  &quot;Still,&quot; Petris set his teacup down on the tabletop. &quot;Only two weeks of mourning is just,&quot; he tsked and shook his head. &quot;I expected better from Daevishk.&quot;
  &quot;They had always seemed so devoted,&quot; Amelia murmured rubbing her hand over the moon of her belly. &quot;The way they looked at each other…&quot; 
  &quot;Mmm,&quot; Petris  eyes were sympathetic. &quot;Rikash adores you, Amelia.&quot;
  Amelia chuckled. &quot;Rikash adores coming, Petris,&quot; she pointed out. &quot;It doesn t matter what hole he uses to do so.&quot;
  &quot;And that is dominant males summed up perfectly,&quot; Petris leaned over and brushed a kiss over her forehead. &quot;Just make sure it s one of your holes he uses most of all, hmm?&quot;
  She laughed as she watched him veil and leave. 
  It was only moments between Petris  leaving and Rikash s return, and she smiled in 

  Neither man deserves to die. 
  Harper had watched Amelia s face carefully as she said it, wondering if the subversive hint would reach its mark, but Amelia, as was Amelia s way, gave her nothing back. 
  If the only way out of a Bond was one of the Bonded couple dying, then Harper needed to save Nadyr. 
  She was waiting, she told herself, biding her time until the other woman gave birth, because Harper did not want two deaths on her conscious. But waiting was hard when the means to kill Amelia sat in her pocket, a tiny vial of poison which the submissive male that she had purchased it from had assured her would be deadly and undetectable.
  To keep Amelia close enough to poison, Harper worked hard at cultivating a friendship with her. She took the other woman out veiled through the court every morning for the next two weeks, and together they admired the architecture and art, the clo

  It was as Nadyr had once told her, Amelia thought as she drifted through the lush garden attached to Rikash s apartment, her hand rubbing over the swell of her stomach. On Doheim, she had only seen one aspect of their people – the conquerors. On Yireh, the expanse of what they truly were opened before her in fascinating detail. 
  Rikash s apartment was far more luxurious that she had imagined possible, and easily five times the size of the apartment that they had shared on Doheim. The glossy white walls and floors were all kept spotless by a team of submissive males and a variety of automated robots. All the furniture was made to scale for the large dominant males, and combined durability with sleek aesthetics and decadence, the fabrics inviting her to stroke, and the cushions enveloping. 
  The walls were hung with artwork of such beauty that sometimes she liked to just sit and stare

&quot;Still,&quot; Petris set his teacup down on the tabletop. &quot;Only two weeks of mourning is just,&quot; he tsked and shook his head. &quot;I expected better from Daevishk.&quot;
  &quot;They had always seemed so devoted,&quot; Amelia murmured rubbing her hand over the moon of her belly. &quot;The way they looked at each other…&quot; 
  &quot;Mmm,&quot; Petris  eyes were sympathetic. &quot;Rikash adores you, Amelia.&quot;
  Amelia chuckled. &quot;Rikash adores coming, Petris,&quot; she pointed out. &quot;It doesn t matter what hole he uses to do so.&quot;
  &quot;And that is dominant males summed up perfectly,&quot; Petris leaned over and brushed a kiss over her forehead. &quot;Just make sure it s one of your holes he uses most of all, hmm?&quot;
  She laughed as she watched him veil and leave. 
  It was only moments between Petris  leaving and Rikash s return, and she smiled in welcome, her smile only slightly faltering when she saw the man behind him. A submissive by his 

Chapter 101