This idiot’s timing couldn’t be worse.
Graydon’s people hadn’t searched him for a reason.They knew he’d try something eventually, giving them a reason to kill him.
Of course, Graydon could have ordered the human’s death as soon as he’d exhausted his use, but this way their conscience stayed clean.
Ish.
The human didn’t even get his weapon fully raised before Solal severed his arm at the elbow.Amila, as usual, went for the kill, removing the human’s head with one clean swing.
Pallas nudged the hand that landed next to him, the weapon still clenched tight in its fingers.“A pip.That wouldn’t have been my choice for a last stand.I wonder what exactly he was expecting to accomplish.”
“Desperate humans do dumb things,” Alexander observed with an indifference that said he’d seen too much death to be affected by it anymore.
Solal bent and picked up the severed arm.“Do you recognize this mark?All of the humans had something similar on their body.”
He showed the arm to Pallas and Alexander, making sure they got a good look.
A plant delicately twined around a skull, growing through the eye socket and mouth.The flowers on its stem were small and in the shape of bells.The color a dull purple.Small, shiny black berries sprouted amid pointed leaves.
It was surprisingly pretty to be on the arm of the sort of man Graydon suspected the human was.
Pallas’s face was almost admiring as he brushed a finger along the patches of green and purple.“Delicate work.Quite well done.”
Solal and Graydon failed to glean anything from Pallas as he dropped his hand and shook his head.
“But nope.I don’t recognize it.Then again, humans aren’t my area of expertise.”He glanced at his brother.“How about you?Do you recognize it?”
Alexander’s expression was stony.“No.”
Pallas shot them a brilliant and false smile.“There you have it.We are flummoxed.”
He was lying.Alexander had barely glanced at the arm before denying any knowledge of it.
Why?
Graydon suspected it had something to do with the forty-three.He couldn’t expose that fact, however.Not in this company.
“Since there’s no one left alive to question, shall we head back to the ship?”Pallas asked brightly.
Alexander grunted, already turning toward the corridor.
“Before you go, there’s something I’d like to ask.”Tinsley slid out from behind her guards, resisting their efforts to stop her as she blocked Alexander’s way.“Roake’s heir couldn’t help me, but she said maybe you could.”
“Kira did?”Pallas looked startled for a moment before he covered it with a sly expression.“That minx.She knows better.What did she say?Be exact.We don’t want any misunderstandings.”
“She told me not to give up my quest.No matter what it took.That if I found my sibling I should drag them kicking and screaming into the light.”
For the first time, Graydon thought he glimpsed a piece of the real Pallas as he lost that mocking edge, the playfulness he hid behind fading to leave someone somber and serious.
“Show me then,” Pallas ordered in a soft voice.“I’d like to see this sibling who is so loved.”
“Pallas,” Alexander warned.
“Hush, brother dearest.I want to see.”
Pallas nodded at Tinsley, telling her to go ahead.
Tinsley took a deep breath, steeling herself.She drew a memory stone from her pocket and pressed the top.
