Page 4 of A Delicate Conquest

She was out of a job, but that wasn’t a problem. With her skills, in this existing market, she could find something easily.

Whatcouldn’tbe found so easily was a male partner who metherown exacting standards.

The Kordolian takeover of Earth was inevitable. She might as well be on the right side of it.

Besides, she was curious.

Whowouldn’tturn down an invitation like this?

It was time to focus on herself.

To enjoy herself a little.

She pressed a tiny button on the small black holo-device.

“To accept, simply indicate your preference.”

“Okay, sure,” Bea said. “I accept.”

The small metal device glowed blue for a moment as if beaming its approval.

“We are honored by the confirmation of your presence.”

For an event organized by an advanced, all-powerful, militarily superior race, their RSVP process was surprisingly comfortable.

They must’ve had human input, surely.

Perhaps she should be a little suspicious—itcouldbe some sort of trap, after all—but Bea wasn’t too worried.

On that day, when the Kordolians entered Garner Tower, they could have shut down the entire place in minutes. Could have just taken what they wanted.

Could have killed all the human mercs that had gone in to try and mess things up in Garner’s favor.

But they hadn’t.

Considering what they were capable of, they’d been impressively restrained.

Even Mavrel, who’d been held hostage at some point. He must never have really felt he was in danger because the entire time, he’d been as cool as a cucumber.

They hadn’t killed anyone that day.

They’d tried to do things the human way until Garner fucked it all up.

Bea almost felt a little bit sorry for them and for Mavrel, who had seemed so earnest in his interactions with her.

So she didn’t mind attending some fancycultural eventat their behest.

Her curiosity was piqued, and besides, she wanted to surprise her good friend Clarissa and offer her moral support in the event that things went either awry orwellfor her… with that scary Kordolian ex-commander.

She rarely got a chance to dress up these days, anyway. The invitation had specifiedformal attire.

What fun.

She couldn’t wait to slay.

TWO

Mavrel Yrixis was in trouble.