Page 49 of The Interdimensional Lord's Earthly Delight

He faltered a few steps. She already believed he wasn’t Blackworm, but could he convince her he wasn’t Tynan either, or at least not the reckless warlord he’d been who’d broken hearts and spaceship blockades with equal abandon?

She was almost to the overgrown clearing where they’dlanded the shuttle. Not that she could fly away without him. He hung back for a moment, knowing he’d have to risk her anger to court her favor.

But the chance he was taking blossomed inside him like one of those improbable lamanya flowers under the black hole’s radiance from the first time he’d seen her.

He hustled forward, not sure exactly what he was going to say but trusting the power ofhis godhood would save him.

About to step out into the clearing, she hesitated, her face turning up toward the sky. The sun shimmered in the corner of her eye, and his heart seized to think he’d made his strong lady cry. “Lishelle.”

He reached for her arm just as she spun toward him, her dark eyes widening with terror. “Run!”

Behind her, a vicious orange beam of light speared down from theheavens, and the shuttle exploded in a rain of ruin.