Page 26

The moment he heard Rhyn’s warning, Vahn acted purely on instinct. He only had one thought, and that was to protect Kara. He swept her from her chair and covered her body with his.

The lighting array shattered around them. The noise was deafening, a thunderous cacophony of breaking glass and tearing alloy. Kara shut her eyes as sharp splinters rained down on them. The chaotic tumult died away and a shocking stillness followed.

The first thing she saw when she was able to focus was Vahn’s face. She was wedged beneath him, broken chairs to one side, smashed table top to the other. And on all sides, the twisted wreckage of metal and crystal.

“Vahn?”

she croaked. “Vahn, are you all right?”

“Damned thing weighs a ton,”

he grated.

He dipped half an inch towards her before straightening his arms again. His biceps bulged. Kara’s eyes widened as she realized what he was doing.

He was keeping the weight of the chandelier from crushing her.

“It’s too heavy,”

she cried. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

“The furniture is taking most of the weight.”

“Let me help you.”

She tried to twist out from under him but he snarled through gritted teeth.

“Stay still. It’s hard enough to concentrate without you wriggling around.”

His serpetri were planted on either side of her body and she saw they were starting to shake. She didn’t know how much weight he was bearing but she knew it was too much.

“Vahn, please. You can’t take this for much longer.”

“I won’t have to. They’ll be moving this thing any minute.”

Sweat was beading on the boned ridges of his alien forehead. His arms shook with the effort of keeping himself suspended. Yet he refused to give up.

“You’re saving my life,”

she whispered. “Again.”

A pained smile flashed across his face.

“It would look very bad if we died on our first official engagement as a married couple.”

He grunted as the chandelier shifted. Neither he nor Kara could see what was happening but they both heard the muffled sounds of frantic activity.

“They’re starting to move it,”

said Kara. “Hold on.”

His yellow eyes gleamed down at her and she could see the pain in them. He dipped another centimeter towards her. His chest was now touching hers and he was tense with strain.

“Talk to me. Distract me.”

“Talk about what?”

“Anything. Anything at all.”

“Okay. Why don’t you want me?”

She regretted the question as soon as she blurted it out. But then she thought, what the hell. We might die under here. And I want a answer. Vahn was nonplussed.

“What do you mean?”

“You won’t have sex with me, even when I make it pretty obvious I’m up for it. You caught me masturbating for God’s sake, and didn’t lay a finger on me. Am I really so disgusting to you?”

“No, of course not.”

He frowned, the weight of the chandelier temporarily forgotten. “Quite the opposite.”

“Then prove it. Sleep with me. Tonight.”

“Kara, we agreed to take things slow.”

“You agreed to take things slow. I want to ride you till you pop.”

Vahn tried not to imagine it. His position was precarious enough as it was.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not? We’re married.”

“Because…”

he fumbled for a convincing answer. “Because we should wait until the time is right.”

“And will that time be within twenty-one days of our wedding?”

She didn’t mean to blurt it out but it was too late. She watched his expression change.

“So it’s true,”

she said quietly. “You want to declare our marriage denerra.”

“Kara…”

But she didn’t want to hear any more. Frankly, she didn’t care if the bloody chandelier crushed them both. She turned her face away, unwilling to let him see how much he’d hurt her.

Vahn opened and closed his mouth, robbed of words. It was bad enough she’d figured out his plan. But somehow the fact that he’d wounded her was much, much worse.

And even when the chandelier was lifted off him, he was still bowed by the crippling weight of his guilt.