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warmth of personality (ha-ha), strength (ha-ha-ha-ha), and anything else they could come up with to honor me for. By the time we finished eating, I was Goddess of the Universe.
     
    It was silly and over the top, but those two men made me feel so good. There was genuine regard in their eyes. One minute I would beam, the next I was wiping tears away. Betra’s dinner surprise was wonderful.
     
    “And now for dessert,” Betra said after we’d emptied our plates.
     
    I groaned. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I have to beg off. I’m stuffed full. I couldn’t eat another bite.”
     
    He snickered as he reached to open one of two small bowl containers that had remained covered throughout our meal. “Actually, my sweet, you are the dessert.” He uncovered the bowl with a flourish.
     
    Oses growled at what looked to me like a thick yellow liquid. “ Rasgrul sauce?”
     
    Betra’s grin was an evil thing as he nodded to the weapons commander. “I thought you might like it.” He turned to me. “It’s a sweet but spicy sauce. And when I say spicy, I’m talking a serious kick to the tongue. Most Earthers don’t care for it, but we Kalquorians love it.”
     
    I raised my eyebrows at him. “I assume I’m wearing rather than tasting it.”
     
    “You would be correct.”
     
    Betra rose from the table, taking the bowl of hot and spicy rasgrul sauce as well as the still-covered bowl. I assumed that to be extra sauce. He jerked a nod to Oses. “You can carry our lovely maiden to her bedroom. I’ll fetch an extra cover to keep her sheets clean.”
     
    I’ve never seen Oses grin bigger than he did right then. The man looked like he had won a billion dollars. “You do know how to throw a dinner party, Imdiko. One Matara, coming to bed.”
     
    Betra went to my room while Oses got gracefully to his feet. “Stay there, pet. Let this old warrior pick you up.”
     
    “Old?” I laughed while secretly envying how easily he was able to get up from the floor. Even when I’m not pregnant, I don’t have any of his agility. “You could outfight most men a quarter of your age and you know it.”
     
    Oses bowed, looking more pleased than ever. “Thank you, my sweet pet.”
     
    He crouched to gather me in his arms and lifted me like a baby. My big, strong Nobek. He makes me giddy.
     
    Oses carried me the few steps from sitting room to bedroom. Betra had already located a thick, fluffy blanket and set it over the other coverings of my sleeping mat. The bowl of sauce was on the nightstand.
     
    Oses stopped next to him and my bed. “As you’ve already directed tonight’s festivities so well, I leave you in command. What next?” the Nobek asked Betra.
     
    Betra looked delighted that the usually controlling Nobek was letting him keep the lead. “Lay her on the mat. We’ll undress her.”
     
    Oses settled me gently to the soft surface. He supported my back as Betra slipped my pretty blouse off.  “Hang it up in the closet please?” I asked. I didn’t want it getting wrinkled.
     
    “Of course. Matara Katrina has good taste in clothes,” Betra said.
     
    He put the blouse away and then my skirt when Oses took that off me and handed it off. My low-heeled slippers were next. Then with infinite care, I was stripped of my underclothes, leaving me with just my bracelet and a simple gold necklace.
     
    “The jewelry is pretty,” Betra decided. “Let’s leave it on. If the sauce gets on it, we can clean it.”
     
    “All right.” Oses’ eyes had gone dark the way they always do when sex is on the menu. “I’m looking forward to cleaning sauce off her skin.”
     
    “So am I. Shall I drizzle our dessert?”
     
    “Indeed and hurry.” Oses looked my naked body over with eagerness.
     
    “I take it the heat won’t translate to skin contact?” I asked.
     
    Betra brought the bowl over and settled on the bed next to me. “Just a little warmth, perhaps.”
     
    “You’ve felt worse,” Oses