If it was just one code, Kira could have passed it off as coincidence. Everyone had a breaking point, and Elise had been in Tsavitee hands for over a decade.
It was a given she would have broken under the torture.
That's why she and Elise had come up with the second code. It was supposed to be a failsafe.
"You're really Elise," Kira said through numb lips.
"Bingo. You're finally getting it."
"Where have you been all this time?" Jin asked, speaking aloud for the first time.
"Tin Man, it's been so long, and that's the first question you're asking?" Elise made a tsking sound. "Where's the outpouring of relief and happiness? If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd both be happier if I were dead."
Kira and Jin didn’t respond as they stared at Elise like they had seen a ghost.
"Why don't you and Nixxy have a seat so we can have a proper reunion?" Elise invited as she tilted her head at the seat across from her.
Her wrists were locked to the table with force cuffs preventing any movement in her arms.
"Kira," Jin started.
"I know."
Elise looked between the two of them with a small smile playing on her lips. "I missed this—the way you two can have an entire conversation with a few words. I always thought it meant you had an otherworldly connection."
Alexander and Selene were right. This was going to bring Kira nothing but heartache and grief.
Kira forced herself to the table, taking a seat and projecting a calm she didn't feel.
"Answer Jin's question,” Kira ordered. “Where have you been?”
Elise ignored Kira’s words, staring at Jin in a way utterly unlike any in the past—like he was a science experiment she was trying to figure out the answer to.
"I've always wondered. Do you feel?" Elise asked Jin.
Under the table, Kira's hands clenched.
She's trying to get into your head. Treat her like any other enemy. This Elise isn't the one you knew,Kira told herself.
"You must," Elise continued. "Otherwise, you'd go crazy, right?"
"I think we're done here," Kira said.
Jin was her line in the sand. She wouldn't risk him or his safety.
"Did I hit a sensitive spot?" Elise asked, faking contriteness. "I did, didn't I?"
The question helped clear Kira's mind, washing away the feeling of being off-balance as logic reasserted itself.
This wasn't the way Elise did things. Words that hid sharp blades designed to draw blood. Barely veiled taunting.
Elise had always been direct. She wasn't as sarcastic as Kira, but she'd never backed down from a fight.
They'd butted heads on more than one occasion, and never once had Elise used this subtle verbal sparring to make her point.
"Why did you attack the race?" Kira asked.
Seeing she'd failed to elicit the reaction she'd intended, Elise made a moue of disappointment and sat up. "Who said I did? I'm an innocent bystander who got caught in the commotion."
