Her eyelashes fluttered before her eyes opened a small crack. A dim room greeted Kira as she squinted at the ceiling to bring it into focus.
Half of her brain was aware of how comfortable the bed under her was. The blanket pulled up to her shoulders and her body mysteriously free of pain.
An indecipherable moan left her as Kira tried to croak Jin’s name.
The shadows stirred before a spherical shape blocked her view of the ceiling.
“Kira?”
“Wh—“
“Easy. You’re safe. They brought us to the palace after your collapse,” Jin soothed, not needing words to know what she was asking.
Kira’s forehead furrowed. The palace? Not the Fortress of the Vigilant?
That didn’t sound right. Harlow wasn’t the type to let others care for his niece. Something had gone wrong.
“O...k?”
Jin’s chuckle was faint. “I’m fine. Better than you, you crazy woman.”
Good.
“Don’t smile at me like you think it all worked out for the best,” Jin scolded.
Kira’s attempt at a chuckle was more of a pained exhalation, her throat too raw to do anything but huff a breath out.
A glass of water levitated from somewhere out of sight.
“Here. Drink this,” Jin fussed. “You biologicals are so high maintenance.”
It took effort and a little bit of help on Jin’s part to work her way up on the bed until she was half reclining on the pillows he had relocated for her.
Once ready, the cup floated into her hands, courtesy of Jin’s anti-grav engines.
The first sip of water was glorious, wetting the parched tissue of her mouth and throat that felt like it hadn’t seen water in a decade.
“How long was I out?” Kira asked when she felt like she could speak again.
“A week.”
Kira lowered the cup, glancing at the intruder who’d answered her question.
Quillon’s expression was grave as he regarded her with a steady gaze. “You’re lucky to be alive. If you hadn’t had such a large dose of the emperor’s ki you would never have made it to treatment.”
Kira’s hands clenched around the glass.
As a healer and someone who’d passed the trial to be an oshota, Quillon would know better than her.
If he said she’d been close to death, she believed it.
“I fucked up.”
Kira could admit it. She’d overestimated the emperor’s authority, trusting the other side would play by the rules with him there.
They hadn’t—and Kira had paid the price.
Quillon’s expression thawed. “At least you know.”
