Rosamund cursed under her breath. What an idiot Darfan was. How was she supposed to tell Kodran that Starcrossed was firing him if she couldn’t even talk to him?
“All right, translate for me, please. Tell him he’s a rude, obnoxious bully and that’s why the Starcrossed Dating Agency is firing his sorry fire-breathing ass.”
Dot-R shook her head in puzzlement. “I am fairly sure that with the Draell, the orifice that expels the fire is actually—”
“Dot-R! Translate!”
Dot-R heaved a martyred sigh and rolled her eyes. “Well excusemeif my parental units designed me with an accuracy module.”
Rosamund shot her an annoyed look. “It’s the sass module I’m having issues with.”
“Yes, my parental units regret that one too. But they can’t turn it off. They’ve tried,” Dot-R said with a smirk.
Dot-R then turned and said something to Kodran, but it didn’t have the desired effect. He threw back his head and roared with laughter.
“He’s laughing at me?” Rosamund said indignantly. Furious, she kicked him in the shin. Ouch. That just hurt her foot and made him smile. Kodran’s men started laughing too. Nothing was working the way it was supposed to.
He looked down at her and said something.
“What did he just say?” she asked Dot-R.
“He wants to throw your extra Frisbee full of kittens with a side of fries,” Dot-R informed her.
“What?”
Dot-R frowned. “Wait. Let me run that through my hard drive again. Oh, sorry, he wants to sell your green cow five times on Sunday moonlight.”
“Again, what?” Rosamund looked at the serv-bot with alarm. “Are you having a seizure?”
“I am mechanical. I don’t have seizures,” Dot-R said indignantly.
“Well, do you need to be rebooted or something?”
“It’s not my fault! The Draell language is very illogical!” Dot-R stamped her metal foot.
Kodran started laughing again, and smoke curled from his mouth and nostrils. It smelled rich and strange, like some kind of exotic wood.
“Don’t you dare laugh at us, you overgrown…chimney!” Rosamund put her hands on her hips and glared up at him.
Dot-R repeated what she’d said to Kodran in that strange language.
Now Kodran’s eyes lit up and he flashed her an enormous smile. He nodded and bowed deeply from the waist. His companions all let out roars of enthusiasm, and several of them sent streams of fire into the air.
“What did you tell him?” Rosamund demanded of Dot-R.
“Uh…IthinkI told him to stop laughing at you before I fried his face off with my laser fingers.” Dot-R looked worried. “I hope.”
“You think?” Rosamund echoed. “You hope?”
Kodran went down on one knee and said something to Rosamund. Passersby were starting to stare at her. He stood up again and held out his hand.
“What is he saying?” Rosamund cried.
A green-skinned man with antennae walked up. “He says that he accepts your marriage proposal.”
