Diane left her suitcase by the door, stepping into the room and looking around. Through her eyes, he could see how palatial it was, and how luxurious. Alraed was a rich country, and his family had ruled it for generations. Many of the Antouns had an eye towards beauty and style, and one of the places that it came out most often was in their living quarters.

Diane touched the twisting vines carved into the hearth and crossed over to the windows that looked out over the east gardens, embellished with colored glass along both sides and across the top.

"This is all gorgeous," she said quietly, and then she turned to him with a determined grin on her face.

"I feel like I should apologize."

"Why's that?" asked Samyar, stepping closer before he could stop himself. She was still so gorgeous. Something in her called to him, and he couldn't stop looking at her luscious little mouth. It was so easy to remember kissing her, to remember the sweet taste of her...

"I guess I didn't really think about what it was that you were going home to," she said softly, something really repentant in her tone. "I had no idea that this is what me and my little apartment in Paris were competing with..."

Something about her rueful words tore through Samyar with the force of a hurricane. He couldn't stand them, he couldn't believe that that was something she would say, let alone think, and all he could do was cross the space between them in two long strides, taking her into his arms.

"This is nothing compared to you," he said, and he kissed her.

The moment Samyar's lips touched Diane's, he realized in a way he never had before that there was no forgetting her. He never had. He had spent the last five years thinking about her, longing for her, missing her, whether he knew it or not. The only thing that mattered was Diane in his arms, how good she felt, how good she tasted, and the way she had grabbed on to him as if she were drowning and how greedily her lips parted for him.

She clung to him, and Samyar marveled at how well their bodies still fit and how it seemed as if she needed him as much as he had needed her. Then she was kissing back with all the ferocity and pain of their years apart, and Samyar let go of everything but her.