Page 46 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)

An hour and a half of work later, Kat’s watch buzzed, and Bug emerged from the surface. It gave a series of excited trills and zoomed off.

Kaveh drew in a deep breath and wiped his forehead. “That would be Giana and Evangeline.”

Sure enough, Giana Gatti had arrived to the monstertown, dressed in a low-cut blouse, flared pants, and a hat the size of a bicycle tire.

As Lyall stood with Naomi and Jenny on either side of him, arms folded, Remi and his mother engaged in a tense conversation that broke off when Kat and Kaveh arrived.

“Hello, Kat.” Giana had a knack for making the simplest introduction sound like an illicit invitation. “How nice to see you under more pleasant circumstances. Perhaps you could properly introduce me to the good doctor?”

“Good afternoon.” Kaveh removed his hat and shook Giana’s hand. “Thank you for accepting our invitation, and welcome to Cactus Flower Estates.”

“There’s a shortage of rich men waiting to be bamboozled here, so feel free to leave early.” Remi was usually good at cutting remarks, but he sounded stressed, rather than sarcastic.

Kat gave Naomi a pointed look, and she and Jenny came walking up.

“Hello, Ms. Gatti, I’m Naomi, and this is Jenny.” Naomi gave Giana one of her all-business handshakes, while Jenny made admiring comments about the mafia wife’s outfit. “We’re Kat’s older sisters. We’d like to thank you for helping our brother.”

“Naomi has that friend I mentioned with the super yacht.” Kat put that out there without a hint of shame. “And Jenny works closely with several wealthy art collectors in the area.”

Giana brightened. “Fascinating. I’m quite fond of all things nautical and art, of course. Tell me, exactly how large is this yacht?”

Remi visibly relaxed as his mother strolled away with Kat’s two sisters, and even more so when Lyall came up to put an arm around his shoulder.

Kat and Lyall exchanged a look.

It was go time.

“If I could have everyone’s attention, please.” Kat was grateful that Lyall had shown him how to tell Bug he wanted his voice broadcast over the park. The words boomed out, and Kat was suddenly the center of attention.

And it was all good. Especially because the crowd wouldn’t be focusing on him for long.

“Remi has an announcement to make.” Lyall’s loud voice rang out without any cyberbug enhancements. He gave his half-ratkind friend a solid shove in Kaveh’s direction.

“Wait, now?” Remi held up his hands. “I thought we were doing the thing after the livestream.”

“Kat, what’s going on?” Kaveh looked puzzled, but that expression turned to shock as Remi went down on one knee in front of him.

“Kaveh, I want to tell you something in front of everyone.” Remi fumbled in one of his jean pockets, already forgetting details of the plan, so Lyall came forward to slap the small box he was looking for into his hand.

“The best thing that ever happened to me was getting caught as a spy by you. I came here to steal a dragon’s treasure and ended up having you steal my heart—with a little help from the Matchmaker.

” He opened the box, and the sun glinted off the gold ring inside. “Wanna get hitched?”

Kaveh stared at him, open-mouthed, for long enough that the crowd gathered around them grew tense.

Then he burst into laughter and pulled out a similar box from his back pocket. “I think we’ve both been conned, and it’s the best joke anyone has ever played on me. The answer is yes.”

Now it was Remi’s turn to stare in surprise as Kaveh handed him the other engagement ring box. They embraced and kissed as everyone around them clapped and cheered.

“Such an unusual way to announce a marital contract.” A voice came from behind Kat, and he and Lyall turned to see Gremory standing before them in her humanoid form.

Several meters away, the mini-hellmouth she had arrived through winked out of existence.

“I’m excited to see how the two of you will honor your Matchmaker commitment. ”

“There won’t be any ripped-out hearts on display, Mother.” Lyall put his arm around Kat’s waist for support, which was sweet but not necessary. Kat had been dealing with pushy family members for too long to let Gremory knock him off balance. “We’re dating. It’s an Earth thing.”

“Besides, I have career plans to focus on before marriage.” Kat wanted to be clear on that point. “I’m applying for veterinary school—that’s like being a healer, but for species other than your own.”

“Yes, I’m familiar with this type of scholarship.

” Gremory smiled, her fangs showing. “I’ve had several discussions with the heads of such a healing academy in the human city near our hellmouth.

They would be honored to have you as one of their students, as they should be.

In return, I would be willing to share scientific knowledge with them. ”

The veterinary school in Portland was relatively new and focused on exobiology.

It was one of Kat’s dream programs, but he hadn’t thought he had much of a chance to get into it.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how exciting the offer of collaboration with a Riftworld scientist might be to the faculty there.

His mind was whirling, but the reassuring warmth of Lyall standing next to him settled him down.

“Thank you, Alpha Gremory.” Kat was pleased but no longer surprised at how calm he sounded. “That’s very kind of you, and Lyall and I will discuss it and think about it further.”

Gremory’s smile widened. “So sensible, for such a young human. Very well. Enjoy the Matchmaker festivities of your friends. Alpha Cesmak and I will see you at the Fall Equinox clan dinner.”

Lyall watched her walk away, shaking his head in disbelief. “You know, in her own way she’s more of a menace than Cesmak.”

“We should start the livestream.” Kat spotted Bug and Evangeline circling the crowd that was congratulating the newly engaged couple, Giana among them.

He caught a glimpse of Remi allowing his mother to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Probably only to stop her from kissing Kaveh instead, but still—progress.

“Remi did tell his fans there would be a show today, and since he and Kaveh are busy with the surprise engagement party we threw for them, I guess I’ll have to fill in.”

Lyall waved a hand, and both cyberbugs zoomed over to them. Bug shrank in size and dove into Kat’s watch, and to his surprise, Evangeline followed suit.

“I might have stolen Giana’s cyberbug by accident.

” Kat scanned his watch screen, trying to process the information the two alien organisms were sharing with him.

“Bug is quite proud that it didn’t send out the video data too soon, like last time.

Evangeline didn’t get the memo, though, so Remi and Kaveh’s mutual marriage proposals went out to the Wandering Monster’s entire audience. ”

“As long as he’s getting views, Remi will get over it.

” Lyall slid his hand into Kat’s, the warmth and solidity of the touch bringing home that Kat finally had his bad boy and had learned he could pull off a little misbehavior himself.

“Let’s congratulate the happy couple and not tell them about the livestream for a while. After all, it’s our party too.”

THE END