It worked as his focus jumped back to her. “Would you bow to your captors?”
She wouldn’t. She’d proven that time and time again.
Aeron settled against the wall. “Why have you visited me?”
“You have answers I want. Isn’t that enough?”
Aeron studied Kira for a moment. “If that was the case, you would have been here weeks ago. No. Something has changed.”
Kira held still at the astute observation.
Aeron’s eyes narrowed before widening in realization. “You met her, didn’t you? You found Elise.”
Kira said nothing as Aeron threw his head back on a laugh, the sound containing a hysterical edge.
“Tell me what you know about her and her goals.”
“What’s wrong, Phoenix?” There was a twist on the last word. “Not the reunion you hoped for?”
Kira’s face remained blank as she let him talk, hoping his arrogance would allow something to slip through.
“I take it you know she’s working for us now,” Aeron said. “How does it feel to be made a fool?”
“You’re awful confident I’m the fool in this equation.”
Step one of her goal had been accomplished—verifying that Aeron was aware of Elise’s cooperation.
It was a start. She was close; she could feel it in her bones.
“You mourned a traitor and now you want to find out how deep the betrayal goes,” Aeron guessed.
Kira didn’t give him a reaction; her face blank.
That didn’t stop Aeron. “Elise was one of ours. She has been working with us since the beginning.”
How long had he been waiting for this moment? The moment he could spew venom in her ear. Plant a kernel of doubt that would continue to grow long after this conversation was over.
“She’s not the only one we’ve put by your side either.” Kira’s tiny flinch made Aeron grin. “Do you think your encounter with the young lord and his sister on O’Riley was an accident? Wake up, Phoenix.”
Graydon shifted closer to Kira, placing one hand on her hip as he lowered his head to rumble in her ear. “He’s trying to get in your head.”
Yes, he was.
“You’re nothing but a tool. Every move you made was by our design. Elise’s design.”
Kira was growing tired of this game. It was time to change the set up.
“There’s a lot of things I’m afraid of—Elise being a traitor isn’t one of them,” Kira confessed.
She’d had time to think over the last few days. Once the shock had worn off. Admittedly, it would be easy to question Elise’s loyalties. Had there been something she’d missed all those years ago? Was Elise exactly as Aeron had claimed—a traitor?
Somewhere in asking herself all those questions, she’d remembered Elena, the daughter Elise had left with Kira. The one she had gone to painstaking lengths to hide and protect.
If Elise had been on the Tsavitee’s side, she would have handed Elena over long before now. It was as simple as that. A Tsavitee believer never would have left Elena in Kira’s care.
Kira had to believe Elise had reasons for the actions she’d taken. Until she had proof otherwise, and possibly even after that, Kira wouldn’t think otherwise.
“Tell me—was your incarceration part of the plan?” Kira mused, smiling when his flinch told her she’d struck a nerve. “Were you a sacrifice, Aeron?”
