Graydon pulled Kira half over him, bringing her front flush with his side. She slid a leg over his, making herself more comfortable.
"The best moment of my life was when you crashed a gondola into it," he whispered, nuzzling her temple.
"Your memory is faulty," Kira corrected. "The gondola was already crashing when I jumped on it. Jin and I merely guided it to a more optimal landing site."
"As I recall, the people in charge weren't exactly a fan of your actions."
"That's not my fault. That man was an asshole."
That waste of space had hated her guts for years. He'd have used any excuse to fuck with her.
Graydon looked like he was suppressing a smile. "If you say so."
"I do," Kira grumbled.
Graydon placed his hand over hers. "Promise me one thing."
Kira looked up at him, catching the serious cast of his features.
"Don't try to protect me by leaving me behind." He caught her chin, forcing her to look at him when she would have avoided his gaze. "I don't care what's coming or how bad it gets."
Kira pulled her chin out of his hand. "Have you ever thought that I don't want to be the reason for your fall?"
The look he gave her made her heart hurt.
"You don't get to make that decision for me. We each decide for ourselves what we're willing to risk and for who. That is what it means to love someone." His lips quirked. "And unlike a certain someone, I've had the honor of being responsible for my decisions for years."
Kira glared, pinching his side at the teasing note in his voice.
He caught her hand, holding it against him firmly. "I will not give you up. Even to death. I've told you before—you're mine. And I plan to keep you."
Twenty
Elena - Tsavitee Planet
Elena snuck through the corridors on sock clad feet. She was a ghost, passing by unnoticed. Or a phantom. She couldn't decide which.
She hummed the theme song to a popular show about a pair of kid spies as she chose a direction at random.
Oh. That reminded her. She needed a cool call sign like Auntie's if she was going to be a proper operative. Something that wouldn't give away her identity.
Tommy liked to call her a harpy. She wasn't a fan of that moniker, though. Maybe something that had less of a negative connotation.
Like Raven.
For one, it was a bird, and like the phoenix, it could fly. If, you know, phoenixes were real and all.
Elena might not have been as good as Auntie on a waveboard, but she could hold her own.
There was something about soaring in the sky that spoke to her soul. Like she was free. For a long time, it had also made her feel close to her mother. That was before she found out what her egg donor was actually like.
In legends, ravens held a variety of meanings. Considered ill omens in some cultures, messengers in others, and to have created light and thus life itself in still another.
So many different perceptions. So many interpretations of one little bird.
It was kind of poetic, if you thought about it.
The thing she most empathized with, however, was the raven's tendency to be seen as a catalyst for mischief and mayhem.
