They’d arrived much sooner than she’d expected. When they weren’t taking a circuitous route to avoid being seen, the palace didn’t seem quite so huge.
No, it’s huge—she revised her opinion again as soon as she entered afoyerlarger than her apartment on Earth.His suite has a fricking foyer!A mosaic of jewels formed the crest of Kaldor in the floor. Overhead—way overhead—a mural adorned the soaring ceiling. A dazzling chandelier floated in the space.
All this for a few bedrooms and bath? “How many rooms do you have?”
“Only fourteen,” he said. “Not counting the bathing chambers. There are four of those.”
“You need four bathrooms?”
“There are four bedrooms,” he said.
“But you live here alone?”
“Until now.” He grinned.
The sisters had shared a two-bedroom, one-bath unit—five rooms total if you included the small alcove off the parlor the landlord called a dining room. The suite she’d been granted at the palace had three rooms—a large sitting area, a place to sleep, and Karma’s “closet,” which had been larger than her bedroom at home.
“I’ll give you a tour.”
“I think I might need a map,” she said.
He led her through his residence graced by tapestries, artwork, and murals. There were three separate sitting areas, one of which doubled as a “small” library. “I am studying ancient Kaldoran, and I like to practice in here so I can speak it privately. No one to notice my flubs,” he said.
“I remember your profile said you were studying the old language.”
“And you married me anyway,” he said with self-mocking humor. “Most people think it’s pretty boring.”
“Oh, no. I liked that. I’ve been learning Latin, an old Earth language that isn’t spoken anymore.”
“Is that the language you used when you spoke to your sister at the wedding?” he guessed.
“Yes.” Her mouth quirked. “Eo te occidere. I told her I was going to kill her.”
“Understandable. I have a sibling, too,” he said. “But why?”
“For making it awkward—insisting we kiss.”
“The kiss was awkward? My apologies. I’d gotten the impression that it was traditional in your culture, and I wished to make it less awkward.”
“No, the kiss was…nice.” His nearness and touch had caused her heart to flutter and her lips to tingle. She’d had to restrain herself from leaning in, parting her lips, and… “But we hadn’t talked about it, and I didn’t know if it would be uncomfortable for you. Kissing to seal the vows is traditional but not required.”
“Well, I didn’t mind. It was, as you say, nice.”
They passed a glassed-in atrium large enough to be considered an actual garden containing trees, flowers, grass, alien birds, a small pond, and benches for sitting. “If you use the atrium, be sure to keep the door closed,” he said. “I left it open once, and it took days to get theflitteriesout of the suite.”
“Got it.” She smiled.
“This is where I sleep.” He stepped into a gigantic bedroom fit for a king. He strode to the enormous bed dressed in rich fabrics, pressed a button on an elaborate console, and retracted the ceiling, revealing a glass dome. “At night, you can see the stars.”
Was this where she would sleep? Sleeping arrangements hadn’t been one of their prenuptial discussions. Didn’t “marriage of convenience” equate to “no sex”?
If their marriage had been real, she would expect that they would become intimate—after they got to know each other.But their marriage was temporary and fake. The perfunctory wedding kiss had been purely ceremonial. If her heart had raced a little, well, that was due to the awkwardness of the situation.
“Your room is over here,” he said to her disappointment-tinged relief. Did Kaldoran couples not share a room and bed, or had separate sleeping quarters been arranged because theirs wasn’t a real marriage? Was this his not-so-subtle way of avoiding the possibility of intimacy? It would be problematic if he expected sex immediately, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to be wanted.
She followed him through a door into an adjoining room equally spacious and opulent. “Your ceiling opens, too.” He pressed a button on the bedside console to show her and then closed it again.
“Cool!” She looked forward to watching the stars at night. She figured the constellations must be different in this part of the galaxy.
