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Kara arched into his touch, furious at her own helpless capitulation but desperately wanting more. He swelled beneath her, his girth stiffening into a steel rod that pressed against her most intimate places with delicious friction. She quivered with excitement.

It would be so easy to let him have his way. To mount him here, on his throne, and taste the ecstasy they’d shared on Minerva-6. But her anger hadn’t dissipated. She could feel it in her gut, sharp and flinty, vying with her desire.

You can’t let him do this.She wanted to. God, she wanted to so much. But she’d hate herself if she did. And she’d hate him even more.

Battling her own impulses, she put her hand on the soft skin behind his ear and scratched. Hard. With a hiss he grabbed her wrist.

“Easy,kalehsha,” he warned.

“Let me go, snake-boy.”

“Not until I bury my face in your juices and make you reachjarnaat least twice.”

“That’s not happening.”

“But you want it to.” He studied her flushed face and swollen lips. “You’re mine. You will always be mine.”

With every last ounce of her strength, Kara drew back her other hand and punched him in the face.

Nine

He stared in shock.

“Kalehsha?”

“Don’t call me that,” she said, her voice shaking with rage. “And don’t touch me again.”

She slid off his knee and he made no attempt to stop her.

“Vannla’s Sword, you’re being unreasonable. I have apologized for my deception.”

“It doesn’t change what you did. You strung me along for months.”

“I’m sorry that I lied to you. I will regret it to the end of my days. But I don’t know what else to say. Shall I performfarnor?Is that what it will take to earn your forgiveness?”

“You still don’t get it, do you?”

“Explain so that I may understand.”

She looked him in the eye.

“It’s not that you lied about who you were. It’s that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me.” Her voice shook. “All that time we spent together. Everything we shared. Saving each other’s lives, falling in love. And yet you couldn’t tell me the most fundamental thing about yourself. You didn’t have faith in me. Inus.”

Vahn heard her utter desolation and knew he could never undo the hurt.

“If I could change what I did, I would,” he said quietly.

Kara was jolted by the sadness in his voice. Her anger faded, leaving her bone-weary. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to untangle both it and her emotions.

The silence stretched, every second that passed widening the gulf between them.

“What’s done is done,” she said at last. “Let’s concentrate on the job in hand.”

“You are absolutely sure you want to take part inshaa’baara?”

“I said so, didn’t I? Tell me how it works.”

Vahn struggled to gather his thoughts.