“Remember that favor I did for you?” Graydon asked.
Kira’s stomach sank. On no. She did not like where this was heading.
Graydon’s smile was smug as he straightened. “It’s time to repay it.”
She’d been right. She really didn’t like this.
“Next time, I really should just break into the prison by myself,” she muttered.
That way she wouldn’t have to deal with the bill later on. Himoto always said there was no such thing as a free ride.
As always, he’d been right.
Graydon and his companion moved up the ramp. Graydon stopped beside Kira as his companion strode into her ship without a backward glance.
Guess she didn’t need to ask what that favor entailed.
“You realize my ship isn’t a ferry, right?” Kira asked.
“You’ll barely know he’s there.”
Kira scoffed. “Doubtful.”
An emperor as powerful as that one wasn’t exactly someone you could overlook.
A dull headache took up residence behind Kira’s eyes as she thought of all the ways this could go wrong. If the emperor got so much as a scratch on him, Kira would be the one to blame.
This time there was not even a speck of attraction as she eyed Graydon with a hint of dislike.
This was a disaster. The emperor and Jin on one ship. Kira could only imagine all the ways that could blow up in her face. Not to mention all the other secrets that were hidden on board.
“Why can’t he go through normal channels? I’m sure there are plenty of ships that could get him planet side.”
All of which would have been nicer than Kira’s. She loved the Wanderer but it was considered a clunker even by human standards.
“No one knows he was at the quorum. We’d like to keep it that way,” Graydon said in a low voice.
Kira was quiet as she considered. “How bad would it be if news of his presence was to get out?”
Graydon’s grim expression was all the answer she needed.
“That bad, huh?”
“The political ramifications would give those factions who oppose the emperor an opportunity to create trouble.”
That answered that question. It seemed Kira wasn’t going to wiggle or argue her way out of this. The emperor was tagging along with her to the planet. End of story.
Lovely.
“What about Yukina?” Kira asked, not quite ready to roll over and concede the battle. “She got him off the planet. Can’t she get him back down?”
Kira had stuck close to her quarters or the gym to avoid the higher-ranked Tuann during the trip. Happily, the ship was large enough and Graydon had been busy enough that her evasiveness had succeeded in minimal contact.
“That might have been a possibility if she hadn’t remained behind on Almaluc to deal with the Consortium’s mess.”
Kira didn’t have to ask what mess he was referencing.
Like the Tuann, the Consortium was made up of various factions who often engaged in power struggles with one another. It’d been a particularly nasty faction who’d been instrumental in violating the treaty that protected the Consortium from another invasion by the Tsavitee. Without it, they were vulnerable.
