33. THIRTY-ONE

thirty-one

Memories clung to Kira as she struggled her way back to consciousness. There was shock on the faces of those around her as she rolled onto her side from where she’d landed.

“Tin Man?” Kira asked, not caring what those around them thought.

Kira should have been the one in that drone. She was the reason he had to live the way he did.

The shame and guilt choked her.

If not for her, he could be normal.

“I forgot that. You were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen,” Jin reminisced. “An avenging goddess that I’d given up hoping for.”

Kira’s gaze dropped. She didn’t deserve that praise.

“Don’t regret it,” Jin told her in a fierce voice. “If this was the price for saving you, it’s one I was and will forever be willing to pay.”

Tears threatened.

“Besides, we had an amazing life all things considered,” Jin said in a cheerful voice Kira didn’t deserve.

She forced back the desire to cry. “You’re right. We did.”

They’d built a legend for themselves. Together. If he thought the loss of a biological body was a trade he could live with to have all that, it wasn’t her place to argue.

“Does that answer your question?” Pallas asked Jarek. “Jin’s soul ending up in the drone was an accident of his own doing. A tragic result of him trying to save her life.”

Jarek considered the floor, his hair hiding his expression.

“Kashori will side with the two souled,” a woman spoke when the silence lingered.

“As will Luatha,” Liara declared.

Asanth waved a hand as he stared at Alexander. “If it will help us keep ties with our lost ones, we are willing to change our stance as well.”

“You have my answer already,” Harlow told Eurus when he looked at him.

The Overlord of Danai sat back in his chair with a dissatisfied expression that said he knew he’d lost the battle.

With four of the five major Overlords siding with Kira and Jin, no amount of arguing on his part would turn the tide.

Eurus looked at Jarek. “And you?”

The inquisitor finally raised his head, meeting Eurus’s gaze. “I will rescind my request for judgment—for now.”

“Yes!” Elena shouted from where she and Wren had remained when the majority of the room cleared out.

She and a few others, including Finn and Raider, had managed to be exempted from the eviction because of their ties to Kira.

The other Tuann who’d remained, Kira was less happy about, but she decided to concentrate on what was important.

They’d won. It was hard to believe.

Eurus waved a hand, banishing the cage of light containing Jin.

He shot forward with a whoop, crashing into Kira’s arms.

“Isn’t this disappointing?” Pallas observed Kira and Jin from far too close a distance. A fact that was slightly concerning since neither of them had been aware he’d moved. “I was looking forward to escorting you home.”

Kira started to respond as her eyes caught on Danai’s Overlord giving Terrel a considering look. Since he had a stake in things, Votair’s Overlord had been allowed to remain for viewing of Kira and Jin’s memories. A fact she hadn’t liked at all.

“Overlord Votair, please step forward to face your trial,” Eurus intoned behind her.

Terrel’s laugh held bitterness. “This isn’t fair. My House will be disbanded while you face no consequences.”

His arrogance was breathtaking.

Kira wasn’t the one who sacrificed her own people in this plot. That was him. He deserved what was coming to him.

“No, I won’t let it end this way.” He shook his head and glared at Kira. “You took what’s mine. Let me return the favor.”

Too late, she realized he stood perilously close to Wren, Auralyn, and Elena.

He flicked a glance at the pair of Danai oshota standing behind the trio. “Do it.”

Wren whirled, his en-blade flashing up as the chamber erupted into disarray.

The room’s doors burst open as dozens of Tuann belonging to different Houses poured inside to attack those present.

Harlow and Caius shouted something as they laid waste to any unfortunate enough to target them. The emperor’s oshota closed around him and Devon, protecting them.

Pallas roared with a laugh as he threw himself forward. Alexander grimaced, following. Finn headed in Kira’s direction as Raider sprinted toward his daughter.

Wren defended against his attackers as Auralyn snagged Elena. She shoved the girl behind her as Terrel bore down on them.

Kira started forward, Jin zooming past as Terrel threw something at Auralyn.

She deflected, flicking ki at the object. Surprise filled her face when it detonated on contact, a shrill screech of sound nearly causing Kira’s ears to bleed before a blast shook the chamber.

When she recovered, it was to find Auralyn on the ground. Half her face covered in blood. Her arm missing. And Elena being held as a shield in front of Terrel as he held something to her throat.

“I wouldn’t,” he snarled in Raider’s direction.

Raider stumbled to a stop; his eyes locked on his daughter’s scared face.

A bubble of calm formed around Terrel as those who’d been about to attack him held off, too afraid of what the Overlord of Votair would do to the child in his arms.

“Let the child go,” Jin instructed. “She’s not the one you want.”

“No, she’s not.” Terrel’s features twisted as he glanced at a still Elise, her expression haunted as she stared at her daughter in his clutches. “That bitch failed. Who do you think they’ll punish now?”

Him, of course.

Another person might have felt bad for him. Not Kira. Not after he’d chosen to take Elena hostage.

The fighting around the room gradually stopped as Harlow and the oshota from the other Houses took control, killing or rendering immobile their attackers.

“But not if I give them something more important.” Terrel gave Kira a nasty smile as he caught her tiny flinch. “Yeah, you didn’t think anyone would notice, did you? Surprise.”

Wren slipped into Terrel’s blind spot, rage twisting his face into something Kira didn’t recognize. So all-encompassing and horrible, it was hard to believe he was her seon’yer.

“Ready when you are,” Jin said through their comms.

Elise made a small movement as Terrel shifted his grip, finally revealing the object he held. An item that looked more like a strange looking needle than a knife.

“Stop him,” Elise screamed. “It’s a summons marker.”

Terrel was too quick, injecting Elena with the needle. He shoved her away as he lifted a stone-like object Kira knew from a glance probably wasn’t a stone at all. His smirk turned victorious. “I win.”

Wren stabbed his blade into the Overlord’s back. Terrel’s face went slack as the stone fell from his hand, hitting the stairs and bouncing twice before it landed at Kira’s feet.

“Guess not,” Jin told him as Elena dashed forward.

Kira caught her. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

Her hand went to Elena’s neck. No blood. That was good.

“Oh, Nixxy,” Elise said in a lost sounding voice.

Kira barely heard as Elena collapsed, her face wreathed with pain. Kira caught her, holding her up as whimpers left her niece.

“It hurts,” Elena gasped with none of her normal bravado. “It feels like I’m being ripped apart.”

“We need a healer,” Kira told Harlow, trying to hold Elena still as the girl started seizing.

“It won’t help,” Elise said. “He injected her with a marker. Right now, her body is fighting the summons, but it will lose.”

“What does that mean?” Raider demanded.

“She’s being recalled to a Tsavitee home world,” Elise informed him.

Kira shook her head. “No.”

That wasn’t going to happen.

“Blue!” Raider screamed. “Get in here.”

Blue raced down the stairs, having entered sometime during the fight. Kira didn’t question how she had managed that. Blue probably took notice when the Tuann who’d invaded the audience chamber headed inside and decided to follow like the nosy person she’d always been.

Blue knelt beside Elena. “Tell me about this device.”

Her hands were already busy assembling something only she would understand.

“You can’t stop it,” Elise said, her voice anguished.

“Not with that attitude I can’t,” Blue snapped. “Quit wringing your hands like some melodramatic heroine and help me figure out how to fix this.”

Elise moved closer. “You’ll have to find a way to disrupt the isotope that enables the summons.”

“You mean like a signal disrupter? Easy enough.”

Blue pulled several objects from her pocket, disassembling them in a blink before adding them to her creation.

“Jin, do you—“ Blue cut off as the small turtle hair pin that Elena always wore levitated from her head.

A spawn like the lu-ong bracelet Kira still wore, its parts unraveled as Jin extracted a small glowing piece of metal in the shape of a horseshoe and floated it toward Blue.

“Ah, thanks. I needed that for my battery source,” Blue said, flashing a smile as she plucked the object out of the air and inserted it into her device. She added a few more odds and ends before snapping the last wires into place. “That should do it.”

While Blue worked, Eurus gestured at the emperor’s oshota who had taken control of the room. “Escort everyone out. Right now. And I want an investigation into what happened here.”

Blue didn’t look up as the survivors of the battle began filing out of the room, her concentration entirely on her device. The rest of them might as well not have existed for how much she was aware of them.

“Let’s see if this works.” Blue pressed on a button and then waited with bated breath.

A scream ripped from Elena as she writhed, her body convulsing.

“Turn it off,” Raider shouted. “You’re hurting her.”

Blue’s face fell as she rushed to pull apart the connections on the device.

Elena’s convulsions stopped as her body went limp.

“I don’t understand,” Blue said. “That should have worked.”

Elise’s face was sad as she shook her head. “The Tsavitee would have anticipated such a solution. They would have built safeguards into the marker to ensure the target suffered, leaving you no choice but to let this happen.”

Alright. Kira had had enough of this.

She reached for the collar around her neck. She needed her ki.

“Get it off,” she ordered. “Get it off right now!”

“It won’t work, Kira,” Elise said softly.

“You don’t know that,” Raider snarled.

“Even the most powerful ki user wouldn’t be enough to stop this, isn’t that right?“ Elise said with a look in Torvald’s direction.

To Kira’s surprise, the emperor hadn’t evacuated during the attack, instead remaining.

Regret was on his face as he shook his head.

“Did you know about this?” Raider demanded, getting in Elise’s face. “Did you know what he planned to do to our daughter?”

Jin nudged Kira’s arm, slipping under it to press his shell against Elena in wordless comfort.

“I would never do anything to jeopardize our child,” Elise snapped. “You should know that.”

Raider’s laugh was ugly as he pointed at Pallas. “That man said it—traitor.”

Elise flinched. “It doesn’t matter what you think of me. There’s no stopping this once the marker is injected. Either someone uses the recall stone to complete the summons, or she will be torn apart on a molecular level. Your choice, lover.”

For a moment, Kira thought Raider would hit Elise. The other held her ground, not looking away from him.

A hiccupping cry from Elena forced him to back down as he turned toward his daughter, taking Kira’s place.

“It’s going to be okay, sweetie. I’m here.”

Wren looked up from where he was giving emergency aid to Auralyn. Elena’s aunt was conscious, but just barely. Her eyes were glazed with pain as her armor sealed itself around her wound to lessen her bleeding.

Kira could see the willpower it took for the other woman to stay present. Wren cradled her in his arms, an agonized helplessness on his face that matched Kira’s own.

“I can end her suffering if you can’t,” Pallas offered.

In his mind, such an action would be a mercy. A twisted one maybe but mercy nevertheless.

“You know what they’re like. Death would be preferable,” Pallas warned.

“Touch her and I’ll separate your head from your shoulders,” Kira snarled, sounding like someone else in that moment.

Pallas shrugged, unaffected. “She’s your child. Your choice.”

Kira wasn’t listening as her gaze landed on the syringe still clutched in Terrel’s curled up fist. She reached for it, sliding it free.

Raider’s hand landed on hers. “I’m going too.”

Kira’s gaze held his. “Okay.”

There wasn’t enough for two.

“You won’t survive,” Elise informed her, drawing a step closer. “They’ll detect you the instant you arrive.”

Kira raised the syringe to her neck. “I don’t care.”

Elise struck the oshota beside her with two sharp blows, tossing a tiny ball bearing into the air as she took a knee and pressed her face to it.

The flash disoriented those left standing—including Kira and Raider.

A hand closed around Kira’s, yanking the syringe from it.

Kira blinked her eyes into focus as Elise inserted the needle into her neck and pressed down on the plunger. Wren grabbed her hand an instant too late, pulling the syringe out.

“You can’t save her—but I can,” Elise informed Kira with a resolute stare as she raised her hand to show Kira the stone she held.

Kira whirled back to Elena, grabbing her niece’s face and tugging it toward hers. She only had seconds.

“You survive. You hear me? I don’t care what you have to do or who you have to kill, but you don’t die. I’m coming for you.”

Elena’s eyes contained a fear that gutted Kira. She leaned forward, pressing a kiss against Elena’s forehead as tears started to fall. God, this was hard.

”I will come for you,“ Kira promised again.

The lu-ong Joule had returned to her the day after the battle with the face changer shifted, sliding off her wrist and onto Elena’s chest. It disappeared into her clothes as Kira felt Jin do something to their bond.

It dimmed for a moment before flaring to life again. The balance was wrong, only a thread of his presence existing where it was supposed to be as his sphere thumped to the ground and rolled.

Awareness shone in Elena’s gaze along with shock.

Kira smoothed a finger down her cheek one last time. “Protect each other. I’m right behind you.”

“Find Odin. The Allfather is your best bet of locating us,” Jin informed her through their comms.

Kira steeled herself and looked at Elise. “Do it.”

Elise’s nod was the same one she’d always used as acknowledgement when Kira gave her a difficult order. A combination of determination mixed with a resilient fire.

Kira grabbed Raider, yanking him away from Elena as Elise squeezed the stone.

A cry of grief tore out of Raider as both vanished, leaving behind the burned scent of ozone as he collapsed to his knees.

Kira’s grip on him loosened as her gaze met Harlow’s.

She’d lost Elena. Graydon might not wake up. Jin was gone.

Distantly, she was aware of Harlow moving toward her, his hands grabbing her arms as the black hole where Jin should have existed threatened to swallow her.

No. No. She had to find Elena. She couldn’t collapse. Her niece was counting on her.

Jin was gone though.

“It’s okay, Kira,” Harlow’s voice was low and soothing. “Let yourself break for a moment. We’ve got you.”

A ringing sounded in her ears as that black hole got bigger.

Jin was gone. JIN WAS GONE.

Kira’s knees stopped supporting her. A wail left her. The cracks she’d managed to patch over all these years, the ones stemming from her first loss of the Curs, opened wide.

Something exploded from Kira, taking her consciousness with it.

Harlow hovered on the edge of the room, taking in the defeated figure of his niece where she sat on the balcony watching the waves of the ocean. Finn a silent sentinel in the corner.

Harlow didn’t think the man had slept or taken his gaze off his charge in the four days since the event.

That was how much time had passed since Kira had retreated so far into herself no one could reach her.

Not Harlow. Not Finn. Not anyone.

Since then, Harlow had put their House to searching every nook and cranny of the universe for where Elena might have been taken. Wren was a man possessed as he sat vigil over Auralyn’s bedside while issuing orders for the rest of their pod.

Auralyn had lost her arm, the healers unable to salvage it. When she recovered from the rest of the damage, she’d have to decide what course her recovery would take. Whether that meant allowing the healers to construct her a new arm or an alternative treatment plan.

Raider was a ghost. He and the other human female had been locked in his room since the event, activating every contact they knew in their hunt for a person Raider called Odin.

As far as Harlow could tell, they’d been unsuccessful so far.

“How is she today?” Harlow asked Quillon.

The healer shook his head in regret. “The same. I suspect her link with the soul bound is the reason she hasn’t come out of this yet.”

It made a certain amount of sense. The method of the soul bound’s creation had irreversibly tied Kira and Jin together. With that connection strained due to the distance between them, it was possible Kira’s mind was forced to shut down to cope.

“I don’t think she would have survived the soul bound’s destruction,” Quillon offered softly.

Another reason Harlow was thankful for the emperor’s machinations. Though most wouldn’t recognize Torvald’s hand in events, Harlow did. The emperor’s actions hadn’t been overt, but he’d helped create the window for Alexander and that other to step in the way they did.

“If this continues, however, I fear she is at risk of fading,” Quillon said with another look in Kira’s direction.

“She’s strong. She’ll pull through this.”

She had to. If she didn’t, Harlow would fade with her. He had no interest in existing in a world where none of his family remained.

A knock came at the door.

Caius marched inside without waiting for an acknowledgement. His face was serious as he crossed the floor. “Graydon is awake.”

A whisper of sound came from Harlow’s side. He looked over to find his niece standing beside him.

Violet eyes stared into his. “I will see him now.”