I rushed in to fill the silence before she could object to anything I was saying. “Khanavai males mate for life,” I told her. “And I know you’re not sure if you could love me.” I held up a hand to stop her as she started to speak. “But even so, the Bride Lottery, the Games, they’re supposed to be about finding love. That’s what happened with Prince Khan and Princess Elle. They fell in love, and they really did live happily ever after. I think we could, too.”
I stood up, still holding her hands. “So that’s what I’m asking. Let’s walk away from all of this,” I released one of my hands long enough to gesture at the room, the other Khanavai warriors, all of Station 21, “and find out if you could fall in love with me. Because I know, without a doubt, that you’re the one for me. And I want to spend the rest of my life showing you what love is supposed to be like.”
I stopped, finally having run out of words.
Deandra gazed into my eyes for a long moment, as if searching for something there. Then she closed her own eyes and tilted forward to lean her forehead against mine.
When she didn’t say anything, I did the only thing I could think of to try to show her how much I meant what I said.
I took her face between my hands and leaned in to kiss her—hoping beyond hope that she would return my kiss.
Chapter Seventeen
Dee
It took only a few seconds for the magic of my attraction to Wex to work on me.
His lips against mine were a question, a request.
But as soon as I moved against him, they turned hard and demanding, an extension of the impassioned speech he had just given.
If we do this, it is for real, his kiss told me.
It’s forever.
I responded with my own passionate message, my mouth devouring his even as his devoured mine.
We are in this together.
“Hey!” someone shouted. “What the vulk is this?”
Wex pulled his lips from mine, and I hopped off my oversized chair to stand next to him.
“This is unfair,” Tiziani called out. “If an unregistered groom can just walk in and kiss a potential bride, what’s to stop everyone else from doing it?”
Several of the other grooms in the room muttered among themselves, clearly agreeing with Tiziani’s stance.
“I demand the chance to kiss her, as well,” the yellow Khanavai continued.
“Oh, hell no.” I stepped closer to Wex. “Get me out of here,” I said to him. “I am not kissing that son of a bitch. I saw how he acted last year on the games. He beat that shit out of that woman—and she seemed nice when she came to get Amelia.”
Wex nodded. “I liked her.”
I turned a suddenly suspicious stare in his direction. “We’re not getting into any of that spanking bullshit, are we?”
He blinked, muttering something in his own language that the translator rendered as hitting with male bovine feces. “That’s not in my plans, no.”
“It is my turn,” Tiziani said loudly.
Drindl and Plofnid, who had just entered the room, glanced nervously at each other, and then at me.
Drindl’s hands began to flutter at her sides, and as she moved past us, she murmured over her shoulder, “Run. I’ll distract them.”
Wex and I took one quick look at each other, then turned and bolted toward the door, clasping hands as soon as we were on the other side.
From inside the room, Drindl’s bell-like voice began trilling something incomprehensible, and then it rose, the pitch getting higher and higher. All the way down the hallway, we could still hear her. It must have been ear-splitting back in the room with her, her voice going higher and sharper than any soprano I had ever heard, ringing out across the station.
As we turned the corner at the end of the hallway, I heard glass shattering in the rooms behind us.
We dashed through the corridors until I could no longer keep up with Wex. At that point, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me, my arms wrapped around his neck.
We hit the center of the station at full speed, dashing past the food court. But instead of continuing to some Khanavai-only portion of Station 21, Wex turned and ducked into the garden.
He didn’t slow down until we were deep inside, even leaving the path and shoving us through tangled foliage.
By then, I had my head buried against his chest and was laughing hysterically. When he finally slowed down, I caught my breath long enough to say, “Where are you taking me?”
His chest heaved, and a bead of sweat rolled down one cheek. I reached up and brushed it away, my fingertip tracing his high cheekbone.
“Somewhere we can talk privately,” he finally said. Carefully, he dropped his arm out from under my legs and lowered me gently to the ground.
I glanced around at the unfamiliar plants. “None of these are poisonous or anything, right? I can sit down?”
He laughed and folded his legs under him, gesturing for me to sit on his lap. “Just in case.”
“So what do we need to talk about?” I leaned back against him, snuggling into the warmth of his body. “It kind of seems like you said most of the important things back there in the dining room.”
“Yes, but there will be a lot of questions about us, I fear.” Under me, his body went perfectly still. “And I have a few more things I need to tell you.”
My throat tightened, but I managed to say, “I have a couple of things I need to tell you, too.”
“Do you want to go first?” he asked.
I shook my head mutely. I wanted to hear everything he had to say first—that way, if he decided to walk away after he heard what I needed to tell him, at least I wouldn’t have to wonder about his secrets.
He inhaled deeply, clearly preparing to spill his guts.
