“She didn’t ask for my leave,” Torvald observed idly.“She does realize that I’m the emperor, right?”
Jin swaggered toward the nearest chair and threw himself into it.“The Phoenix is a law unto herself.”
The chair rocked onto its two back legs, nearly toppling.Torvald grabbed it before it could go over and put it back on all four legs.
Jin scooted forward and cleared his throat, trying to make it seem like he’d meant to do that.“She had my permission.For her, that’s all she needed.My amazingness will always trump any authority you think you hold.”
That’s just how things were with them.Each other before anyone else.
“I don’t know where you inherited this unfounded sense of self-importance.”Torvald flicked a hand in dismissal at his oshota.They filed out, leaving him and Jin alone.
“I figured you’d want to have this out in private,” Jin said when they’d gone.“Was I wrong?”
Torvald took the chair next to him and regarded Jin with a faint trace of amusement.“No.”
Jin thought as much.
Torvald may have fooled Kira with that display he’d just put on, but he was nowhere near as angry as he pretended.Most of what he’d shown had been bluster and illusion.If he’d really been committed to keeping Jin away, Dylan would have stopped them.He’d aided them instead.
Why?
Because the emperor allowed it.
“You set a spy on me,” Jin announced calmly.
Torvald didn’t pretend not to know what Jin was referencing.“You mean Dylan.Hardly.He’s there for your protection.”
“He’ll report everything he sees or hears.”
Torvald considered Jin with an unreadable expression.“Not every fight is one you can win.I won’t dismiss him.”
“For my own protection, right?”
“Among other things.”
Jin would be interested to know what those other things entailed.He doubted Torvald would be willing to share, however.
“A negotiation then,” Jin suggested.
“I’m listening.”
Jin considered which of the four options he’d brainstormed last night were most likely to gain him the outcome he desired.
“I’ll allow the oshota to guard me.I won’t try to give him the slip or fight him on anything regarding my safety, but nothing he learns while in my company goes any further.”
It had taken Jin a long time to come to this decision.He, like Kira, abhorred feeling weak.However, ignoring a problem didn’t make it go away.As much as he might pretend otherwise, the truth was that he needed time in this body to adjust.To figure out the full extent of its capabilities and how to use them to his advantage.
Until then, he was a sitting duck.
If it had been just his neck on the line, he might have taken his chances.For Kira, he’d compromise.
Accepting Dylan in the interim was the only path forward.
“What if that’s not good enough?What if I want you to keep your distance from Roake’s heir instead?”
“That’s never going to happen.”
If Torvald was smart, and Jin knew he was, he wouldn’t go there.
