Except he hadn't planned on stoking the fire with Kisolm for what would certainly end in another war. He never did anything without planning it carefully ahead of time, and he'd never broken his honor code, even with Qatwalis.
"What is this?" Ne'Rin asked.
His gaze slid to the screen Ne'Rin faced. The woman-- his woman-- was curled on her bed, her back to him.
This wasn't planned, and her appearance was almost too late. His people were decimated, his planet virtually dead. But she was here, and she was his.
His gaze lingered on her, satisfied after years of rejecting lifemates chosen by his advisors and the Council, and even Ne'Rin's sister. He'd spent ten sun-cycles looking for her. For fifteen sun-cycles, Anshan women had borne no male children, and drought and dwindling supplies of the ore that made his dhjan wealthy and respected had driven his planet into abject poverty. Now he had the key: his lifemate.
He knew her on sight, felt the connection pierce his tanned hide and rattle his bones. It was as his father had told him, as if the suns burned a hole straight through his head and the ground beneath him shook. While he never believed he'd overlooked her among the throngs of women he'd met, he had heard even his sisters speak of the missing lifemate and how he had refused every woman on the planet and perhaps somehow overlooked her. Now he knew he was right.
A potential war with Qatwal wasn't planned, but he'd seal the fate of his people if he walked away from her. She was worth his honor and his life.
His lifemate was tiny, standing a full head shorter than the average woman and a head and shoulders shorter than him. She was delicate, with long hair as dark as the night sky and large eyes that turned from blue to green to grey. Her shape was firm but lush and had fit in his arms with her shoulders settling between his when he'd held her outside of the house.
She reminded him of the little dolls his youngest sister had rejected several sun-cycles before. Her skin was golden from the sun, which brought out the enigmatic eyes, and made them glow with the otherworldly beauty displayed by her and the one called Evelyn.
Ne'Rin turned to him, and he realized he hadn't answered his advisor's question.
"That is nishani."
"I thought so," Ne'Rin said. "She's different, exquisite. She can't be from our worlds."
A'Ran gazed at her, assessing the battle before him. His blatant disregard for the laws regarding his imprisonment and assumed kidnapping of a dhjan guest would see him ordered before the Council, if not hurl him into a war he could ill afford. But he'd won her as Kisolm's younger brother, Romas, had decreed, which should alleviate any accusations brought on by their clan, if Kisolm's father talked some sense into the arrogant crown prince.