“The rest? How are they?”
Quillon advanced across the room. “Your seon’yer was unhappy with how you managed to almost get yourself killed in his brief absence. He sent Maksym to the gauntlet training as punishment. Finn joined him.”
Kira’s eyes narrowed. “Wren punished my oshota?”
That was a serious breach in etiquette. An oshota answered to their sword first and foremost. In this case—Kira.
Even as her seon’yer, Wren didn’t have the right to punish him without Kira’s permission.
“Finn did that to himself.” Quillon’s smile was sharper than Kira had ever seen on the mild-mannered healer. “The man has trauma from watching his first sword die right in front of him. A wound you re-opened. Again.”
Kira’s chin dropped as her eyes avoided Quillon’s.
She took his point.
Regret was like a poison. It stole into your heart and ate away at the healthy tissue until you were a shadow of the person you once were. Right when you thought yourself fully healed, it was easy to suffer a relapse. Particularly when the person you’re supposed to protect makes it so very damn difficult.
“He really should have chosen a better sword,” Kira said almost to herself.
He’d know nothing but more of the same if he stayed by her.
“Too late.” Quillon placed his hand on Kira’s wrist as a tendril of his ki slid under her skin.
The feeling was uncomfortable, requiring restraint on her part not to retaliate. Something Kira was only capable of because of Quillon’s prior work in trying to help her heal from the ki poisoning she suffered from.
“I recommend you break the bastard’s legs next time. Injure him so badly he can’t concentrate on anything but staying alive.” Quillon’s ki withdrew. “Better yet, kill him so you no longer have to worry.”
Jin drifted closer. “Is that something a healer should say?”
Quillon’s mouth quirked. “You forget I’m not just a healer; I’m an oshota too.”
Yes, Kira was beginning to see that.
Quillon’s grip on her hand shifted, lifting her wrist between them. “You realize removing the inhibitor the way you did was a dangerous and foolhardy thing to do.”
Kira’s grin was rueful. “Believe me, it wasn’t my choice.”
Moreover, she would have died had it remained. Kira wanted to avoid that outcome if possible.
Quillon’s gaze lingered on her wrist a moment longer before he shook his head. “It’s quite remarkable actually. Your ki channels are much further along in their healing than they have any right to be.”
“What do you mean?” Jin asked, moving to Quillon’s shoulder to peer down at Kira in the same way he was.
Quillon hesitated. “I noticed something strange after you saved the lu-ong baby from poachers. I wanted to confirm my findings, but my patient ran away before I could.”
Quillon’s glare was severe.
Technically, she hadn’t run away, but Quillon didn’t know that.
If possible, she’d like to keep the reason for her disappearance a secret as long as possible.
The circumstances of Elena’s birth placed her in great jeopardy. Kira might trust Quillon with her life to a certain extent, but her niece was a different story.
“There were some unavoidable circumstances,” Kira said with an apologetic shrug.
“I’m sure.”
Quillon’s dry voice made Kira grin.
