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71. Kian

71

KIAN

A s Anandur and Brundar arranged the takeout containers from the Golden Dragon on the dining table, Kian glanced at his mother.

Annani wore an imperial expression as she regarded the boxes.

His mother did not eat from cardboard containers or cardboard plates. She ate from fine china and used cloth napkins.

"Perhaps we should transfer the items into serving dishes," Syssi suggested, either reading his mind or realizing the same thing at the same time.

"Is that how you always eat dishes from a restaurant?" Annani asked.

"When it's takeout, yes. If we dined at the establishment, the dishes would have been served on platters, and we would have been given proper plates, but I doubt you would have approved of the ones they use in the Golden Dragon. It's not a fancy place, but the food is excellent, and they have a large selection of vegan dishes."

Annani sighed. "I might be perceived as particular for choosing to dine on fine china, but I believe in savoring and appreciating well-thought-out presentations, especially considering the length of our lives."

Kian had to admit that there was something to that, but it was much more expedient to just put out the boxes. "Would you like us to transfer the dishes to platters?"

She hesitated for a split second. "I do not wish to create unnecessary work for anyone. I shall join in dining from boxes."

"Then let's dig in." Kian reached for the box closest to him.

There was a communal sigh of relief as everyone around the table followed his example.

He had invited the gods and their mates to join them for dinner because he needed to pick their brains about tasking Jasmine with locating Khiann, but now that they were all gathered around the table, he was rethinking that decision.

For some reason, discussing Syssi's vision with them made him uneasy, but it was probably just another manifestation of his paranoia. His motto was to keep things on a need-to-know basis, and the fewer who needed to know, the better.

"I've heard so much about the Golden Dragon," his mother said. "I am eager to sample it even if it comes from a box."

"Let me help you select the tastiest dishes," Kian offered. "We've been ordering from there for many years."

Anandur snorted. "We are their best customers. You should see the welcome I get when I pick up takeout. I am treated like a member of the family."

"Is it family-owned?" Annani asked.

"It is." Kian reached for one of the boxes containing a chicken dish and tried not to show his aversion as he scooped a small portion onto his mother's plate.

On her other side, Ell-rom seemed as uncomfortable as he was, but he wasn't on the verge of gagging like he had been the other time.

Somehow, their shared veganism made Kian feel a rush of affinity with his uncle, and he wondered in what other ways they were similar.

Ell-rom seemed much more soft-spoken and mellow, but then he was still recovering and adjusting to a new world. He might grow more assertive as he gained confidence.

"Have you never tried Chinese cuisine, Clan Mother?" Gabi asked.

His mother put down the chopsticks she was struggling to use. "I do not dine in restaurants. My Odus cook for me, and when I travel, I use room service." She sighed. "I have not done much traveling lately, though. My eldest daughter and companion found her fated mate, and I have not felt like traveling by myself." She glanced at Ell-rom. "Perhaps when Morelle wakes up, she would like to take the position of my companion."

Ell-rom looked lost for words. "I cannot speak on behalf of my sister. I cannot even guess if this is something she would like to do. When she wakes up, I will have to get to know her as if we didn't grow up together."

Annani smiled. "Of course. We are all waiting with bated breath for her to wake up. I am also waiting for you to get better so I can take you to my sanctuary in Alaska and show you this marvelous place."

"I wish I could see it," Aru said.

"I wish so, too." Annani cast him a warm smile. "But you will have to get those trackers out of you before I can take you there."

"About that." Aru shifted so he was facing Kian. "Jasmine had an interesting idea about taking them out without faking our deaths."

Kian remembered then that Aru had mentioned something he wanted to talk to him about when he'd called on the weekend. "Is that the issue you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Correct." Aru leaned forward. "Jasmine suggested that we take out our trackers and implant them inside humans, who we would pay to traverse through Tibet, China, and Russia, so it would look as if Negal, Dagor, and I were still looking for the missing pods. The problem is that I don't know whether the trackers transmit biometric information in addition to location, so we will need to test it first. We will remove the tracker from one of us and implant it in a human."

Kian gave Jasmine an appreciative nod. "Good job. You keep coming up with unconventional solutions to things. I'm starting to think that I should hire you as my assistant."

Her eyes widened. "Thank you for the compliment, but I'm not good with business. I would be a horrible assistant."

Kian chuckled. "I was only joking. But I might give you a call here and there when I have a difficult problem. You think outside the box."

"She's also brave," Negal said. "Jasmine volunteered to be the test subject but, of course, we're not going to risk her life like that."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Is risking the life of some random unaware human better? At least I'd go into it knowing the potential risks."

Kian noticed the slight movement of Ell-rom's arm as he took Jasmine's hand under the table. He certainly didn't want his mate to endanger herself, and Kian was of the same opinion.

"Testing this on Jasmine is out of the question," he said. "I have a much better solution. We can use one of the human scum that we usually leave for the police to deal with. The traffickers don't deserve to live anyway, so I don't care if the tracker explodes in their body or poisons them."

As a heavy silence fell over the table, Kian glanced around, gauging reactions. To his surprise, even his mother and Syssi were nodding in agreement.

The one exception seemed to be Gabi, who had a wry smile on her face. "What about due process? Your Guardians are already skirting the law with their vigilante missions. The authorities might turn a blind eye to your activity because you do good work, and you leave the scumbags for them to pick up. But if you exterminate the vermin, they might start to worry and go after your people."

Kian turned to her, his eyes hard. "The police don't even arrest people who commit crimes on camera, so I'm not worried about them coming after us. They seem to go after only those they do not fear. And as to the morality of killing one of those rats, anyone who sells children to pedophiles doesn't deserve to live, let alone the protection of a legal system that's already subverted."

Unfazed by his vehemence, Gabi held his gaze for a long moment, and then her smile turned into a grin. "I was just playing devil's advocate. Sometimes, it helps to voice the opposing view to crystallize opinions."

As tension in the room eased and people started discussing the practicalities involved, Kian reflected on Gabi's ruse of devil's advocate. The idea of using human traffickers as test subjects for the tracker removal was pragmatic, even poetic in its justice, but she was right about it representing an ethical line to cross. It was a slippery slope.

Once they started playing judge, jury, and executioner, where did they draw the line?

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