A satisfied smile crept over his face. “Say it again.”
She giggled. “You’re the only male.”
“Say you belong to me—with me. You know I meant that, don’t you?”
“I know,” she whispered. “I belong to you. And with you. I’m yours.”
“And I’m only for you,” he said gruffly. “Freeing Zandia?” He shook his head. “It’s for you. Not for Zander or this pod full of humans. It’s what you want for them, so it’s what I will do. I’m yours to command, as much as you’re mine.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back, laying her cheek against his heart. “I love you, Rok.”
“Do you, beautiful? I’m not sure how that’s possible, but I sure as veck will take it. I need you like breath. If that’s love, it’s what I feel.”
Epilogue
Leora answered Zander’s summons, finding him in the Great Hall staring at one of Lamira’s plants without appearing to see it. He’d been silent on the flight back to his pod, and her daughter’s anxiety had grown when he refused to speak with her.
Her daughter had expected punishment for putting herself into danger. Zander was quick to deliver physical correction, but, judging from Lamira’s blushes, they weren’t entirely unenjoyable.
Lamira had been in tears that morning, saying he’d acted like a stranger, hardly acknowledging her when they returned to his chamber.
“Perhaps he needs time to think about how best to punish you,” Leora had suggested over breakfast.
“The last time he doubted me, he set me aside,” Lamira fretted.
“You are carrying his young. He will not set you aside,” she’d promised. But, looking at him now, she wasn’t so sure. He still wore the withdrawn, stony expression he’d had since the previous planet rotation.
“You asked for me, my lord?”
He fingered a leaf absently. “Yes.”
When he said nothing, she approached him, stopping a few feet away.
“You are my guest here, Leora.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“When I bought you, it was as a gift to Lamira. I have not made any demands of your service other than as her companion.”
She dropped her head, sensing the rebuke that was coming. “Yes, my lord.”
“As her mother, I would expect you to hold her health and well-being as the utmost priority. Even more so because she is with child.”
“Yes, my lord, that is why—”
“No,” he cut her off. “Do not give me any explanation—I have no patience for your excuses. Allowing Lamira to risk her life as she did was unacceptable.”
She kept her eyes trained on the floor. “Yes, my lord.”
“You have displeased me, and I require that you be punished.”
A knot tightened in her middle. Would Zander punish her himself? Lamira had suspected, when he’d first bought Leora, that he intended to use her, too, as a sex slave. How would her daughter react to hearing Zander had punished her.
A movement drew her attention to the doorway. Master Seke, the warrior, stood in perfect stillness. How long had he been there?
“I have asked Master Seke to punish you.”
Her belly fluttered as Seke’s deep-amethyst gaze held hers.