulting. Grumpy Bastard is merely factual."

Her song like laughter filled the link and I listened to it gladly. Nothing compares to the reward of getting that kind of joy in her voice. It was perfection.

"I've already personalised your address in my own."

"Do I even want to kno–"

"Alex from the Art club."

My mind flashed back to her introduction of me to the Emperor himself at that pompous ball. I barked out laughter and shook my head.

"Of course it is."

"We're landing. I will see you soon, Scorpion." She promised me.

"I'll have the paint brushes ready."

* * * * *

Makayla had wrapped herself in my cloak and sprawled out across the long lounge chair in the minimalist living area.

The furnishings were to standard, but simple and arranged by the building's interior designer... if it was one of my people they would know I preferred the furnishings of the previous millennia. Those dwellers had style... the silk, the wood, the roughness and feel of everything. It wasn't just about efficiency and precision.

"Do you prefer contemporary design or traditional?" I blurted my thoughts out as I leant against a cool metal bookshelf. One of her legs bounced as she considered this from her position lying on the chair.

"I'm used to contemporary... but there was something about your previous keep. I had not seen wooden furniture outside of a museum." She answered me thoughtful.

"Believe me I know the loss." I grumbled. "It was all irreplaceable."

She sat up on an elbow and threw me a sly look. "I do have a contact in some of the most high end antiques."

"Let me guess. He or she holds residence in Sector 1?" I said flatly.

She pouted. "Three."

I chuckled and moved to swipe a piece of fruit from the bowl on the low square table before her. I spun the apple on a finger before pulling out a hidden dagger and swiftly scoring a wedge. I offered it to her. She plucked it from the blade and thought as she chewed.

"I'm not on the best terms with those Sectors... more on the other side of the coin."

"Heads or tails?" She said with a grin.

I ran my tongue along the edge of the blade collecting the juice as I went. Makayla's eyes followed the move closely. I stopped and she swallowed.

"A coin toss implies both sides have an equal chance of winning." I uttered without breaking her stare.

"Don't be so defeatist." She teased.

It only made me scoff and sheath the blade to my hip. "I did not mean–"

But she did not let me continue to defend my dignity. Instead she grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward until I had to brace a hand against the sofa back to avoid falling onto her. Those blue sapphires watched me with amusement. My own slow smile returned it.

I saw her hand move to the same sheath on my hip. Saw her draw the dagger from it slowly and bring it to her lips as she watched me.

"You missed a spot." She murmured, as she let her tongue glide along the edge of the blade just as tauntingly. My jaw went slack, I wasn't sure how many seconds passed until she smirked and slipped the weapon carefully back in place.

She did not close the distance between us. Instead she left my arms pinned on either side of the chair above her and lay back to draw my red hood over her head.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" She uttered in a pompous voice. It broke the sudden heat and desire that was threatening to take me over. I chuckled, tilted my head, and appraised her. Running my eyes over her face slowly before deliberately trailing them down her body–

She slapped my arm. My grin widened.

"Sorry, lost my train of thought. Nice cloak." I said dryly.

"Red is my colour." She shrugged.

"You could wear no colour and look breath taking." I said without pause.

She started laughing under me. "That's because your mind is in the gutter and wants to see no colour or clothing at all right now."

"Perhaps the lady from the upper Sector needs to revisit where my mind is." I murmured, closing in a few inches more. But she halted me with two hands on my shoulders.

"What happened to our chat and evening entertainment, Alex from the art club?"

"What if I told you, you can chat and be entertained at the same time?"

She looked curious.

"–by chat I mean moan–"

She slapped me again and I burst into laughter barely able to hold myself up. But I could feel silent laughter from her too. When I caught my breath I moved to her side and stretched out beside her, draping one arm across her stomach and propping my head on an elbow.

"Better?"

"Well I don't feel like I'm going to get pounced on..." She drawled.

I rolled my eyes. "Forgive me if I start getting ideas when you start tonguing my blade."

She couldn't keep that giggle out of her voice. "Could you make that sound any worse?"

"In so many ways." I promised.

Her face turned thoughtful again. "It does make me wonder... I mean, even Daz briefly mentioned Proximo had suitors. You must have built up quite the number."

"That can't be jealousy reaching those adorable features." I cooed as I tried to pinch her, she slapped me away.

"There is nothing wrong with a few fun stories from the past. My own are utterly boring and all of them arranged for me." She frowned. I picked up her chin and tightened my arm around her waist.

"How about a story for a story?" I asked with a brow raised.

She hesitated before dropping me a nod. "Well, you may have heard the name Tristan before..." She uttered in disgust. But my own lethal expression was more than enough to say I was not a fan.

"All the charm of a pig in a suit."

"You insult the pig."

"What happened?" I asked quietly, feeling the need to secure my arm around her more. She turned her red hooded head to me with the dangerous look of mischief.

"Oh it was awful. Those rough lips he forced on me after too many drinks, the bruises I had–"

"I will kill him before nightfall." I interrupted, entirely prepared to make the call.

But her hands cupped my locked jaw and drew my stoic eyes down to hers. "Alex. I'm kidding. He had never dared before the ball you attended. My position means–"

"I still owe him for the first time he laid hands on you." I grit out, remembering how he had pressed her into the balcony edge without her consent.

"Look at me."

I complied and flashed my burning gaze down to her cool blue. "Don't. You know he's not worth a second thought."

"Which is why I kill him. So he isn't a thought at all." I muttered, losing some of the heat. She shook her head at me with a small smile. "I am trying to drop your kill count."

I snorted and raised an eyebrow. "Best of luck. If you tell Proximo he will likely fill in the blanks."

"I could easily bribe you." She said confidently.

"What could you possibly bribe me with, Miss Xavier?" I drawled, closing in a few inches to her face. She shook her head slowly and continued to close the distance between us before it was just a breath away.

"I think..." She drew her arm around me, "–that you..." she moved on top of me straddling me beneath her, "–will do exactly as I say or..." I felt her heat pressed flush into be and my pulse race as her lips moved to graze my ear, "No dessert, for the crime lord." She whispered.

I pulled back. "Who told you not to play fair?"

"I've spent too much time in the Underworld to play nicely." She retorted with a smirk.

"I'm completely at your mercy, your imperial highness." I said as grandiose as humanly possible.

"Good because that was an empty threat." She said quickly before trying to steal a kiss. But this time I held her back with a fake look of thoughtfulness.

"So, do you think cream curtains or charcoal?"

"Aleeex." She whined.

"I think charcoal will bring out the empty threats in your eyes."

"I think you should buy whatever damn colour." She argued as she let out a puff. It only made me grin and pull her close. I felt her smile into my neck as I kissed her hooded head.

"First the combat training and now the sass. Whatever will become of you next month?"

"I really do need to show you what your second has taught me..." She ventured sounding almost eager. I chuckled and shrugged easily.

"I can put you on your ass for a few rounds... then that fight thing you mentioned."

"You are incorrigible."

"With you, always." I told her, wrapping both arms around her and hugging her tightly.

She relaxed into me and it did not take long for her slow and steady breathing to start as she drifted into sleep, wrapped in both my cloak and my arms.