"Why didn't you tell me? I thought I knew everything."
He did. The important stuff anyway.
"At first, it was because I didn't want it to be true. If I ignored it, it meant it wasn't happening. Then when I couldn't hide it, things had changed, and I had to focus on what I could control."
"In other words, you buried your head in the sand and hoped this would pass you by," Jin drawled.
Kira's grin was quick and repentant. That was as good an explanation as any.
"Ah, well, you wouldn't be the first." The lizard uncoiled from her neck, reclaiming her shoulder.
Kira was first out of the field oflu-ong,Raider and Graydon following shortly afterward as she began to head to where the patrol was forming up.
"We don't have to do this alone anymore. There are options," Jin said.
Kira glanced down, aware of how the lizard was staring at Graydon as he approached, his face relaxed, like the rough edges had been chiseled down and worn smooth. He'd enjoyed their time with thelu-ong.
"You trust him?"
"Don't you?" Jin asked in a pointed voice.
Kira barely hid her flinch. Jin had a point. She didn't let herself get close to people for a reason. That the commander had already breached her defenses several times, meant she trusted him at a subconscious level.
She knew in her bones he wasn't working with the Tsavitee. She'd seen too much of him to think him anything but honorable. Battle had a way of bonding you, of showing you the darkest and best parts of a person. It could lead to feeling incredibly close to the person who fought at your side in a very short amount of time. It stripped the walls that most people kept between them and others, reducing them to their most basic selves.
Graydon had a soul filled with light and dark. He was a terror to his enemy but never those he was loyal to. If she had him in her corner, she knew he wouldn't step out of it even under the most insidious of pressure. He held a strength that most only aspired to.
There was confidence in everything he did. He was the steady rock when everything else had gone to shit.
And if he decided she was a threat to the ones he loved, he would seek to destroy her. She didn't think there'd be any coming back from that.
Not only because she wasn't certain who would win in a real fight.
Graydon rode his board, his posture easy as he glanced at her in curiosity, as if sensing the dark place her thoughts had turned to.
“I won,” she told the two of them.
Graydon’s grin was seductive. “Debatable.”
“First out. I count that as a win,” Kira shot back.
The tension in Wren and the rest of the oshota distracted them from their friendly argument.
Graydon straightened, the relaxation of before falling away. Everything about him changed. Gone was the mischievous playmate who'd dodged thelu-ongwith her. Now, he was the Emperor's Face. Someone who wore his power like a mantle, not like it was a burden but rather a duty he cherished and respected.
"What is it?" Graydon asked in a normal voice despite the fifteen feet between them.
"A distress call came in," Wren said.
"Where?" Graydon demanded.
"Lenay quadrant. Fishing boat. It sounded like alu-onghad attacked their vessel," Wren answered.
More than one person slid an uneasy glance at thelu-ongbelow. Interestingly, the creatures had cleared out in the past few minutes, not breaking the surface as often—almost like they sensed what was happening.
"It's been a long time since thelu-onghave been in these waters," Graydon said. "Perhaps the time away has opened the door for misunderstandings between them and us."
Wren shook his head. "Harlow never lifted the restrictions on thelu-ong’snesting grounds in the hope they would return. No one should be out there."
