Pain throbbed at the back of her skull.Ringing filled her ears as whatever he’d found inside her was forced to the surface.
“Almost there,” Quillon crooned.
Agony burned through the veins along her neck.Up to a spot right beneath her ear.
“There.”
Quillon nicked the skin under her right ear with a laser scalpel.With the other hand, he caught the skin on either side of the wound he’d made and squeezed.
A tiny item that looked disturbingly like a tick was forced out with her blood.
“Got it,” Quillon reassured her, catching the tick in a clear container before handing it over to Talon.The oshota shook it before holding it up to the light to see better.
Then Quillon was back, brushing aside the hand Kira had cupped over her neck to staunch the flow of blood from the wound.Using hiski, he knit together her flesh.
Within hours, there would be no sign that she was ever wounded.
Talon shook the cylinder again, watching the tick scrabble at the insides.“Do you suppose the emperor or his people know about this?”
Kira held still as Quillon finished tending to her wound.“Graydon didn’t.”
She’d bet her life on that.
The emperor though—he was a little harder to see through.
“I’m planning to lodge a formal complaint after informing Harlow,” Quillon said.“You’re Roake’s heir.That still counts for something.”
“We’re minutes from landing,” the pilot called from the front of the aircraft.
“Don’t worry about the inhibitor.I’m already working on a way to remove it,” Quillon assured her.
“Is that wise?The inquisitors might object,” Kira asked.
“I hope that they do,” Quillon said, looking like he relished the idea.
“I didn’t think you’d be this upset about me wearing an inhibitor.It’s not like I haven’t worn one before.”
“The two aren’t the same.The one I gave you is meant for healing.It works with your system to safely regrow yourkipaths.That one—” Quillon nodded at her wrist.“Is meant for use on our worst criminals.In my opinion, it should have been outlawed long ago for its side effects.Long-term use will destroy yourkipathways.I’m sure that’s what they’re hoping for.”
Quillon visibly tried to calm himself before continuing.“But even if the inhibitor was harmless, I’d still advocate for its removal.They lost any high ground when they inserted theetavwithout your consent.It is a gross violation of not only your autonomy but your House’s.That alone buys them our enmity.The inhibitor is just a bonus.”
In other words, hurt Kira and you hurt Roake.
“We’re here,” the pilot called.
Kira looked out the window, noticing the view had changed.The forest was replaced by the city and its buildings.
The ship touched down on Roake’s avenue, just outside the palace’s barrier.The landing was so gentle that those inside might not have noticed if not for the pilot’s warning.
“Did my uncle give any other instructions to relay?”Kira asked Finn as the ship’s hatch opened.
“Just to be on your guard.”
“As if I’m ever not.”
“If there ever was a time for paranoia, it’s now,” Finn agreed.
They faced the opening, bracing for what was to come.
