"As for Luatha's star maps—Odin is processing them and comparing them to what I've uncovered," Kira continued. "The data is massive. It's taking too long."
"That's why you need me," Aeron guessed.
Kira lifted her chin in acknowledgment.
"Why should I help you?" Aeron asked.
There was a tight feeling in her chest that made it hard to breathe. A band wrapping around her forehead as a dull headache started.
Kira passed it off as nerves and focused on Aeron. "Don't you want freedom?"
"What good is freedom if everyone I care about dies?" Aeron challenged.
Finn frowned; his gaze thoughtful as it shifted to rest on Kira.
Her gaze dropped to the table as she contemplated the pattern of the wood grain.
"Come on, Phoenix. You know what I want," Aeron hissed.
Yes, she did. The question was whether she was willing to give it to him.
"Alright, you win," Kira said, feeling like she'd been hurtling toward this outcome for decades. Every challenge she'd faced. Liberating herself and Jin from the camp. Raiding camps just like it to rescue the children she found there. All so she could arrive at this moment in time. "I'll free your young. All of them."
"Swear it. Swear it on your Mea'Ave," Aeron urged.
"Don't," Raider warned.
Kira shook her head at him. "You know I have to."
If this was the only way to save Elise, Elena, and Jin, she'd do it. She wouldn't think twice.
Even if they weren't in the mix, Kira wasn't sure she could have walked away. They were children. Innocent. The same way Jin and the rest had once been.
It was telling that Graydon made no move to stop her as Kira rose. Confirmation that she was in the right.
"I, Kira Forrest, so named Layana by my parents, daughter of House Roake and the Phoenix of the Consortium, do hereby swear on the Mea'Ave to do everything in my power to remove your young from the influence of the Tsavitee's masters. I won't stop until I'm dead—or they are."
An invisible force wrapped around Kira, squeezing once before it was gone. The universe seemed to blink, resuming a second later as if nothing had happened.
Except Kira and Aeron knew that it had. Her vow was witnessed and accepted. Whatever came next, she was committed to this course.
"You fucking idiot," Raider said with a regretful shake of his head.
Although he wouldn't have felt the Mea'Ave's presence as a human, he was acquainted with her personality. He knew that she'd never make a promise she didn't intend to keep.
Graydon leaned his chin on his fist, seeming entertained. "How very interesting this all is."
Raider ignored him. "You realize he's a general. Our enemy."
Kira did, in fact, realize that.
"It's not much different than what Jin and I have been doing anyway."
Ferreting out the camps and rescuing the children she found within. At least this time she'd have help.
Finn was the only one in the room who looked like he knew what Kira was talking about. He'd met some of the children she'd saved.
Graydon glanced at her in curiosity. "More secrets. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get to the bottom of you."
