He remained silent, and the sickening feeling in my gut intensified. I began to shake again.
“You have,” I said quietly, turning my face away to hide my disappointment. Mydespair. Because I didn’t know if I would get enough credits in time now. Unless I asked Grace for help…but then again, she’d betrayed me. Why would I trust her after what she’d told Lesana?
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kythel’s hand shoot forward. He snagged my chin, turning me to face him.
“I haven’t changed my mind.”
Hope rose as I regarded him. Even still, I couldn’t help but notice the way the words seemed to tear themselves out of his throat.
“Truly?” I whispered.
“What’s your price?” he asked, just as softly.
I took in a deep breath. “I need you to secure me passage to Horrin and then back to Krynn.”
Kythel’s eyes narrowed, but otherwise he didn’t move. “Horrin? Your father?” he guessed.
“His body is still there,” I admitted. The weight of those words dragged my shoulders down, and I curled tighter into myself. “Horrin burns their unclaimed dead. There’s not much time left before their next cycle. I’m afraid that he’ll be lost to me. To Krynn. His soul gem… He wanted to be here. With Ruaala. That’s why we came here. Because he wanted my soul to attach itself to Krynn, to your gods. So that when I…whenIdie I can find him in Alara.”
I knew I was rambling, but soft realization had formed over Kythel’s features.
“What’s your father’s name?”
“Joss.”
He snagged a Halo orb when it floated near. He brought up the Com screen, and it flickered in the air between us. I studied him through the blue light, even as a figure appeared, a projection of a Kylorr male I didn’t recognize.
“Setlan,” Kythel greeted, inclining his head.
“Kyzaire,” Setlan murmured, though I heard the humor in his voice. There were loud voices in the background. Laughter. Music. It sounded like he was in a club on Qapot’a, especially when I heard the warbling of their language nearby.
“I have need of you,” Kythel said.
“That’s a given,” the other male replied, raising a glass tumbler filled with a foamy liquid to his lips. “You don’t make a habit of calling me in the middle of the night on Krynn.”
“Joss Seren. His body is being held on Horrin. Find him and have him transported back to Erzos immediately.”
The air in my lungs seemed to freeze. I stared at Kythel, my heart pumping in my chest in disbelief. In relief so stunning that it didn’t even feel real. This was a dream. Surely it was a dream. But if it were, my hands wouldn’t feel like they were burning from the cold as they warmed up and tears wouldn’t be stinging my eyes, blurring my vision.
“Consider it done,” Setlan said before draining his tumbler. It hit an unseen surface with a metal clang, and then he was rising, wings unfurling. “I’ll update you in the morning.”
Kythel ended the Com call, and the blue pixels dropped away, giving me a clear, unmarred view of him.
“You see,sasiral?” Kythel murmured, turning those eyes to me, a hunger I recognized from the alley outside RaanaDyaansparking in them. “How easy it is.”
I could cry. Instead, overcome with joy and gratitude and hope, I surprised him when I leaped at him. He caught me with a grunt, a chuff of a sharp laugh following.
But I silenced it when I kissed him. I ignored all the reasons why kissing him was a bad idea. For one, it blurred the lines between us. Being his blood giver was a transaction—nothing more. A contract, the terms of which hadn’t even been fully laid out. How long would he want me? Only for three feedings, his maximum? Or more? And would he want sex too? Like Grace’s agreement with her noble couple?
I didn’t give those intrusive thoughts any mind. Not right then. He was a friend. And he’d just given me the greatest gift of all.
“Thank you,” I breathed against his lips. His hand slipped into my dry hair, cradling the back of my skull. I leaned away to kiss his cheeks, one then the other. The sharp slant of his nose. Against his forehead, I whispered, “Thank you.”
After kissing his brow, I pulled away, just far enough to meet his eyes. The blanket had slipped down my shoulders, baring my nakedness, but Kythel didn’t break my gaze.
It felt like there was a charge ofakkiumpower in the air, raising the hairs on my arms. Kythel’s eyes were hungry. His lips were still parted from my kiss. His arms were around me. I realized he was cradling me in his lap.
But then I watched a metal wall slam into place, steeling those jeweled eyes.
