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Vahn spent the rest of the day locked in his room reading through the reports Rhyn had provided, trying to fill the gaps in his memory. It was exhausting.

The more he learned of recent events, the less he recognized himself. But nothing was more perplexing than his relationship with the human.

Night fell and he tried to get some sleep but it was impossible. His mind churned with questions, his thoughts tangled and confused.

Was what he’d felt for the human really kalehsh?

The sensation she’d evoked in him had been gut-deep. Her scent had resonated in his very bones. But why in the name of Ayanlesh would the gods curse him this way? To be fated to a human – it didn’t make sense. No, there had to be another reason. Some other cause for his affliction. If only he could remember.

The flaws in his memory were beyond frustrating. Half a Vraxian solar year was missing and in that time, according to his closest friends and advisors, he had been stranded on a planet, formed a bond with the enemy, brokered a peace deal and got married. It didn’t seem credible.

But the proof was there – in the negotiation notes drafted in his own handwriting; in the testimony of his advisors; in the vis-cam footage he’d watched.

Yet when he tried to fill in the blanks, his mind never got further than that last frantic battle in space. The dog-fight with the Merlin, the missiles, the flat spin… and then nothing.

He thought again about Kara. He couldn’t forget the almost visceral reaction he’d had to her proximity. The way his body had responded to her. The effort it had taken to let her go.

She had told him they had mated many times. Had said it as if it was perfectly natural. But it wasn’t. It was a perversion to lie with a different species. And an inferior one, at that.

Compared to the splendor of Vraxian females, Kara was too small and too soft. Her skin was unarmored, her physique less durable. Making vastra with her would be an exercise in restraint. Difficult and awkward.

So why do you keep wondering how she would feel beneath you?

Vahn clenched his jaw in frustration. It was true. Ever since he had scented her, he couldn’t stop wondering about the mechanics of it all. About how they would fit together.

Kara had ignited something primal in him, he couldn’t deny that. The only explanation was that something was wrong with him. On some level he was broken, as both a Vraxian and a male. Thank Ayanlesh his father wasn’t here to witness his deficiencies.

He forced himself to focus on the positives. Despite his obvious weakness of character, he had managed to achieve something wonderful, hadn’t he?

A truce. The first one in the long and bloody conflict with the Terrans. And not just a truce, but an interplanetary agreement which encompassed a trade deal and full diplomatic relations. It was there in black and white, just ready to be signed. An agreement forged by weeks of painstaking negotiation.

If Vraxians could dream, even his father wouldn’t have dreamt such an outcome was possible.

He couldn’t let go of such a landmark opportunity just because of his pride. He owed it to his people to end the fighting. But neither could he ignore the problem of Kara. The humiliation of being married to a human was too much. How could he keep one and get rid of the other?

The answer, when it came to him, was simple.

When the agreement was in place, and President Cameron had returned home to Earth, he and Kara would quietly dissolve their marriage.

They may have mated many times, which was a shameful burden he would have to bear. But they hadn’t mated whilst they were legally married. And under Vraxian law, non-consummation of their bonding vows within twenty-one solar days meant the marriage was denerra. Invalid.

It was a way out. Whether or not Kara was his kalehsha – something he still couldn’t quite believe – he didn’t have to be shackled to her. Fate be damned.

Satisfied at last that he had a plan, Vahn finally drifted into sleep.