30. TWENTY-EIGHT

twenty-eight

One thing she could take comfort from was the fact that Alexander’s restraint proved that Selene was alive. Unconscious but breathing.

Otherwise, Alexander’s berserker wouldn’t have backed down so easily. He would rage through the arena. Probably with the intention of disemboweling the stage two and then using the entrails to decorate the stands.

Maybe after that he would have finally remembered Kira and the debt she owed him for drawing Selene into this.

Kira found Jin hovering over Devon’s body. The boy alive but just barely.

Kira went to her knees beside him as Tinsley looked between them in question.

“I have to ask. Are you sure you want to do this?” Kira stroked a finger along the back of the lu-ong still sitting on Devon’s chest. “There will be consequences.”

It would out him as a soul bound.

“I don’t care.”

Kira nodded, not bothering to talk him out of this. There were some things you had to do no matter the cost.

“Alright then,” Kira said. “No matter what happens it was a good run.”

“The best. I regret none of it,” Jin said with a sob in his voice.

Kira offered the seed she’d pocketed when no one was looking to Jin. “It should be enough, but if it isn’t, take what you need from me.”

The seed lifted from her palm to hover over Devon’s wound.

“What is he doing?” Tinsley asked.

Neither of them answered as the seed started to glow. Pieces of it began to flake off from the rest. Cracks appeared in Jin’s casing as his ki reached out to the seed.

Kira could feel Jin’s effort and knew the toll this was taking. She widened her defenses, offering up every part of herself.

She set a hand on his casing, repairing the cracks that appeared as fast as they could form.

Wren had been easier to heal, but Devon was further gone. The price to save his life would be steep.

Kira felt the drain as her deep well of ki left her for Jin. She closed her eyes, not allowing herself to narrow the connection even when the sting threatened to become unbearable.

An image flashed. The same vision she had of the winged, translucent creature she’d seen days earlier in the crash.

A summons pulled at Kira.

It wasn’t a voice that called her. There were no words telling her what she needed to do, just an unspoken command that Kira felt in her soul.

To finish quickly because she was needed elsewhere.

There was a gasp from those around them.

“Soul bound,” someone whispered.

Jin continued to distill the essence of the seed into pure ki, threading Kira’s and his soul’s breath in with it before slamming it into Devon’s wound.

Jin dropped.

Kira caught him, placing him next to Devon’s head before giving him a pat. “Good job.”

“Did it work?” Jin asked in a groggy voice, too weak to fire his anti-gravs.

Kira concentrated. Where before Devon’s life force had been fading, it was now growing stronger.

“I think so.”

He’d live. A silver lining in all this.

“I’m glad,” Jin said, sounding exhausted.

Jin used his soul’s breath only rarely. This was the third time in all their years. One of the reasons for that was the cost that came with wielding it.

Kira could already feel his mind fading from hers as he started to slide into his version of a coma.

“You know this was a distraction, right?” he told her.

He was unconscious before she could answer.

“It had occurred to me,” she said anyway.

Devon twitched as he came to wakefulness. His eyelids cracked.

“You’re awake,” Kira said when his gaze shifted to hers.

Devon reached up to touch the wound, knocking Jin’s lu-ong in the process. The lu-ong chirped before slithering toward Jin’s main body.

“He saved you,” Kira said.

“I remember.” Devon’s gaze lifted to Kira’s. “He’s my brother, isn’t he?”

Kira didn’t answer, tapping him on the cheek instead. “I have something to do. Watch over him for me.”

Devon’s nod was weak.

Kira rose. Sometime in the aftermath of the battle, Baran and the other oshota had gotten the barrier down. Too late to be of any help to those below.

At least they could assist with first aid, Kira conceded as she turned toward the tunnel that would take her to the sanctum and beyond.

For a second it occurred to her to wait. A thought she dismissed almost instantly.

Finn was unconscious. Raider immobile.

Terrel also wasn’t an issue at the moment, surrounded as he was by the emperor’s very angry looking oshota.

Dealing with him could wait. The summons couldn’t. This next part she’d have to do alone.

Beeping interrupted Graydon’s study of the tracks outside the prison that led into the forest.

If it wasn’t for how off everything felt, Graydon would have already given orders to Solal and Amila to pursue their targets. Yet Graydon couldn’t shake the feeling that this was too easy.

Unfortunately, the tracks were his only lead and ignoring them wasn’t an option.

“Something you’d like to share?” Graydon asked when Jarek’s comms continued to chirp.

Jarek’s face registered confusion as he stared at his forearm. His insignia was flashing. Something that should only be possible if his seal was in use.

An inquisitor’s seal was special. It wasn’t something to be given out lightly as it provided the user with authority to access the highest levels of Tuann security.

“Who is in possession of your seal right now?” Graydon barked

“I—I don’t—“ Jarek cut himself off as his gaze flicked from the flashing insignia to Graydon.

“Get ahold of Baran to find out what is going on,” Graydon ordered Solal.

His First was already in motion as he attempted to contact his fellow oshota.

“No one is answering,” Solal said a second later.

“I trust the person holding my seal implicitly. He would have been a member of my Order if not for being called to another path. If he’s used it, it’s for good reason,” Jarek argued.

Solal and Graydon shared a look as Graydon lifted a hand, summoning those oshota who had spread out to investigate.

“Where are you going?” Jarek demanded.

“This was a distraction to keep us occupied,” Graydon said, picking up his pace to sprint toward the gate that would return him to the adva ka’s testing site.

He prayed he wouldn’t once again be late.

Chaos greeted Graydon as he entered the arena. Jarek and the others slowed to take in the carnage.

Multiple initiates were down. Some injured, others dead.

Several Tuann, including many of the emperor’s oshota and Graydon’s surrounded the Overlord of House Votair.

Spotting Baran, Graydon made his way over. “Report.”

Baran snapped to attention, his expression grim. “There was an attack. The Overlord used an inquisitor’s badge to raise a barrier that prevented us from rendering aid.”

Unhappiness radiated off the oshota and Tuann standing around them. Graydon suspected heads would have already flown if not for the fact that most of the dead belonged to House Votair and its allies.

The situation balanced on a knife’s edge.

The Tuann didn’t take the loss of their young lightly—no matter what House those young belonged to.

“Did you know about this?” Graydon asked Jarek. “Is this why you gave him your badge?”

The inquisitor tore his gaze from the bright splashes of red on the sands. Bodies still lay where they’d fallen. Tuann and three misshapen lumps which had been pummeled into an unrecognizable pulp that Graydon assumed belonged to the attackers.

“Absolutely not. My badge was to contain the soul bound. Nothing more.” Jarek’s horror seemed sincere as he shot a glance at Votair’s Overlord. “What did you do?”

Terrel’s nostrils flared as he lifted his chin to meet his friend’s gaze. “Exactly what you requested of me. You wanted the soul bound contained. He’s now contained.”

There was an ill look on Jarek’s face as he took in the fallen again. The price paid for his victory bought with the blood of their most promising youths.

“Liar.” Ziva pushed past the much taller adults around her. They shifted, allowing the child to pass.

Ziva’s eyes were glassy, and her chin trembled as she glared up at Graydon. Her clothes were disheveled and there was a spot of blood on her cheek but otherwise the child was unharmed.

“He’s lying,” Ziva said again. “Jin was nowhere near the arena when he raised the barrier. He didn’t show up until afterward.”

Terrel fixed a cold gaze on the child. “Yes, well, I had to protect the rest of us from the threat at hand.”

“At the expense of those below?” someone asked in a sharp voice.

Graydon looked over to find Tinsley glaring from the crowd. The heir of Kashori was covered in more blood than Ziva. None of which looked to be her own.

“A handful of deaths versus many more. The choice is obvious,” Terrel drawled.

“You’re still lying,” Ziva screamed, lunging at the Overlord.

Graydon moved quickly, grabbing the child before she could try to stab him with the concealed weapon she held.

He palmed the tiny knife before anyone could see.

“He’s lying. He is.” Ziva’s eyes glistened with tears as she fixed a gaze on him. “I was there. He raised the barrier before those things came out of those people.”

“You cannot believe this traumatized child,” Terrel sneered. “What reason would I have to sacrifice my own initiates?”

“You were angry because you thought she destroyed your ship. You did this to make her pay.”

Terrel’s gaze sharpened. “She is responsible. Her soul bound was obviously working on her behalf.”

Ziva bared her teeth in a snarl. “Prove it.”

Graydon gently tugged her out of the way when Terrel looked like he was thinking of doing her bodily harm.

“The child’s version of events is accurate,” someone from the crowd said.

Graydon looked over to find a high-ranking member of House Asanth standing a few feet away. Though the man had never undertaken the adva ka, he held status and influence among the members of his House. He was one of their most trusted advisors and likely present to provide guidance to those initiates who’d chosen to progress.

“Karl,” Graydon said in greeting before glancing in Baran’s direction for confirmation.

His oshota nodded, looking like he’d tasted something nasty as he glared at Votair’s Overlord. “Their sequence of events is correct. House Votair’s Overlord appears to have acted with foreknowledge of the coming danger.”

Graydon held himself still. Not yet. The accusation wasn’t enough to justify the arrest of a prominent Overlord.

“Moreover, two of the three creatures appear to have come from House Votair,” Baran continued. “The third initiate had had extensive contact with the other two in the time leading up to events.”

A cruel smile appeared on Graydon’s face. There it was. The final piece he needed to make a move.

“I want the Overlord and the rest of House Votair placed under immediate arrest,” Graydon instructed Baran and the rest of his oshota. “All properties will be confiscated while the emperor’s people conduct an investigation into his role in these events.”

Terrel started forward. “You can’t do that. I am the Overlord of a powerful House.”

Graydon rounded on him, letting his desire to end the other man appear on his face. “Did you really think you could cause the deaths of so many and not answer for it?”

Terrel’s look of shock said he had. Something Graydon found appalling.

“You’re done,” Graydon said in a silky voice. “Your House will not survive this. Look around you. The other Houses are already preparing to move in to claim what is yours.”

Terrel’s shoulders stiffened as he became aware of how those from the other Houses were staring at him. Their hostility and desire to make him pay permeating the air.

“Everything you’ve built, everything you sacrificed to make, they’re all gone. It’s only a matter of time.”

The Overlord flinched away from Graydon as Isla and Cord closed in on him from the sides.

Graydon waited for his oshota to escort the Overlord away before looking at Baran. “What else?”

The oshota took a deep breath. “Devon was mortally injured.”

Graydon’s stomach clenched, his expression still outwardly calm.

Baran flicked a glance in Jarek’s direction as he struggled with how to say the next part. “I suspect a soul bound was instrumental in saving his life.”

Graydon’s eyes closed in defeat as Jarek reacted, the words pulling him out his shocked state.

Fuck.

“Kira went missing in the aftermath,” Baran finished in a low voice meant for only Graydon’s ears.

“The soul bound must be destroyed,” Jarek started.

Graydon didn’t think, grabbing the other man and yanking him to face him. He placed a dagger against Jarek’s throat.

The inquisitor was careful not to move. “I advise you to rethink this action.”

It was almost admirable how calm Jarek was in the face of death. Had the circumstances been different and Jarek not a zealot, Graydon might have found him a worthy adversary.

As it was, Graydon struggled not to end the man where he stood.

Ultimately, killing Jarek wouldn’t solve Graydon’s problem. Too many had seen Jin exposed for what he was.

No action on Graydon’s part would change that.

“I want you to listen carefully,” Graydon said in a controlled voice. “That soul bound is the emperor’s son and Devon’s brother. You will not harm him. Apprehend him if you must but you will leave his fate to the emperor to decide.”

It was Jin’s only chance of coming out of this alive. A small one at that.

Graydon thrust his face closer to Jarek’s, invading the other man’s personal space. “Kill him and I will hunt down every member of your order and force you to watch while I end them.”

Jarek was a true believer. The possibility of his own death meant nothing to him.

The continuation of his order, on the other hand, would hit him where it hurt.

Graydon would do it, too. He’d dismantle the order one by one until there was no one remaining.

He’d like to see them guard against the soul bound then.

Graydon might do it anyways when this was over. Insurance for the future.

Graydon shoved the other Tuann away from him.

“Kira would have gone to the Mea’Ave. I plan to follow her,“ Graydon informed Solal and Baran. “Ensure he follows my instructions.”

This close Kira could see that the rock formations and the glowing ribbons of water that wound through them was a maze in truth. Paths led over the rocks, water flowing under and around them in a steady trickle.

She could feel a tug in her chest as the pools created by the meandering maze beckoned her to step into the water’s depths. It promised her everything she wanted if she’d slow down and stay a while.

Kira set her gaze on the cavernous maw and what lay beyond. She didn’t let herself stray, not even when she caught glimpses of the individuals she’d loved.

“They’re not real.” A sob tore at her throat. “Don’t look at them.”

She continued, her hurry forcing her to backtrack several times as she took the wrong path.

A third of the maze was all that lay before her when Bayside’s voice brought her to a halt.

“Are you really going to leave like this, Nixxy?”

Kira froze.

Her mind screamed at her to keep going, to not turn around. Both orders her body refused to obey.

Somehow Kira found herself facing Bayside.

He stood on the rocky path behind her, hands in his pocket in that same casual stance that used to make her laugh.

“You don’t have to go.” There was a half-smile on his face as he looked at her with warm eyes. “You can stay.”

Kira looked beyond him to find the others waiting for her in the launch bay of the Vega. Walker and Bates stood shoulder to shoulder with Ranger and Park.

“I want to,” Kira said.

The dream they were offering her was a beautiful one. It would be so easy to allow herself to let go of her pain and suffering.

To forget.

“But you’re not you.” Kira took a step backward. “And this isn’t real.”

Much as she might want it to be. Bayside and the rest wouldn’t wish her to live a lie. They’d want her to move forward—even if that meant leaving them behind.

The hardest thing Kira had ever done was turning her back toward them and continuing her voyage. Every step hammered a nail into her heart. Agony threatened to sunder her.

Kira drew strength from the pain, allowing it to bolster her as she reached the edge of the water maze.

“I’m proud of you, Nixxy,” Bayside whispered. “It was an honor to serve at your side. Sorry I didn’t get to see it to the end, but I know you did everything you could.”

A sob ripped from Kira’s throat as she kept going, walking right into the maw of the cavern. The darkness that closed around her was a soothing balm to the wounds on her soul that felt as raw as the first day she received them.

Despite that, Kira felt a release. Almost as if a wound had been lanced and the poison and pus that had been infecting her for so long could finally drain free.

Maybe not today but some day not too far in the future, Kira thought she’d finally be able to lay him and the others to rest.

Before she could dwell, light flickered to illuminate the space.

The wanderer looked as shocked as Kira when he looked up to find her standing there.

“Wait,” Kira yelled.

The wanderer turned and fled into the tunnel behind him.

Kira chased after him, abandoning the hope of taking him by surprise.

Between one step and the next, he disappeared from in front of her. Kira slowed at finding herself alone. No sign of the person she’d been pursuing.

She turned in a circle, unable to make sense of it.

There was only one direction in this tunnel and that was forward.

She wasn’t so slow as to have fallen behind. Nor had she passed him.

So where had he gone?

Kira considered her options. There were really only two. Continue forward and hope he was still ahead of her—or backtrack to search the tunnel she’d already traveled.

A pulse of warmth and welcome decided her. The summons from earlier repeated, this time a little stronger and more insistent.

“Guess I know which choice the Mea’Ave wants me to make,“ Kira muttered. “Awesome idea, Phoenix. Pursue a possible Tsavitee co-conspirator into a mysterious tunnel that leads who knows where. That can’t go wrong. Not. At. All.”

Waves of ki buffeted Kira as she approached a room. The only room she’d found in this tunnel. Those waves punched her in the face. Metaphorically speaking.

It was like stepping into a gelatinous mass. Piping hot. The abundance of ki almost scalding.

Breathing was difficult.

Worse was the sensation of her ribs compressing. As if a fist had wrapped around her body, squeezing tighter with each step she took.

“I should have stayed with Bayside and the others,” Kira complained.

She inched forward another step, finally crossing the threshold to stand in the room beyond.

A soft glow emanated from the underground lake. A raised platform and dais existed in the center of that lake. A sphere filled with a kaleidoscope of shifting colors and symbols hovered over the dais.

It was difficult to see details, the light coming off the sphere too intense.

A stone walkway extended over the water to the platform. Seeing it, she made her way over to it.

“Chase a bad guy. Complete a rite of passage,” Kira mocked herself as she stepped onto the stone path.

Kira was halfway across the bridge before she realized she wasn’t alone.

Hidden by the light coming off the sphere, the wanderer regarded her carefully. “I’m not your enemy. This isn’t what it seems.”

Kira looked him over carefully. “I don’t know about that.”

From where she stood, there wasn’t a lot of room for interpretation. Why else would he have taken the opportunity to come here when everyone else was preoccupied by the attack?

“You should listen to him, pippy bunny,” a soft voice said from behind Kira on the bridge. “He’s not lying to you.”

Everything in Kira stilled at the familiar name. A name only one person in this world knew.

“Elise.”

But when Kira glanced behind her, it wasn’t Elise’s face that she found.

The initiate from Asanth smiled at her.

It was a smile Kira had seen countless times. The way the corners of her eyes crinkled. The slight crookedness as one side of her lips tilted up a little more than the other. Strange to see the smile she knew on a face she didn’t.

Asanth spread her arms and turned. “Do you like it? I had to change things up a bit considering how recognizable my face has become.”

“It’s heinous. Take it off.”

Elise’s arms dropped, her features transforming in a slow process to the ones Kira was more familiar with. “Always so serious.”

Kira was careful to keep the wanderer in sight out of the corner of her eye as she moved backward onto the platform and toward the light sphere to avoid being trapped between the two.

“Are you the one I have to thank for the face changers?” Kira’s voice was flat.

“Yes—and no,” Elise confessed.

Kira made a pained sound.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Elise pleaded.

Kira felt lightheaded. “What have you done?”

She’d risked so many lives. People had died. This wasn’t the type of thing Kira could overlook or brush aside.

“They’re fine. You saved them; just like I knew you would.”

Kira gave Elise a wide-eyed look that held a touch of the hysterical. “Not everyone!”

“That is regrettable, but I didn’t have a lot of choice. My cover had to be maintained.”

“That’s your excuse?” Kira nearly roared.

Elise’s shoulders rose as she took a deep breath, the gesture the same as the one she used when she was reaching for patience.

“The Tsavitee’s masters aren’t a fan of disappointment. After my failure to procure Jin on Jettie, they decided I needed a reminder of my place.” Elise nodded at the sphere of light behind Kira. “I was given the choice of completing my original mission with the addendum of killing you or I could steal the lenacht and leave you a few gifts in the process.“ The look in Elise’s eyes hardened. “Sacrifices sometimes need to be made. I’m not happy about that fact, but in a tossup between you and Jin or some random Tuann, I would choose you two every time.”

Kira had forgotten that about Elise. In some ways, the other woman was the most loyal person Kira knew. In others, she held a cold pragmatism that was chilling.

To the Curs, Elise had given everything. Love. Affection. A willingness to sacrifice for their small family.

To the rest she was stand offish and cold. Disregarding those who weren’t part of her circle as unimportant.

Kira had seen it a thousand time. The abrupt reversal in personality when dealing with those Elise viewed as outsiders.

It was nothing overt. To most, Elise would appear to treat those people with the same level of kindness and care she reserved for her friends. It was why they’d used her as their liaison with other units. Because she was capable of faking empathy better than Kira and Raider. But it was a superficial friendliness that didn’t extend past banal pleasantries.

It was the reason behind many of their biggest fights. Kira couldn’t walk away from people in trouble whereas Elise would watch a person drown while never extending a helping hand.

Something in Elise’s words made Kira stiffen. “You’re responsible for the bog’s hag being placed on the Wanderer’s hull, aren’t you?”

It wasn’t just the face changers. There was more.

Elise’s eyes were sad. “Not my idea. That was the work of another faction who wanted you either side lined or dead. Bonus if Ta Sa’Riel and all those on the planet had to go into isolation to prevent the bog’s hag from spreading to the rest of their empire.”

“And the face changers. Why seed them in the initiates?” Kira asked.

“Another distraction to keep you from noticing our movements. For the same reason they convinced House Votair to target your young friend. Not that it was hard. It seems their Overlord had a vendetta against the boy’s former House.”

“Why?” Kira gritted out.

“The generals thought if you were preoccupied by danger to those closest to you it would increase our chances of success. I knew better, of course.” Elise offered a small smile. “You are at your best when you have someone to protect.”

Was Kira supposed to be flattered by Elise’s confidence in her? Because she wasn’t.

“I like him by the way. Joule. He reminds me of Selene.”

Kira’s primus moved under her skin at Elise’s nonchalance at everything that had happened. “You don’t even know what you’ve done. Devon was Jin’s brother. He nearly died because of those things. Not to mention the close call Raider had or the fact you put Elena in danger.”

Was she so far gone that she didn’t see how inexcusable that was?

It was small but Kira caught Elise’s flinch before the other lifted her chin. “I knew you would protect Raider and my daughter. While I regret the boy’s involvement, I stand by my earlier words. Between him and Jin, I will always choose the latter.”

“Except you didn’t,” Kira snapped. “You misjudged. To save Devon, Jin outed himself as soul bound. Do you know what the Tuann might do to him because of that?”

How could Elise not have thought of that? How could she not see how wrong all of this was?

It felt like Kira was stuck in a dream. An awful nightmare from which there was no waking up.

Calm descended.

There was no use talking to Elise like this. They’d just go round and round in circles. She needed to take control of the situation. Later, she could get to the bottom of why Elise was so fixated on this course of action.

Kira reached for her ki. A sharp zap of pain blocked the attempt as the vestiges of her soul’s breath scattered, sliding out of her grip before she could fully grasp it.

Blood trickled out of her nose.

Kira wobbled, fighting to remain standing after the backlash.

Elise tsked. “I wouldn’t if I were you. You won’t be able to access your ki. This is the Mea’Ave’s domain.”

Kira wiped away the blood with the back of her hand. “That’s regrettable.”

If that was the case, she wouldn’t be able to use the akieri either. Knowing Elise, she’d have some sort of insurance. A weapon of some kind.

Worse—she was as dangerous as Kira in her own way.

Movement flickered in the darkness of the tunnel. Graydon slipped out of the shadows, a ghost as he nodded once at her before letting the shadows wrap around him to conceal his presence.

Something in Kira settled at the knowledge she wasn’t alone. Backup had arrived. Though the situation was no less dangerous than it had been a moment ago.

“Why are you doing this?” Kira asked as a distraction.

Though her question was sincere. Elise had gone pretty far maintaining this cover of hers. To the extent of betraying her friends.

Because make no mistake, that’s what this was. A betrayal.

“I thought you would have figured that out by now.” Aeron’s voice bounced off the walls of the chamber, making it impossible to distinguish where he was standing.

Everything in Kira tightened as she scanned her surroundings for signs of the general. She found none. Only an empty room, Aeron completely hidden from sight.

Kira could only hope he’d missed Graydon’s arrival, but she wouldn’t hold her breath.

Luck didn’t seem to be on her side today.

“I told you to head for the transport already,” Elise said with a chiding sigh.

The loving indulgence in her tone as she spoke to someone who should have been their enemy was just one more slap to the face.

“I was curious to see how this would end. Does the Phoenix win or Sunshine?” Aeron drawled.

The wanderer, quiet until now, shifted closer to the sphere.

Elise’s gaze found him instantly. “I wouldn’t.”

The wanderer froze.

Kira took the opportunity to start toward Elise, only to come to an abrupt halt an instant later as Elise removed a hand from her pocket to point the Tsavitee weapon humans had dubbed the sleeper at Kira.

“I’m sure I don’t have to explain what this is,” Elise said.

No, she didn’t.

Kira didn’t take her eyes off that device, a cold sweat breaking out along her neck and back.

“Don’t worry. It won’t kill you,” Elise assured her.

No, it’d just put her into a coma. The length of which no one could predict. Days. Years. Maybe decades.

Then there were those who didn’t wake up at all. They just languished in sleep until their body finally failed, never once having opened their eyes again.

“I didn’t want to have to use this. I know how much you lost during your long coma.”

Kira forced herself not to react to Elise’s words. Though it was difficult. Excruciatingly so.

There was nothing more she’d like than to cross the short distance between them and rip the sleeper out of Elise’s grip.

She’d never make it in time.

“I have to admit—you’ve found the one thing I’m actually terrified of.” Kira raised her hands slightly to show she wasn’t a threat.

Then again, Elise had once known Kira better than anyone but Jin.

She’d understand how much Kira feared losing years to a sleep she couldn’t wake from. To be trapped in her body as the days slid into months while she could do nothing but dream.

Stupid, Kira. You should have attacked Elise the second she arrived. It was a mistake you might not get the chance to recover from.

Elise gave her a regretful half smile. “I’ve been assured your coma this time won’t be as long as the previous one.”

Was that supposed to be comforting?

Elise chuckled at whatever expression she found on Kira’s face. “I’ve missed that about you. Your face always did reveal everything going on inside that mind of yours.”

“You’ve known where I was all this time. You could have reached out to me anytime you wanted,” Kira pointed out.

She hadn’t and that knowledge hurt.

Was this how Raider felt when he learned Kira had hidden Elena from him? If so, it was a wonder his reaction hadn’t been more extreme.

In his place, she didn’t think she’d have forgiven herself.

Sadness replaced Elise’s smile. “Yes.”

She didn’t argue. That was something at least.

“Why didn’t you?”

Elise must know how far Kira would go for her. To hell and back as the saying goes. Same for Raider. They would have done anything.

“So many reasons.”

Kira made a come-on gesture. “I’m listening.”

Elise moved closer, watching the wanderer carefully as she did so. “Elena, for one. I needed you to protect my daughter. That would be difficult if you got involved.”

Kira scoffed. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

Elena was an excuse. Particularly since Kira couldn’t afford to be too visible in her life.

“You could have gone to Raider,” Kira bit out. “He would have helped you.”

Elise’s laugh held a touch of humor. “I love Raider. He is the light that kept my world from turning dark, but he’s a hard man. Do you really think he would have helped his enemy?”

Point to Elise.

“He might have. For you,” Kira argued.

Elise hadn’t given him a chance to choose.

“Would you have?”

Kira’s jaw tightened. “We’ll never know now, will we?”

“I suppose not,” Elise said, her expression bittersweet. “To be honest, a part of me didn’t want to taint you with the path I chose to walk. You and Raider were everything beautiful. I needed the illusion of something to come back to when this was over—even if that point never arrives.”

A silence fell as the two stared at each other, the gulf between them seemingly so wide where once they’d been perfectly in step with the other.

“Were you behind Rothchild?” Kira couldn’t stop the impulsive question. One she had no business asking with everything else going on. “Are you responsible for the Curs’ deaths?”

Maybe there was a reason she and Jin had never been able to find the traitor. They’d been looking in the wrong place.

A stricken expression filled Elise’s face. As if Kira just walked up to her and slapped her.

“How can you ask me that? They were my family too!” For the first time, there was something of the old Elise in her voice. A hurt and pain that sounded so real. “I would have died for them. I was prepared to do exactly that.”

Kira wanted to believe Elise. Wanted it like nothing she ever had before.

“And yet somehow you’ve survived,” Kira forced herself to say, knowing how the words would flay the Elise she once knew. The one who had loved the Curs as much as she had.

“Because—“ Elise cut herself off, her eyes closing as she reached for composure. When she opened them again, a different person looked back at Kira. Her emotions locked down and her features resolute. “The how and why of what happened is no longer important. You’ll have to look elsewhere if you’re looking for a traitor. That’s not why I’m here.”

Elise finished crossing the bridge, stepping onto the platform as she tilted her head back to survey the sphere.

At some point during their conversation, its glow had dimmed. The intensity of the light no longer as piercing. Enough for Kira to just barely make out the fact there was a creature inside. Its details indistinct. Like something emerging from a cocoon.

Kira caught the impressions of wings and a tail before Elise set a hand against the sphere. She drew it back with a small yelp.

“You are not worthy of the lenacht,“ the wanderer informed her.

Elise shot him an irritated look as she shook out her hand. “Good thing I came prepared then.”

She withdrew a device in the shape of a small cylinder from her pocket.

From the way the wanderer stiffened, something like concern flashing across his face, Kira guessed whatever the device was, it wasn’t good for them.

“It took the masters a long time to figure out how the Tuann escaped their control. They’d thought their slaves much too afraid to challenge their authority.” Elise busied herself twisting the rings on either end of the cylinder. “Those who remained suffered for that oversight. The masters punished them by trapping them in the forms of monsters, the generals you now know, and to make sure a rebellion would never happen again, they took their young as hostages.”

Kira’s flinch made Elise’s lips twist.

“That’s right, Nixxy. Children are taken from their parents the moment they’re born and placed in camps exactly like the one we grew up in.”

A seam appeared on the cylinder, the line running lengthwise as lights lit up on either end.

“Every so often they make an example of one of those children as a warning against what will happen if the generals are anything but absolutely obedient.” Elise paused to look at Kira. “Imagine it—your children stolen from you. Tortured. Sometimes killed. What wouldn’t you do to stop that?”

Kira was quiet in the face of Elise’s pain. Her former friend’s gaze distant as her mind turned inward.

Kira shifted forward, stopping when Elise’s attention snapped to her. Any evidence of distraction gone as Elise gave her a knowing look.

“The same things you’ve already done,” Elise said. “I know you’re the one behind the theft of the master’s new test subjects. How many camps have you destroyed? Three? Four?”

Kira ignored those words to nod at the cylinder. “What is that?”

In the back of her mind, she could sense the thread she associated with Graydon. There was an impression of him maneuvering into position.

“It’s a stasis field. She’s planning to steal the Mea’Ave’s lenacht,“ the wanderer answered for Elise.

From that, Kira was going to guess the lenacht was an offshoot of the Mea’Ave in some way. She didn’t need for anyone to tell her how bad it would be for the Tsavitee or their masters to get their hands on something as powerful as that.

“The Mea’Ave won’t let you take it,“ the wanderer said. “You’re neither a beloved nor a person of their choosing.”

“I’m aware of Tuann superstition, but that won’t stop me from finishing this mission,” Elise informed him.

Kira let out a small snicker. “From where I stand, former friend of mine, it doesn’t look like a superstition to me.”

Call her crazy but she didn’t think the Mea’Ave or its lenacht were as vulnerable as Elise assumed.

It was faint but Kira caught a sense of expectation around them. As if forces they couldn’t see were waiting for something that hadn’t happened yet.

“No matter how it appears right now, we’re still friends, Nixxy.”

“If you want me to believe that, put down the sleeper and come with me now. I will speak on your behalf to the Tuann. Maybe get your punishment lightened.”

There was no way Elise wouldn’t pay for all she’d wrought. Hell, she’d broken a prisoner out of a secure facility.

That alone would demand recompense.

There was regret in the shake of Elise’s head. “I can’t do that. Much as I might want. There are people counting on me.”

“You know I’m not letting you take it,” Kira warned.

Even if the lenacht’s summons wasn’t a tug in her chest, Kira would have stood in Elise’s way. There was no universe in which she was letting her walk out of here.

If she had to, she’d use force. Though she really hoped it didn’t come to that.

“Put down your weapon,” Kira ordered, taking a step forward.

Elise pointed the sleeper at her. “Stop.”

“No.” Kira took another step. “You’re not going to hurt me.”

She believed that. Wholeheartedly. She had to.

Otherwise, what had this all been for?

The sleeper’s barrel shook. “Don’t make me do this.”

“I’m not making you do anything.”

The barrel steadied as Elise gave her a pained smiled. “I suppose it was selfish to think I could do this without having to make sacrifices of my own.” Elise’s finger tightened on the trigger. “Forgive me.”

For an instant, shock rendered Kira immobile. Her brain trying to catch up with the fact Elise was really going to do this.

Graydon dropped from the ceiling, landing in front of Kira. His body jerked, a stunned expression on his face before he smiled.

“I made it.”

Kira caught him as he sagged forward. “No. No. Graydon.”

Her hands roamed his body.

This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t right. She was dreaming.

Yes. The Mea’Ave was showing Kira her greatest fear. That’s what this was.

There was no pain on Graydon’s face as his gaze clung to her features. “I guess Jin was right when he named me your mountain. I’m so glad I could protect you this time.”

Graydon’s eyes slid shut. His body went limp, his knees bending as he started to collapse. Kira lowered him to the ground, not wanting him to fall.

She shook him. At first gently. Then more forcefully.

“Wake up, Graydon. Wake up for me,” Kira pleaded.

He was unresponsive. His face still. That presence she’d always equated to a force of nature dimmed. It was shuttered. Sleeping.

He was gone.

Kira felt numb as she looked up at Elise. “What did you do? He’s my Raider.”

Elise shot Graydon. She’d taken him from Kira.

“ELISE, WHAT DID YOU DO?”

Tears welled in Elise’s eyes as she lifted the sleeper and pointed it at Kira again. “What was necessary.”

The world slowed to a crawl, Kira not moving. A part of her unable to believe Elise would pull the trigger even after what she’d done to Graydon.

The wanderer appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Elise’s arm to yank it upwards. The sleeper discharged into the ceiling.

And the world started moving again.

Kira was up and across the platform in seconds. Her fist collided with Elise’s temple as she turned to fight off the wanderer.

Elise dropped.

“Why did you do that?” Kira asked Elise’s unconscious body.

Elise didn’t answer.

The wanderer took a step back, his gaze on the bridge.

“Are you here to try your hand?” Kira asked Aeron where he waited behind her.

Her primus moved below her skin, the symbols that harkened its rise appearing and disappearing from her skin as the Mea’Ave drained it away from her.

“It’s tempting. But no, I’m quite content to return to my cage.”

Kira finally looked at him. “Why?”

Aeron’s face was contemplative as he considered Elise’s sprawled form. “Let’s just say I think you have a better chance of freeing our future than her.”

“Is that right?”

Aeron’s gaze was calm. “I guess we’ll see.”

Or Kira could kill him.

Things would be so much simpler if she did. No more questioning whether she’d been right to view them as an enemy for all these years. None of that pesky empathy that might one day cause her death when she hesitated a second too long.

Aeron tipped his chin at the sphere. “What are you going to do about that?”

The sphere pulsed from the tiny streams of manifested ki feeding it. The pressure in the room built as power flooded the space.

Cracks ran through the chrysalis as what lay inside began to push its way forth.

The moat of water surrounding the platform frothed as something large moved beneath its surface. Several somethings, Kira realized as bright sparks registered in her consciousness.

Kira didn’t move as three lu-ong surged up from the channel of water she would have sworn was much too shallow to accommodate their large bodies.

There was a depth of wisdom in the lu-ongs’ gazes that hinted at the immense span of years they had lived. Resembling humanity’s myths of eastern dragons, the lu-ong possessed a serpentine body. A crest decorated the area around heads that were more birdlike than dragon. Horns and long whiskers trailed from their snouts completing the image.

Of the three, Kira only recognized the big one in the middle. He had a scar along one side of his jaw that trailed over his snout. His crest and whiskers were made up of the colors of dawn. His scales as black of night.

The other two lu-ong were equally eye catching. One an azure blue with a silver mane and the other white with flecks of gold.

Aeron and the wanderer drew back in fear as water cascaded off the lu-ong’s bodies to shower the platform.

“See, Elise,” Kira said softly, not taking her gaze off the lu-ong. “I told you it wouldn’t be that easy.”

The lu-ong would have stopped Elise before she ever made it across the bridge. She would have died for nothing.

A deep voice resounded in Kira’s mind.

“Daughter of Harding, Beloved of the Mea’Ave, we have come to witness the birth of the lenacht.”

As if sensing their presence, the chrysalis split to reveal a creature the size of Kira’s palm. Curled into a fetal position, its shape was humanoid—at least on the upper half. The lower half looked more like a lu-ong’s tail.

Wings that resembled a butterfly’s fanned the air gently. Miniature horns jutted from its head.

Colors shimmered across the surface of its translucent skin in a beautiful display that made Kira forget for a moment how dead she felt inside.

Sensing her attention, it lifted its head to fix eyes filled with a wisdom far beyond the span of its short existence.

Kira fell into its gaze, getting lost for a timeless second.

Another voice, this time female, inserted itself into Kira’s mind. “Will you be this child’s future?”

Kira’s lips curved as she brushed a finger down the young one’s cheek. Ki nipped at her skin.

“That’s not why I’m here.”

She didn’t know how she knew that. Just that she did.

It was like the knowledge was inserted into her mind. There, the second she needed it.

The Mea’Ave, she’d learned, didn’t communicate with words. Rather it relied on a more nebulous method of conveying its meaning.

It was odd, but everything in her told her she was right.

She wasn’t called to carry the child to its next home. That task lay with another. The wanderer. Her duties were in a different direction.

For now, she was here to witness the lenacht’s birth along with the lu-ong. A kind of godmother. Someone to watch the lenacht’s journey and who would pick up the slack if the wanderer fell before his task was complete.

Kira withdrew her hand as tendrils of the ki wafting off the lenacht sank into her skin, burrowing below the surface to write itself into her bones.

A symbol formed above the Overlord’s bands that the Mea’Ave had given her after the uhva na. Two crescent moons facing in opposite directions one above the other, spikes coming off them. Small dots of varying sizes created a curvy line above and below the moons.

Kira’s touch was gentle as she ran her fingers along the violet lines. “Another mark.”

It seemed she was collecting them.

She looked up to see the wanderer reach for the lenacht, Aeron a fascinated bystander beside him.

“Welcome, young one. May your chosen guide you with wisdom and courage,” the scarred lu-ong intoned.

The lenacht butted its head against the wanderer’s hand. Its body started glowing with the same light its sphere had seconds before it burst into millions of tiny sparkling lights that surrounded the wanderer.

At the first touch of the light, the wanderer froze, his body locked in place like it had just been zapped by an electric wire.

He trembled as the lights sank into him one by one, creating an after image of the creature before it too vanished.

Seconds later, his body relaxed.

“We wish the new chosen and his lenacht luck in your future,” the female lu-ong whispered.

When Kira looked up again, it was to find the lu-ong gone. Only a ripple of water to show that they were ever there.

“Well then,” Kira said. “Who wants to be the one to carry Graydon back?”