The gate flared again and a group of newcomers arrived.
The anklets announced Bastet before the light finished fading, each chime slower than usual, and the felinid queen padded into the hall barefoot with her tail low and her dignity held together by willpower alone.
"Forty-one floors of marble today, Master," she declared, flat and forensic. "Eleven lobbies. Nine conference rooms. Not one civilization among them has discovered the cushion."
She located the deepest cushions in the room, lowered herself onto them with ceremonial control, and then abandoned the ceremony entirely and melted sideways until she lay flat. "Is this how batteries feel after a ten hour binge? Where's my quick charge function?"
Aria crossed the room without appearing to hurry and was somehow already attached to Kaiden's arm, both of hers wrapped around it, her cheek against his shoulder before he'd finished registering the perfume.
