“Kira—”
That drew a sad, tired smile from her.“It must be serious if you’re using my name.”
Usually, he called hercoli.A Tuann term of endearment that was the equivalent of sweetheart for a human.Fully translated, it meant heart’s owner.
“Do what you have to do,” Kira said, taking mercy on Graydon.
There was always going to be a time when his duty and hers conflicted.Where choices would have to be made and loyalties either discarded or redefined.
Seeing Graydon’s slightly lost, bereft expression, so at odds with the confident man she’d come to know, Kira took his hand and squeezed it.“Graydon, it’s okay.I understand.”
She wasn’t some naive twenty year old who expected unquestioning faith and devotion.Loyalty, at least the kind that lasted, was neither simple nor straightforward.
Besides, if Graydon were to so easily forsake his vows, he wouldn’t be the man she both loved and respected.
There was also the small fact that Graydon’s support would only hurt Kira and Roake at the moment.The tiniest hint of favoritism would backfire, leaving the other Houses more incensed than they already were.
Ultimately, the best thing Graydon could do was to step aside.
No doubt that was all included within the emperor’s calculations when he made his suggestion.
Graydon caught Kira’s arm.“I’ve told you before,cheva nier, you are mine.The same way I am yours.Nothing will change that.”
His gaze held hers as if to impress on her the full depths of that truth.
Kira touched his wrist.“I know.”
Graydon’s grip lasted another moment before he reluctantly released her.
Kira tried not to mind the cold sensation that crept over her as he stepped back, his features returning to their stoic mask.
“After you,” Kira said, ignoring the feeling of having just lost something precious and irreplaceable.
Spotting the books Jarek had left, Kira hesitated for a brief moment before taking them with her.Jarek probably hoped reading them would make Kira question Jin and their bond, but that didn’t matter.She knew what Jin was.That wouldn’t change.
Information was information.
Good or bad, everything lay in how that knowledge was used.
To hurt—or prepare.
Leaving the prison with Graydon as her guide was much easier this time.No one challenged them as they stepped out of the cell and made their way through the long, dark hallways of the Inquisitor’s Hold.
Without the stress of having to avoid patrols, Kira could actually take in her surroundings.Not that there was much to take in.The Hold was as austere as you might expect of a monastery from Earth’s long ago past.Nothing adorned the walls or floors.
Unlike Roake’s Fortress of the Vigilant that still managed to maintain a sense of warmth despite its spartan design, this place was as cold and unfriendly as the order who resided within it.
No one said anything as they climbed several flights of stairs to the ground level where Jarek and Sariah were waiting for them.
Sariah had a look of dissatisfaction as she watched their approach.
Jarek’s expression remained neutral as he acknowledged their arrival with a dip of the chin.“I’m glad to see you’ve figured out what the front door is for.”
If Kira felt the dig regarding her last visit and the prison break she’d helped stage, she didn’t show it in her expression.
“Enough games,” Sariah interrupted.To Kira, “I still don’t trust you.But it looks like I was overruled.”
The angry look she shot at Jarek let Kira know just who had played a part in that.
