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apprehend. Agents have a very specific set of job requirements and muscle tone is one of them.”
    Maksuan laughed. “I have always been afraid of women seeking to seduce me for the power they could gain. It has caused an irrational fear of women in revealing clothing and frankly, your personal enjoyment of concealing clothing was a relief. Though, if I had known what lay beneath, I would have had all of the women wearing as little as I could get away with.”
    She laughed and nudged him with her arm. “Flatterer.”
    “I am quite serious. I have craved your company since the moment that you landed and Niiko feels the same. Tomorrow at dawn, we will join together and from that moment, you will no longer be alone.” He continued to eat.
    “Dawn?”
    “In two hours.”
    She froze. “That soon?”
    “There is no reason to wait. Once you and I are joined, it will take a few days for Niiko to make his way into your body and mind.”
    “Three days.” She smiled.
    “Niiko told you?”
    “He did, in a dream. He told me of the previous Avatars and their lives in his service.” She put her plate down and rubbed her hands together. “He spoke of your grandmother and her desire for a normal life. What do you remember of her?”
    He put his plate aside. “Grandmother Ukani was a strong woman, but she had lived far beyond a normal lifespan and it showed. She delighted in her children and grandchildren, but she would occasionally sit and stare out at the landscape as if listening to something only she could hear. When I was tortured, she gathered the Avatar and came to my aid.
    “My body was almost dead when they found where I was being kept and my grandmother quickly addressed Niiko through Parkalo. It took the Planet less than five minutes to get the Avatar to agree and when he gave over the soul of Niiko to me, my grandmother also surrendered what was left in her body, aging centuries in a few minutes. I healed and she died, but I know that she did not regret her actions. Niiko replays the conversation they had every time I have any doubt as to my worthiness.”
    “So, you know that this was what she wanted for you. That must be an immense comfort.” She thought about her own grandmother’s last words back on Earth. When the reproduction portion of the contract was exposed to the public, her Grandma Henderson had called her a whore and told her to go. It was not a pleasant memory.
    “It is. I still have a fairly large family descended from Ukani, but they have homes in the outer lands and it takes a bit of effort to get there.” He shrugged.
    With his food gone, he hopped off the table. He turned and faced her, her perch on the counter putting her at a level slightly higher than his. Without a word, he pressed a kiss to her lips and she tilted her head to make their joining complete.
    Her blood sang in her veins as the kiss deepened and when he slid his hands under her hair to cup her skull, she let him control where, when and how intense the kiss was to be.
    Maksuan tasted sweet, tangy and unique. When he slowly broke the kiss, she looked at him blankly. Her lips throbbed slightly, both above and below.
    “Time for bed, Silari. I will walk you back to your rooms.”
    She let him help her off the counter and together, they walked back to her rooms where the wide-open windows allowed her a wonderful view of night on Niiko.
    Her fingers pressed against her lips and she held herself still while she watched the night fade. Dawn was going to be a bit of a journey for her, but Niiko and Maksuan would be waiting when it was over.
    She always did do better with a target.

Chapter Eight
    Standing in a pale pink kimono with a crowd of people watching her sign the writ that acknowledged Niiko’s, and therefore Maksuan’s, claim on her was slightly surreal. He had signed what amounted to a property agreement with the Alliance to maintain her health, both mental and physical, as well as settling a swath of land in her name for