New Allies

[Oriena]

She watched Ryker play with his food, amused for the particularly vile spark of ire he shot in her direction. He knew what she was, and he’d seen first hand the searing nature of the power the ijiraq had torn through her bones. A little bit of scorn barely stung, but if he wanted to tease so prettily, he could not complain if she bit. Dry laughter escaped, content for now to be a spectator to the sport.

Honestly, she was surprised Yun appeared to fall so readily for the artifice. Those lips poured poison that was not even particularly honeyed, and they poured it cloying thick. Whether it was truth or some game of her own Ori did not try to fathom, though she did study the woman’s expression out of sheer curiosity when his lips met those knuckles, and when that insinuation hit like a blunt slap in the face. But Yun only winked at him.

“Hers, or yours? Tell me, does it even still work?” The remark was flippant enough, but she didn’t disguise her desire for a reaction either. Those scars webbed a trail that dipped below the cusp of his collar, and one eye was milky blind; perhaps it had not been the only thing damaged by his injuries. It might explain his foul mood. Her smile sharpened into a challenge, but she doubted he would take the bait. Her shoulder tipped into a shrug. “Pleasure is my business, after all.”

“A passing acquaintance,” she supplied to the question Yun has asked of him, though she was sure he had his own version. “He never collected on a wager, actually.”