Sarah had seen worse prison cells, but she’d never been a prisoner in one. Right now, she wasn’t sure exactly what her status was. After the rescue, things had gone by in a blur.

Somehow, she’d ended up in a small but nicely appointed room. It had everything she could want: a bathroom with a small shower stall, a food processor that could whip up anything she could imagine, a small but sinfully soft bed, and a window that looked out into the inky blackness of space.

The only thing she was missing was a way out. After taking her time washing off the sand and accumulated dirt from Rex, she’d grabbed the first clothing she saw in the closet—another jumpsuit, this one blue—and tried placing her palm against the panel beside the door to open it up. A warning had flashed on the screen and the door had remained steadfastly shut. After trying a few more times, she’d given up.

And now she was stewing, trying to put the pieces together. They weren’t on Sky Chaser 4. Obviously. This was a military grade vessel, at least from what she’d seen as she’d been walked to this room.

The men who’d rescued them had called Nyxant ‘sire.’ What was he? A prince? A king? A tyrant?

Right now he was gone, and she’d never realized that a person could burrow under her defenses so quickly that she’d miss him after only a few days together. At most they’d been separated for a few hours, but it felt like much longer. She was adrift, her anchor gone.

She need to pull herself together.

The view screen beside the food processor lit up, and a man she’d never seen before addressed her. Like Nyxant, his skin was that rich deep purple, but his hair hung in long dark braids past his shoulders and his eyes were twin pools of inky black, not the ice bright blue of her man.

"I do apologize for the inconvenience, Miss Gallagher,” he said. If he knew her name, he must have spoken to Nyxant. At least she hoped that he had. He continued speaking before she could ask questions. “An escort will arrive shortly and everything shall be made clear." The man cut off the transmission, leaving her alone and even more confused.

A minute later, the door opened and a different man in black fatigues entered. “Follow me, please,” he ordered, and stepped aside to let her pass through the door.

She walked out and asked, "Can you tell me where we're going?" But the soldier didn’t answer.

In the hallway there were two more Oscavian warriors. The three soldiers led her down several seemingly identical gray hallways in silence. Sarah gave up on asking questions. After a few minutes, they arrived at a green door and the first warrior placed his palm on the sensor beside it. The door slid open and they directed her to walk in.

Nyxant stood looking out into space through a large window. His profile faced her, though he didn’t turn to greet her when the door slid shut behind her. Any doubts about his nobility dissolved when she caught sight of him. He’d bathed and changed his clothing. But unlike her, he hadn’t put on a simple jumpsuit.

He wore a long jacket that fell to mid-thigh, the fabric thick and beige, but with lavender designs carefully and subtly woven in. It was edged by a thin braid of gold thread as thick as her index finger. Below the jacket his breeches were tight, clinging to his muscular legs, and as he turned toward her, she caught a glimpse of a simple black shirt under the jacket. His hair had been pulled back and tied by another subtle gold braid.

If she’d seen him like this on the ship, she would have never assumed he was a warrior. She would have known him for a prince.

Sarah’s mouth had to be hanging open from the look of Nyxant’s satisfied smile. "Please, join me," he said.

She walked up to the window and stood beside him, almost reaching out for his hand. But the fine quality of his clothing and the implications of his rank, whatever it was, held her back. "So you're a…" she trailed off, unsure how to end her sentence.

He sighed and rattled off his titles like they were childhood embarrassments. "Lord of the Fourth High Council, Brother to the crown prince, and son of Queen Nysaria.” He stopped there and said, “There's more, but those are the important ones."

“Royalty?” He was the son of a queen and she was the daughter of no one. She knew nothing could last between them, but that was supposed to be because of distance, not because he might inherit a planet one day.

"I am sorry for the subterfuge,” he said, truly sounding apologetic. “Planetside I could not…"

"Be sure I wasn't a really incompetent assassin?" The entire situation was absurd.

He laughed. "Perhaps not an assassin.” He grew serious. “My head of security was overzealous in keeping you confined to your quarters."

The distance between them was too great. Sarah reached out and grabbed his hand. She needed to hold onto something right now. “What's going on?” she asked.

Nyxant looked at their entwined fingers and squeezed. “I did not think you'd be able to forgive me.”

For the lie? She wanted to ask. Instead she said, “I'm working out the emotions.” They were swirling around in her mind, keeping her off balance. “Right now I just want to understand.”

He nodded and explained. “My people and I were on a diplomatic mission. In the course of our negotiations, things went wrong. Someone—my people are trying to figure out who—attempted to hijack the ship. They disabled most of the sirens above the Sky Chaser vessel.”

“But not on my floor?” It would explain why no one else had ended up in that escape vessel.

“Our floor, cavria,” he corrected. “There was a mistake in the bookings. My party meant to rent out the entire level. Due to a computer error, you were placed down the hall.”

“So I'm just lucky?” She didn’t know if she was being sarcastic.

Neither did Nyxant. “Would you call the last few days lucky?” he asked.

“I think I might.” With Nyxant standing in front of her, it felt so true. She’d met the most amazing man she’d ever known. She’d kissed him on an abandoned beach a day after he’d saved her life. Lucky? She might have been blessed. The last few days were something that she would savor for the rest of her life.

Nyxant took a step closer and continued to explain. “My warriors calculated where the ship landed and sent out the rescue vessel.”

“And the negotiations?” she asked.

“Delayed for now.” He smoothed her hair back behind her ear, and for a second, Sarah thought that he would kiss her. But he took a step back and said, “I have a proposition for you.”

“Oh?” From his serious expression, she doubted he was about to make a wicked proposition. Though she wondered what she would say if he did.

“I have no wish to indenture you.” He half-turned away from her and raised his hand up toward the window as if he were tracing the stars. “If you'd prefer, we will drop you off at the nearest travel hub with the resources to return home in the height of comfort.”

That sounded tempting, but she wanted to know what else he was offering. “Or?” she asked.

Nyxant turned back toward her. Those blue eyes of his lit up with nascent hope. “We are negotiating with a human corporation about land rights. An Oscavian has joined their delegation to offer advice on protocol.”

“And you want me to do the same for you?” She’d never considered being human a job qualification before, but right now, it might have just given her the opportunity of a lifetime.

He nodded. “Yes.”

She wanted to grab it with both hands and jump headfirst at the chance to take this job. But if she was being completely honest with herself, it wasn’t really what she wanted from him. It took courage to find the will to say it, but she’d faced down a monster in the jungle. She could say what she was beginning to feel. “That wasn't the kind of proposition I was hoping for,” she confessed.

His pupils expanded, the darkness blotting out the blue as he sucked in a breath. “Did you want something more like this?” The distance between them dissolved and suddenly he was flush against her, chest to chest, his arms wrapped around her tightly. His head dipped down and he captured her lips, tasting her, conquering her, claiming her. Sarah opened up to him, heated by his taste.

All too quickly he pulled back, leaving Sarah’s heart pounding and her blood singing. “Oh. Wow,” was all she could say.

“You are a remarkable woman, Sarah Gallagher.” His mouth hugged the syllables of her name, caressing her with his special pronunciation. “And I do not want you far from my side.”

She didn’t know what it meant. She was a human and he was Oscavian. She was a commoner and he was a prince. In any sane world, there were uncrossable galaxies between them. But right now, she was in his arms with the imprint of his lips still hot against her own.

She’d left the sane world behind the minute she’d been ejected from Sky Chaser 4.

If she stepped back now, she’d regret it forever. So she smiled up at him, heart swelling, and said, “I've always wanted to see the universe.”