“I don’t think you heard me,” Rynar said slowly. He sounded concerned.
“No, I did. I just don’t know how to answer.”
“Alissia Adami without a reply? A miracle.”
“More shocking things have happened.”
Rynar cleared his throat. “I believe human and Deruzians customs are the same in this situation. The only possible answers are yes or no.”
Her entire body stiffened. What in the–“Ex–excuse me?”
Rynar frowned. “Why would I excuse you?”
“Human expression.” Alissia waved it off. Suddenly, her hands were fidgety and her body turned hot. “You’re serious?”
Rynar stood up straighter. At almost seven feet, curved horns and all, he was alreadytall. Or really hot, as Lily used to call him before she fell in love with Zaryn.
Rynar always wore these black suits that highlighted his corded muscles underneath. Not that Alissia gawked at his muscles, but she had eyes, okay?
All his clothes were perfectly pressed, not a button undone. He had a sharp, angular face that almost looked predatory. But his dark eyes…now those were dangerous. Cutting intelligence shined in his precise gaze. There was a calculated spark in them now, too.
“Very serious.” As he moved his lips, Alissia noticed a bit of his fangs peeking out. A curious shiver ran down her spine.
“Why, in all the universes, would you ask me to marry you?”
Convenience, a little voice hissed in her mind.
Alissia shook her head. What was going on with her brain today? She hadn’t felt like this since college. So out of it, like she couldn’t find her footing and everything was swirling out of her control.
“I want to tell you all of my reasons,” Rynar said, bringing her focus back. “But I need to know they will remain between us. Nobody else can hear about this.”
Alissia put a hand on her hip. “You know me.”
“I do. But this is important and a promise spoken is a promise kept. Indulge the vigilant Deruzian in me.”
Alissia hesitated. She was damn curious to know where all of this came from, but…did she want to live with this secret? It couldn’t be so dark and deep if it involved her, right?
“I promise.”
Rynar’s big shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Very well. The documents you had to copy, which you have probably cursed a few times already–”
“I might have,” she said with a smirk.
“–represent my father’s will. In it, he has left me everything our dynasty owns, since I am the sole heir.”
Dynasty?Heir?
“Hold up.” Alissia raised her palms and took a step back. “Are you telling you’re some kind of Deruzian royalty? Or an alien lord of some sort?”
That sounded like something he should have disclosed at some point.
“My dynasty is one of the oldest and most respected in Deruzia,” he said. “We are not royalty.”
But notnota lord. Well. With his work ethic, Alissia would have never guessed he’d come from some old and respecteddynasty.
“And as a sole heir, I am set to inherit the estate, its surroundings, belongings, my dynasty’s vast fortune and our seal,” Rynar went on.
“I sense ahowever.”
