I screamed.

The voice had risen from nowhere, and, in a room that sounded too open to even be called a room, it felt like it surrounded me. My shriek of startled terror cut through it like a knife through butter until the only thing that could be heard was my high-pitched cry reverberating in layers from wall to wall, and my ears actually ached with the intensity of the sound.

A hand clamped over my mouth, and I was instantly struck with panic that rendered me dumb. It took a moment for all of the sounds in the room to die and, when silence had fallen on my sore ears, I gathered my senses enough to realize Dane’s hand was still held tightly in mine and I could smell him so strongly that it was as if I was bathing in him. I realized he was the one with the hand over my mouth, and I felt his lips brush against the upper curve of my ear.

“Relax,” he said soothingly. “It is only my brother.”

I heard a sharp snap, followed by a hiss, and then light flooded into the space around me to reveal a foyer so tall and vast it took my breath away. Dane was curled around me with his chest pressing into my back, and his chin hooked over my shoulder, and in front of us stood an A’li-uud who could have passed for Dane’s identical twin, though he had a slightly more aged look about him. His long, colorless hair glinted in the flickering flames, dancing atop the torch he held aloft, and his white eyes seemed ghostly in the fire’s shadows. The glow gave his skin—and Dane’s—an unnatural orangey hue, but it was still obvious to me that he was actually as pale as cream. And, just like Dane, he was shirtless and so well-muscled that he could have put any male calendar model to shame.

“I apologize,” Dane’s doppelganger said. His voice was low, and his words clipped, just like Dane’s, but he had a gravelly tone beneath that contrasted with Dane’s smooth, silken timbre. “I did not intend to frighten you.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t sneak up on people in the dark, then,” I grumbled breathlessly, clapping my palm flat against my chest and feeling my heart throb violently.

The A’li-uud, who I assumed was Duke as he was the only brother Dane had ever spoken about, narrowed his eyes slightly at me, but I could feel the corners of Dane’s mouth turning up against my temple. “You will have to excuse Roxanne, brother,” Dane said. “She has had an interesting couple of weeks.”

I tilted my head upward to look at him, but he kept his gaze squarely on his kin, though the upturned corners of his mouth twitched. I knew he was thinking about his drafting me into the journey to Albaterra, my punching General Morgan in the cafeteria, and the squirming mess he’d turned me into on my cot. Somehow, his teasing arrogance lit a fire in my groin that was ten times hotter than the torch Duke held.

“I see,” Duke replied stiffly. “I plan to better acquaint myself with you, Roxanne, but I am afraid I must steal the attention of my brother for a short time. We need to catch up on some important things. I am sure you understand.”

“Oh,” I faltered. “Of course.”

Dane grew tense against me, and he lifted his chin from my shoulder to straighten up without releasing my hand. “I do not wish to leave Roxanne unattended.”

“She will not be unattended,” Duke combatted. “I will send Emily to sit with her until our conversation is over.”

I could feel Dane’s hesitation in the hard way he wrapped himself around me, but I brushed my fingers over his arm and twisted my neck to look up at him. “It’s fine,” I murmured. “He should know what’s happening, and you should know what’s happened here since you’ve left. Besides, I said I wanted to meet the women here, right?”

His eyes dropped to me, but I could still see reservation on his handsome, chiseled features. Finally, he nodded reluctantly and released my hand. I turned back to Duke.

“Where do you want me to go?” I asked.

He inclined his head toward a massive staircase to my left. It was very narrow and made of odd, unfamiliar wood that ordinarily would have looked rickety, but it was extraordinarily tall. Because the light from the torch only extended so far outward, I was unable to see the stairs at the top, but I began climbing anyway. My vision descended into blackness again the further up I went, and, when Duke led Dane from the entrance room, I was completely unable to see. I reached to the right and pressed my hand against a cool, rocky wall I was certain it was actually the inside of the mountain, and I tried to guide myself without tripping.

There was a shuffling nearby, though several feet above me, and a dim glow appeared. Illuminated within the spherical light, there was a young human woman with large eyes and a slim face. She was looking at me in surprise.

“I heard my name,” she announced bluntly without preamble.

I froze, looking up at her. I wasn’t sure if she could see me or not because she was holding a slender candle with a small flame, but I smiled uncertainly in case she could.

“Hi,” I said awkwardly. “I’m Roxanne. I’m supposed to stay with you for a little bit until Dane is done talking to Duke, I think. You’re Emily, right?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “Be careful on the last step. It’s tilted.”

I trudged up the remaining steps, careful to mind my balance on the last, and felt a mild sense of relief as I reached the landing. Emily motioned for me to follow her. I trailed her down a long hallway just as narrow as the staircase and just as dark as the foyer until she stopped without warning in front of a door on the right. A split second later, thick golden rays poured into the corridor, searing my eyes and warming my face.

“Come on in,” she invited, walking through the now-open door and holding it open for me.

I entered the room, barely noticing as she closed the door again behind me. It was as large as a ballroom and irregularly shaped, but it felt cozy and comforting. The ceiling, clearly made of mountainous rock, sloped downward at a steep incline from one wall to the other, and the highest point had natural clusters of the same purple aspex I’d seen on the front door. The walls were also made of the organic stone of the mountain, carved out to the room’s blueprint, and were marbled with hues of chestnut, iron, and rich mahogany. A floor of vibrant earth-toned tiles lay beneath my feet and spread throughout the space so seamlessly that they seemed as natural as the walls. The eastern side of the room boasted a wide-mouthed fireplace, in which spat and crackled a roaring fire, and the western side featured a canopied bed and matching bedroom furniture. Looking around, I was reminded of an expensive lodge getaway in the Alps.

“Sit down wherever you want,” Emily said, blowing out the candle and placing it on the mantle. “If you’re cold, I can bring a chair over in front of the fire.”

“I’m fine,” I responded gratefully. I sidled to the nearest chair, a plain slat-backed piece, and sat. Emily took a comfortable chaise.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” she commented. In the better lighting, I could see she had blonde hair cut like a pixie and eyes that hinted of mystique. She curled her legs up beneath her body, rested her elbow on the chaise’s arm, and leaned her chin on her hand. “I mean, I knew Dane would be coming eventually, but we didn’t know when. And I definitely wasn’t expecting him to bring a human back with him.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly expecting to come here either,” I admitted.

Emily didn’t seem surprised by the confession, but a strange look covered her face anyway. She cocked her head, squinted her eyes, and stared at me as though she was trying to figure something out. “Oh my God!” she cried suddenly. “You’re the Ambassador!”

Apparently, my reputation preceded me. I nodded. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Roxanne Rigby, right? I’ve seen you on TV!” she gushed, her entire face lighting up and putting the glow of the flames to shame. “Well, I mean, I used to see you on TV, before I came to Albaterra.”

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes upward as she thought. “Four months, I think?” she mused. She dropped her gaze back to me. “Yeah, four months. Something like that.”

It was difficult to imagine being anywhere but Earth for four months, but, from the little I’d seen thus far, Albaterra would be my destination of choice. “You must love it,” I said dreamily.

Emily leaned forward until her torso cast a shadow over the tiled floor and looked at me intently. “If I’m being totally honest,” she intoned, her voice low and secretive, “I wish I’d never come.”