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Kara’s lip twitched.

“You got me good, snake-boy. What have youreallydone with Baelon?”

“I summoned him this morning and assigned him to oversee the new waste treatment plant we’re constructing on the edge of the city. That should keep him busy for a while.”

“You gave him sewage duty? And he accepted that?”

Vahn shrugged.

“He may be from a royal clan but I am still the Emperor. He is obliged to obey me.”

“I’m impressed. You kept your cool.”

“I didn’t want to.” Vahn stepped closer to Kara, so close he could inhale her delicious human scent and she had to tilt her head to look up at him. “I wanted to kill him for hurting you. I wanted it so much I could taste blood in my mouth.”

“So why didn’t you?” she asked, a touch breathlessly.

“Because I had to prove to you that I am more than just a violent alien.”

Emotion welled in her throat and she placed a hand on his chest.

“I already know that. And I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. I won’t lie to you again.”

Another rumble of laughter.

“Do not make promises you cannot keep, human.”

“All right. I’lltrynot to lie to you again.”

“Good enough. Now, to the business at hand. I have been researching Earth customs and I believe this is what is expected of me.”

To Kara’s disbelief, Vahn got down on one knee. He produced a small box and held it out. Kara stared at it and despite his bravado, the Vraxian was touched with apprehension.

“What’s this?” she asked uncertainly.

“I asked your dressmaker to fashion it. I hope you like it.”

With trembling hands, Kara took the box and opened it. Her jaw dropped. Inside nestled the biggest sapphire she’d ever seen, mounted on a band studded with tiny sparkling diamonds.

“Oh. My. God.”

“Kara Cameron-Singh, my sweetkalehsha,will you be my Zhaalini?”

She didn’t answer right away. She made him wait. Slipping the ring onto her finger, she turned it this way and that, examining it closely.

After his charade about Baelon, it was the least she could do.

Vahn scrutinized her face, trying to discern her reaction until he could wait no longer.

“Beloved?”

She kissed him. It was a long, lingering kiss which scorched him to the core and left him in no doubt as to her answer. When she finally pulled back they were both grinning.

“Yes, snake-boy. Yes, I’ll be your Zhaalini.”

Then she pushed him onto the floor and showed him right there and then just how much she wanted to marry him.

Forty Six