“Your mother. Your father. Members of your House. Maybe you were learning to walk. You might have even advanced to running.”
Who knows what normal children did around that age?
“Your sibling would have slept on a cold floor every night. If she wanted food, she would have had to fight for it. Beatings would have been more common than not.” Kira flashed a humorless smile. “Our masters thought it would make us stronger.”
In a sense it did. Just not in the way their masters had intended.
Kira’s hand rose to hip height. “What about when you were this tall?”
This time Tinsley didn’t answer as she watched Kira’s hand like she expected it to hurt her.
“By this age, your sister had already taken a life.”
Finn’s expression closed down. He knew what came next.
“Sometimes, it was criminals our masters took from Consortium planets. Other times, it was the homeless or those they thought wouldn’t be missed.” Sorrow crept into Kira’s smile. “Occasionally, it was each other.”
A brittle silence descended.
Carefully, Kira remained focused on Kashori’s heir, not looking at the men beside her. If she did, she might not be able to finish this—and she needed to finish this.
Tinsley’s chest heaved from the effort to hold back tears.
“Believe me when I tell you they’re not the children you remember. They are killers. We are killers.”
And the sooner the rest of the Tuann accepted that, the better for everyone.
Finally, Kira allowed herself to look at Harlow and the rest.
She nearly flinched at the utter blankness she found in Harlow’s expression. The very lack of emotion saying he felt too much. As if giving in the faintest bit would be the spark to ignite an inferno that might destroy everything in front of him.
Wren’s expression was the one that shredded Kira’s heart.
An old human saying was that “the truth would set you free.” Kira had never been able to agree with that.
Sometimes the truth just hurt.
What she shared would haunt Wren for a long time to come. The knowledge of what his daughter had survived would plague his thoughts along with the realization that there wasn’t anything he could do for her.
Kira didn’t think there was a worse fate for a parent.
“I’m sorry,” Kira told him.
Wren’s hand trembled as he held it up to stop her. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
Kira wished that was true.
“I—“ Tinsley’s voice cut out almost as soon as she spoke.
Boden touched her shoulder in silent support as he sent a sympathetic glance in Edris’s direction.
Oh.
Tinsley wasn’t the only Kashori who’d lost something that day.
Edris surprised Kira by folding into a ninety-degree bow. Far deeper than she’d ever seen a Tuann make to anyone not of their House or an emperor.
“We appreciate you sharing your perspective with us,” Edris said to the ground.
