Page 57 of The Intergalactic Duke's Inconvenient Engagement

A low rumble from the courtyard brought his gaze crashing down.

The ship that had brought the Earth envoy, the council delegates, and the OWFA representatives had ignited its atmospheric engines. He wouldn’t mind seeing the last of them.

But the smaller ship—theOnoffonregistered to Dejo Jinn—also fired up.In preparation for the launch, a hole parted in the energy dome, revealing the clear night sky and unblinking stars.

Raz’s heart stopped then slammed upward into his throat, knocking loose a harsh gasp. “Rayna.”

She was leaving. With his ring? But without a word.

Incensed, infuriated—inconsolable—he gripped the stone balustrade, staring down. The figures were too far away and the lighting toolow for him to identify her. She was just another one of eleven billion in this system that he’d been responsible for. But no longer.

Leaving him behind. A wild grief, worse than watching Azthronos disappear in the viewport behind him as a child, seized him.

But he wasn’t that child anymore, set on a path not of his own choosing. He was a duke—theduke, larf it. And he had saved her. She hadto at least give him the courtesy of a goodbye.

He slammed out of his office and raced for the main doors. Why did the estate have to be so larfing huge? The pounding of his boots echoed hollowly in the empty ballroom

Hollow and empty as his life would be if she left.

Thrusting open the doors, he hurtled out onto the steps.

Just as theOnoffonwheeled upward into the darkness, stringing behindin the wash of the larger cruiser. Both ships cleared the dome, and the hole in the energy shield contracted again, closing out the stars, trapping him alone on the stairs.

He staggered back in physical shock, his heel striking the step behind him so he almost stumbled. “My ray of light,” he murmured.

She was gone.