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Rath surged forward and punched him, crumpling his face and leaving his eyes blank. “Now you may remove him. If he survives, I will send his broken form to his family, and if he isn’t broken enough now, he will be.”

Riley looked at Ranna and said, “I am sorry. I didn’t know if he was with you during our com calls.”

Ranna came to her and hugged her. “I will take one of you over a dozen green monsters.”

“Okay, but I am going to help your dad with the search. My people are on a number of worlds, including ones with defenders. I think a guardian here would be a nice touch.”

Rath sighed. “I will look with you. You would pick one because you think my daughter would like the look of his cock.”

Riley grinned. “Aesthetics are important in a Hmrain descendant.”

Ranna giggled. And the room relaxed. The blood on the floor was mopped up, and the party resumed.

An hour later, Riley was sitting on a couch in the corner, and Ranna sat next to her. “I am fine with him being gone. There was a weird intensity to him that made me unsettled. He was fun enough, but he wasn’t good in a crisis. I am made of crisis, as you know.”

“Very well. It’s how we met.”

“Father looks happy.”

“I like to think he is. I have a new trick that I can do, but it will bring an end to the evening.”

“Do tell.”

“No. After I finish talking to my favourite stepdaughter in the whole world—”

“Your only stepdaughter.”

“That as well. Anyway, I want you to find happiness with a guy who takes your breath away. You deserve to feel more than happy with a night out or dinner. You need to want to see him every minute of every day, and when he isn’t with you, you think of ways to make him sorry for not being with you, and then you see him, and the plots go right out of your head.”

Ranna sighed. “That sounds delightful.”

“It can be, but that is what I want for you, and I want to look for candidates to find it. First, they have to like females. They need to be in an appropriate age range. Nurturer. Funny. Serious when needed. They need to think you are the pinnacle of beauty, even if you are dressed in loose trousers and covered in mud. Oh, and while they can have weird body piercings, they shouldn’t insist on you getting them. That’s just manners.”

Ranna took her hand. “They must like my family.”

“That’s too much to ask.”

They giggled.

“Okay. Show me your trick.”

“Well, I have had a lovely time, and I am tired.” She got up and walked to where Rath was talking to a crowd of people. She thought about him inside her, about being wrapped around him, the sting of his tongue, and the piercing of his teeth. By the time she was at his side, she was breathing faster and feeling distinctly flushed. She took his arm, looked up at him, and tapped him twice on the sternum.

She was in his arms, and he flew out of the party while Ranna’s laughter rang out.

Rath set her on her feet and stripped her efficiently. As agreed, there were no negotiations. He simply stripped her, and then she surprised him by unbuckling his belt and getting his erection free of the fabric concealing it. She knelt and took him into her mouth, drawing back and working her tongue against him as his wings widened for balance and his hands formed fists at his sides. She could only get to the fourth band on him, but he wasn’t complaining. She kept working, sucking as she moved her hand around him, and finally, he started trembling, and she tasted salty pear.

Rath lifted her and stared into her eyes for a moment before kissing her and then placing her carefully on the bed. He dropped to his belly between her thighs, and the true party got going.

They were having breakfast with tea with Rath occasionally pausing to kiss her hand, and in the extreme, he lifted her high, parted the loose panels of her tunic, and kissed her belly where his mark was spreading. It was a DNA test for dummies. His nanites made his mark when his baby had gotten started.

She smiled. “Do you have to return to normal business today?”

“There are a few things I need to do, including contacting Nizzen’s family and explaining that he involved himself in the kidnapping of a consort presumptive.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s going to suck.”

“It will. Please be in the residence when I get home after addressing parliament this evening.” The two sentences were both heavy.