I stood on the edge of the terrace, my thoughts swirling with massive numbers of scenarios of what my fate might lead me to, here on Mixis. It wasn’t a good thing. I shouldn’t let my thoughts run away with me. I needed to stay focused so I wouldn’t lead myself into a trap of panic.

The morning dew on the grass and the tree leaves was slowly evaporating under the warming sun, and the day threatened to be hot. I didn’t know what the weather was like on Mixis, but I would soon find out, the more time I spent here.

Was Chad out there somewhere, suffering in the unyielding heat? It was only a matter of time before that clever asshole made a mistake. When he did, I’d be ready.

Startled, I spun around when I heard a noise behind me. There was no telling who might be approaching me. I could only pray that it wasn’t Chad coming back for more torture and taunting. At the same time, I kind of wanted it to be him so we could get this over with. I’d immediately prepare myself to scream for Kylin’s guards.

“Who’s there?” I called out from the outside, craning my neck to see into the bedroom used by Kylin.

My heart raced, and I swallowed hard as an edgy sweat formed on my skin. I had no idea what to expect out of the creatures here on Mixis, although my previous knowledge of them was to understand that they have a passive nature. I swallowed hard and waited, bracing myself for impact.

I held my breath and waited for the footsteps to end and for the person on the other side of the partially shut door to reveal himself.

“It’s just me.”

I heard his voice before I saw him and recognized it instantly.

Then when he passed through the door, I naturally sighed with relief, although I was still processing the reality of my growing depth of feelings for him. I was relieved to see someone familiar on this strange and daunting planet.

I didn’t know why I trusted him or felt so drawn to him, but something instinctively told me I didn’t have to fear him. He had kind, empathetic eyes.

“Hello.” I leaned against the side of the terrace and smiled at him in friendly greeting.

“Georgia,” he began and edged closer to me. “I need to talk to you, if that’s okay?”

“Sure.” I shrugged, noting how he was respectful enough to address my feelings and request in advance to have a discussion with me. I also became a little unnerved. He seemed frantic and worried about something.

“I have gone down to my dungeon this morning.” His expression was grave.

“You have?” I asked. My interest had peaked by this point. He seemed desperate to confess something to me. The hair on the back of my neck prickled like a pear. “Did you find Chad?” I hoped that he would next say that Chad was in his dungeon, locked safely away.

“No.” He sighed with visible distress and a twinge of frustration.

“Oh.” I glanced at the ground, feeling slightly disappointed. We were back to square one, but Kylin still seemed rattled about something.

“I interrogated Katie.” He met my gaze and our eyes locked briefly.

“You did? Is she still in custody in your dungeon?” I didn’t know whether to be horrified or joyful.

I didn’t know why I held any ounce of compassion or grief for Katie. She wasn’t innocent by any stretch of the imagination. There was still something gnawing at me though. It was obvious that she was daily baited into a manipulation situation with my brother, who no doubt used her for his advantage. She still went along with the plan, though, which to me made her equally as guilty.

“I left her there,” he said flatly, as if he didn’t have any remorse whatsoever about it.

Horrified of hearing his discoveries, I stalled in questioning him further, so he took the liberty of pressing forward with his explanation on his own. I felt like I was too in shock to speak words anyway.

“Katie did not want to talk to me at first,” Kylin began. “After some threats, she agreed to come clean with the whole truth.”

“Okay,” I said, treading the waters lightly. I was eager to find out what she had told him.

“She confessed and came clean about being an active party to this situation, this little prank.”

Kylin’s voice lashed with bitter resentment. “She told me that the plan hashed out by Chad was to get you to believe that you were coming to work for me in Mixis and be my teacher.”

“Right,” I said, knowing that much to be true. I nodded my head in understanding.

“In turn, they led me to believe with your application that it was really your agreement to enter into a contract to become my wife.” I hated to hear the harsh reality as it came crashing down upon my shoulders.

My vision blurred and the knot in my stomach turned to a solid, heavy rock of disgust. I shook my head with disbelief even though I knew this was no nightmare I was going to have the luxury of waking up from.

“How could my brother do this to me?” I whispered softly as fresh tears burned in my eyes. I was feeling the worst kind of betrayal imaginable.

I raised him after our parents died. I had done the best I could at the time and had loved him unconditionally. My efforts had been in vain. He was a sociopath and cared for no one but himself. It soured my soul to realize that in fact, he’d cared so little about my feelings. The effort I put into making sure he had a safe, warm, and hospitable environment to live in came back to haunt me and slap me in the face.

His total disregard for another person’s emotional state was nothing but sickening. “He’s a sociopath,” I stated bluntly. I kept hearing the word screaming through my brain.

“I’m so sorry.” Kylin touched my shoulder with cautious, yet fond affection. I could tell that he was genuinely apologetic for everything I’d been through with my brother.

“It’s not your fault.” I shook my head, discovering that Kylin was every bit of a victim as I was in this nasty situation. The only difference was, he was apparently taking it better than I was.

On the other hand, I knew I had my own confessions to make to Kylin. No matter how tough they would be to account for, I had to be honest.

I was beginning to care for him, and I was undoubtedly attracted to him, although admitting it was harder than I imagined. I felt embarrassed or something. I didn’t want Chad to win.

“I think I should tell you something.” I glanced up at him with sheepish, large eyes.

I wrung my hands together and fidgeted with anxiety. I took a nervous deep breath. I had to come clean now. I’d already opened the door for communication.

“Okay,” Kylin said and looked perplexed but interested.

“This is, um . . . difficult to say,” I began, but then I trailed off, losing steam and crushing my nerve.

“Go on.” Kylin took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You can be honest with me about anything.”

“Okay.” I glanced at him with a wan smile as I took a deep breath. “I think I’m . . . I think I’m starting to have feelings for you.” I cringed while I waited for his reaction. My cheeks flushed with the intense heat of both embarrassment and attraction.

“Really?” Kylin’s eyes flashed with amazement and delight. His demeanor changed from gloomy to wondrous joy in an instant.

“Yes.” I nodded with enthusiasm. “Not only that, but I am starting to believe that you might not be so bad after all.” I laughed at how ridiculous I probably sounded to him. It wasn’t my intention to offend him.

Kylin chuckled. He was handsome and assertive, smooth with confidence. “I never had the intention to string you along or anything.” He took my comments all in stride. He was just as new to this as I was.

“I know.” I nodded. “Thank you for that.”

“You’re very welcome.” He beamed and continued to squeeze my hand between his enormous ones.

“Another thing,” I added. “I suppose it worked out to your advantage that I had already boarded the space shuttle with the intention to maintain an open mind and an open heart.” I had already packed a hefty suitcase with the intention of sticking around for a while.

“Yes.” He laughed. “That is also a good point to factor in.” He seemed thrilled with my confession.

His eyes gleamed and he was handsome, brooding, and genuinely passionate with a flare of kindness splashed in. He seemed pure, inside and out.

“There are certainly worse surprises than ending up married to a hot alien prince.” I laughed at the irony of my life right now. At least I had luck partially on my side.

An appealing grin stretched and spread across Kylin’s lips. “You think I’m hot?” He was glowing at my inadvertent compliment.

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Well . . .” I trailed off because I was suddenly feeling shy.

“You do!” He did a little jump into the air, a gesture that increased and skyrocketed his already adorable traits.

“You are handsome, yes. I admit it.” I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea and think that I was only interested in him because he was a prince.

I had been taught to appreciate diversity, which was one of the reasons I was sitting here in the first place.

I certainly wasn’t a gold digger or a person out for wealth and fame, and I wanted to make that abundantly clear to Kylin. I respected him and was attracted to him through his kindness toward me.

Not that I had to worry about it, because he surely didn’t seem concerned with that subject, at least not right now. He was a guy. They didn’t read into stuff as much or over-analyze every detail of life.

One thing I could establish as a commonality we shared right now was the fact that we both wanted to find Chad and get payback for the hurt he’d inflicted on us both. He was going to pay. My loathing of my brother had been building up for years, and now it had hit the peak of no return.

What a jerk Chad was. I couldn’t believe that my own flesh and blood could treat me like that. He made a life-altering decision when he’d made me sign those papers. He was laughing at me before the ink had even had a chance to dry on the pages.

How could I have been so blind, so stupid to fall into his trap? Probably because he made it seem as alluring as possible. I was gullible, sure. My biggest flaw was how trusting I was. Never again. I would put my shield up from now on.

That’s what made it a successful trick for him, the fact that he’d made it believable and something that he already knew in his mind would make it hard for me to resist or say no to. He knew exactly how to manipulate me.

Only Chad had one calamitous flaw that he didn’t factor in or consider when it came to living out his plan to make it failsafe. He was on the run. No doubt, he was nervously sweating wherever he was hiding.

Once Kylin and I met, we would obviously realize that something wasn’t quite right and that we weren’t in line for the same goals.

That’s when Chad’s little joke fell apart, but not before he’d documented the whole ordeal on camera for his dumb ass, pathetic show. I didn’t know if he still had his holocam set with him to upload it to his feed for all of his moronic fans to fawn over.

That was when my emotions took over and nearly drowned me. I was so upset and frustrated.

“I’m so sorry.” I shook my head with grief. “This is all my fault.” I hung my head with anguish and disgrace as culpability drained me. I had led us into this trap without even realizing it.

“What do you have to apologize for?” Kylin rubbed my back in a consoling manner. His touch felt so good against my body.

I shook my head, lacking for words at the moment as the tears began to flow in humiliation. I choked back sobs that I wasn’t sure would hold behind the cracking dam of my emotions.

“Hey,” he whispered softly. “It’s okay. Really, it is.” His words weren’t enough to pacify me.

“No, it’s not,” I argued, borderline wailing at this point. I threw my hands up in the air dramatically.

“What has you so upset all of a sudden?” His eyes searched mine, scoping for answers to his questions.

“I should have known better.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes. Kylin reached into his pocket and withdrew a tissue and handed it to me.

I thanked him gratefully. “If I had trusted my instincts, I would have known that it was highly probable that Chad would try to hoodwink me somehow. I’m sorry you have to suffer for my mistakes.”

“I’m not suffering.” Kylin shook his dead in denial. Of course he wasn’t. He had gotten what he’d aimed to receive in the first place, a bride.

“Well, that brings me to my next point.” I smiled at him through my blotchy, teary face. “If fate’s cards are played right, there might be a silver lining here.”

“Yeah?” Kylin’s eyes brightened with optimism. He was the glass half full kind of person, I was beginning to realize.

“I’m really starting to like you, and I’m excited for the prospect and opportunity to get to know you,” I admitted. I could be in worse company.

“I really like you too,” Kylin agreed with an adorable ear to ear grin.

“I appreciate your support through all of this.” I gave him a warm smile. I genuinely needed him to help keep my head level.

“I just want you to be happy.” He shrugged humbly.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I didn’t understand it. “We are strangers.” His kindness was going above and beyond anything I deserved.

“Strangers who have the chance to turn our circumstances around for good, for a better outcome,” he reminded me with a twinkle in his gorgeous eyes.

“I suppose you are right about that.” I chuckled meekly. Was he ever wrong?

Kylin reached over and took both of my hands in his, cradling them for a few seconds. The warmth of his skin on mine gave me the sensation of being protected by a strong, handsome alien prince with hair color similar to mine, which was the exact situation I was in.

“I have to say that your explanation comes at a perfect time.”

“Why is that?” I released his hand to wipe my eyes again with the tissue.

“Well . . .” He sighed. “It both calms and charms me. I have to admit that your telling me you’re attracted to me gives me a boost of confidence.” He stared right through me.

“It should.” I nodded adamantly.

“If you give me the chance,” he said and stared deep into my eyes. The way he looked at me made me shiver with pleasure. “I promise to court you properly.”

“You mean, like take me out on dates and stuff?” My voice was high with eager anticipation. I wanted to know what it was like to go out on a date with a prince. My imagination ran wild.

“Yes, if you want.” He nodded.

“That sounds really cool,” I admitted.

“I am willing to show you how much of a true gentleman I can be, if you give me the chance.” His eyes flared with sincerity. He was trying so diligently to impress me, and I had to admit that his plan was working.

“I can see myself doing that,” I revealed.

“You are so beautiful.” Kylin stared at me with wonderment and longing. His statement came out of the blue, but I appreciated it immensely.

“Thank you,” I whispered. I was enthralled in the moment.

I was captivated by his positive attention, and it reinforced in my mind that I was a worthy person who deserved someone to love her. He made me feel that way about myself, like I was the sun that lit up his world.

I had spent too much of my life worrying about taking care of Chad. Now that he was basically out of the picture, I had more time to reflect and focus my attention on something more worthwhile for my benefit.

I had time to focus on me, and my own needs. It was time to reach my ultimate level of happiness instead of putting myself on the back burner.

“I have an idea,” Kylin said and grinned with enthusiasm. His eyes twinkled with mischief.

“What?” I couldn’t help but smile back at him. His light and positivity were contagious and I wanted them to infect me forever.

“It’s more of a proposition,” he revealed.

“Okay.” I grinned as suspense rose in my belly. He was teasing me on purpose.

“How about we get to know each other, spending as much time with one another over the next six months as we can? Then, at the end of that six months, if you are not interested in establishing a life here with me, I will release you from your contract.”

“You would really do that for me?” I was taken aback by his profound gesture to appease me. It sounded like the best deal I could ever imagine receiving.

“Yes.” He nodded firmly. “I want you to have the opportunity to come to the decision on your own. You can make the choice.”

My heart swelled with compassion for this remarkable man. “Thank you. That is a very nice proposal.” He was well on his way to winning my heart.

Kylin gave me a heartfelt smile and I felt compelled to embrace him in a hug. He smelled good, like spicy cologne. I took a deep breath and allowed his scent to fill my nostrils.

He pulled away after a few seconds, his face reflecting heated anger that made my heart race and my cheeks burn. I didn’t understand where this personality flip had come from, out of nowhere.

“What is it?” I asked with apprehension and wariness.

“I’m still furious with your brother.” His jaw clenched.

I sighed with relief. “You and me both.” I chuckled in agreement. He wasn’t angry with me, and that’s all that mattered.

“I wish to punish him.” His eyes glazed over with stone. He was not playing games anymore.

I studied him for a few moments, then found my mind automatically charging my head to nod. I was agreeing with him and would support him, no matter what.

“Okay.” I agreed. “Do what you feel is necessary.” There was no looking back now.