“I suppose that means he knows.”
Lovely.
Graydon suppressed a smile. “It’s hard not to when Kashori’s heir shows up on his doorstep demanding an audience with you.”
“Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“I wish I could. They showed up not long before you did.”
Kira cursed silently to herself. “Fucking tattletales.”
A doorway formed in the wall, the stones parting to allow Kira and her companions through.
It was one of many defenses embedded into the fortress’s design and quite the clever one.
It was more difficult for enemies to invade if they constantly found their way obstructed by unrelenting wall and impassible rock. While the sturdy walls wouldn’t stand up to anyone truly determined to get inside, they would create enough of a barrier to slow the enemy down long enough for those within to mount a defense.
Of course, all the hidden doorways and defenses in the world wouldn’t protect you if the enemy was on the inside already.
“Harlow was most interested to hear how your oshota was nowhere in sight,” Graydon remarked as he prowled at Kira’s side.
Finn grunted; his expression unaffected.
Trust Graydon to poke her oshota’s sore spot right when he’d finally recovered some of his mood.
“And he sent you to summon me home?” Kira asked, casting him an arch look.
Graydon’s smile was easy. “He didn’t have to. I volunteered.”
Kira doubted he’d made that offer out of the goodness of his heart.
“Afraid I can’t handle the pampered heir of another House?”
Graydon’s head dipped, his lips hovering a centimeter from her own.
Kira’s eyes darted to them. As always, the banked desire she had for him was quick to rise, tempting her to close that minuscule distance.
Her lips tingled with the knowledge of what he would taste like. The way he would feel against her.
“Coli, you’re never the one I worry about,“ he whispered, his lips brushing hers before he withdrew. There was a wicked look in Graydon’s eyes that said he’d had fun toying with her.
Kira cleared her throat, forcing herself to return to the subject at hand.
“I assume the emperor would prefer I not humiliate one of his loyal subjects and start a House feud.”
The warm weight of Graydon’s palm landed on the small of Kira’s back, sending a jolt of awareness through her as he guided her forward. “I’m sure your uncle would prefer that as well.”
Kira snorted. “Then perhaps he should stop trying to make me Roake’s heir.”
“I think you would make a fine Overlord.” Graydon had a way of smiling without ever moving his lips. The grooves around his eyes deepening as warmth entered them.
If she didn’t love seeing that expression on his face so much, she’d be tempted to kick him.
They entered the fortress’s inner courtyard, the door sealing behind them.
There was a minimalistic beauty to the Fortress of the Vigilant that Kira had always appreciated. It stood stalwart and tall. Its walls built from a stone that seemed to absorb the light. Tall spires stabbed the sky’s underbelly, an austere monument to the stoic warriors who called this place home. The towers merged into one another. A self-contained city in its own right.
Kira crossed the courtyard, avoiding the exterior buttresses.
