The oshota's face was dangerously pale from blood loss. If they didn't get him to a healer soon, he might not make it.
Raider stared at the six unconscious children; his expression shuttered.
"Someone will need to take responsibility for them," Graydon said.
Elena scowled. "What does that mean?"
Raider knew. Graydon could see that from the way the human rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at the unconscious children. He understood the same way Graydon did that they couldn’t release these children into the universe without someone there to guide them.
Elena tugged at Raider’s arm, her expression pleading. "Dad?"
Raider nodded, his gaze finding Graydon's. "I'll do it."
"Are you sure?"
It would be less complicated for everyone if the children disappeared.
He'd made a promise to Kira though. And his own conscience wouldn't allow him to order their elimination. Not without knowing whether they could be more than their masters made them.
That was what the lu-ong had offered the Tuann all those years ago. A chance at something different. It would be hypocritical now to judge these children for being in the same position they’d once been. Weapons and monsters—but not because of a choice they made.
Graydon wanted to hear Raider’s answer. Whether the human would prove worthy of the woman Devon had just carried out of the shadows and set beside Jin's cryopod.
Raider's gaze lingered on his former lover. "They might not be mine the same way Elena is, but Elise wanted them. She thought them worth saving. That's enough for me."
Good answer.
With that, Graydon gave his people a nod.
Solal and Devon headed for the cryopods as Amila lifted Finn, supporting the majority of his weight as they hobbled toward the rest. The oshota too proud to let anybody carry him.
Pallas knelt beside Jin with a look of wonder. "Little brother, I can’t tell you how good it is to see your face again."
Graydon pretended not to notice the emotion on the other man's face as he reverently cupped the top of the boy’s head.
A moment passed before Pallas rose. "Take care of them."
Lathan headed toward them, the body of a woman carried over his shoulder.
"As if I would ever do anything else," Graydon said with some amusement.
Pallas took the body from Lathan, holding the woman against his chest.
Graydon didn’t understand the flash of anger and disgust in the other man’s face. Especially when compared to the gentle way he handled her.
"Lathan will remain with you. You'll have need of him," Pallas said.
"And where will you be?"
A void of black yawned beneath Pallas's feet. "I have business to take care of."
The rift swallowed Pallas and the woman, leaving no evidence of their passage.
"Will he be alright?" Graydon asked Lathan.
The wanderer's face remained calm as he moved over to help Solal and Devon lay out the children. "He will grieve. And then he will kill."
Graydon glanced at the spot where Pallas had just been. "How very Tuann."
