Page 100 of I Married Kayog
“So far, I have. But if breaking my perfect streak is the price to save this sweet woman, then I’ll gladly pay it,” Kayog said, lifting his beak defiantly. “Malaya and Amreth may not be soulmates, but their personalities are well-alignedand compatible. They will have a happy enough life together. Compared to the others, he is the best alternative match.”
“Tharmok take you and your threats,” Kronos snarled.
At that moment, I realized we had won. He just needed an extra nudge to get him over the finish line.
“They’re not threats, Lord Kronos,” I said in a gentle voice while reaching for Kayog’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “This is our only other option to save Malaya. Would it help if I told you that all Prime Mating Agency unions come with a six-month trial period?”
That caught his interest. After a few more back and forths, he finally caved in, scrunching his face as if he’d bitten into something foul.
“Fine. She has six months to prove you right. But may the gods protect her if she proves false,” he grumbled.
“She won’t,” Kayog said with triumphant confidence.
“We shall see,” Kronos replied.
Ifelt dizzy walking through endless rows of wedding dresses with Tala pulling me in every direction. As a Temern, I had never worn clothes, so shopping for them wasn’t particularly familiar to me. The number of choices, styles, sizes, and level of demure or spiciness overwhelmed me. And yet, I was determined to see my daughter have as perfect a wedding as possible under the circumstances.
As we had to rush the entire process before she would be sent to Dakon’s Sector, her family wouldn’t be able to attend. In truth, Kronos could still back out of this agreement if he perceived her soul to be deceitful on the day she arrived.
It crushed me that I wouldn’t be able to attend the ceremony. An urgent mission had popped up, forcing me to go handle it. But if I couldn’t be there, I would do everything else a mother would want to provide for her child’s special day. As she would arrive on Molvi wearing nothing more than her prisoner jumpsuit, I refused to let her exchange vows in such an abhorrent outfit.
After literally going nuts trying to find my bearings in the sea of options, it suddenly dawned on me that I should narrow my search down to something that would be meaningful to Malaya. Her file revealed that she was of Filipino descent, and that she had undergone quite a bit of training in their traditional dances. That led me to assume she might want a traditional dress for her culture.
Tala all but dragged me to the right section. As she shared a similar height and body type as my daughter, she gladly volunteered as a model. Although Tala had a darker complexion than my daughter, it still gave me a good idea of what the dresses would look like against Malaya’s light brown skin.
My jaw dropped when Tala stepped out of the changing room in a stunning, modern take on a baro’t saya gown. The baro’t—which was the top of the dress—boasted a gorgeous floral lace embroidered on the most luxurious piña fabric. It formed a rather sexy bustier that didn’t cover her belly button. The same flowery dentelle adorned the edges of the oversized butterfly shoulders of the baro’t.
The full-length skirt—the saya—was adorned with the same lacework in strategic places, and an insane slit ran up to the middle of the thigh. It was scandalously sexy and unbelievably flattering. I could picture how breathtaking Malaya would be wearing it.
Tala struck a few poses in a flaunting and flirtatious fashion that had me chuckling.
“The look on your face reflects what I’m feeling inside. That’s the one,” Tala said with conviction.
I clicked my beak with hesitation. It was indeed a breathtaking dress. “Is it too suggestive with the exposed belly?” I asked warily.
“Pfft! Are you kidding? In case you hadn’t noticed, Malaya’s body is almost as hot as mine,andshe has a belly piercing!” Tala exclaimed as if it should have been self-evident.
I burst out laughing at the playful boast as she wiggled her hips in a way reminiscent of belly dancers.
“That Obosian mate of hers will drool his horned little head off when he sees it. You know how crazy they are about piercings. Our girl needs to flaunt the heck out of it.
“Right,” I said, scrunching my face. “That piercing can only further underline the fact that they are perfectly aligned, even in this. Still, a mom doesn’t necessarily want to hear about how males drool over her daughter.”
Tala snorted. “Girl, have you forgotten that your soon to be son-in-law is a freaking incubus? What do you think he’s going to do to her? You know their tongues extend up to a foot, right?”
“Maker! Tala!” I exclaimed, slapping my hands over my ears. “I do not need to hear this.”
My friend laughed, her eyes brimming with an unrepentant glimmer.
“It’s only fair. You think I didn’t also freak out when my own two kids got old enough to start getting frisky?” She glanced down at herself and ran both hands down the laced fabric of her skirt. “Poor Kayog is going to lose his shit when he sees her at the wedding. Dads can be such jealous fools.”
I chuckled. “He might. But then again, he might simply be relieved. Either way, I will take him being the jealous-possessive dad over committing murder because Kronos is being a stubborn idiot.”
“Amen to that!”
With the dress secured, we spent the next couple of hours finding the perfect shoes, jewelry, and all the sexy underwear, lingerie, and nightgowns Malaya could possibly need to seduce her stuck up soulmate. There was no way I was shipping the dreadful stuff I had found in her drawers when I went to gather a few suitcases of basic necessities for her. Tala had called them ‘granny panties’ and I couldn’t have agreed more.
My daughter would marry and live in style.
