But what if he could do that from here?
He would have to convince Annani and her son to let him contact Losham, preferably while he was still in control. He needed to find a way to make them think it was their idea.
Without him, their chances of retrieving Khiann were minimal at best. And they were running out of time. Every day that passed was another day for the situation on the island to deteriorate further.
Sooner or later, they would realize that this was their only option.
7
KIAN
Outside the clinic door, Kian draped the coat around Annani's shoulders. "Are we going home?" he asked.
"Yes. I am not in the mood to visit my sister."
Areana hadn't waited around for them to be done with Navuh and had gone back to the penthouse, for which Kian was thankful. He was too agitated to see his aunt and to have to pretend that he didn't detest her mate with every fiber of his being.
As their footsteps echoed softly against the stone walls, the corridor seemed more utilitarian than usual, their somber moods painting it in depressing shades of gray. Kian glanced at his mother, trying to read her expression, but she had retreated behind that mask of regal composure that served her better than any veil to hide her real emotions behind.
Anandur walked ahead of them, while Brundar trailed behind, sandwiching the Clan Mother and her son between them as if they expected danger in the bowels of the keep.
"On a scale of one to ten, how much do you detest the guy?" Anandur asked as they entered the elevator.
"Twenty," Kian said without hesitation. "Regrettably, we need him alive, or I would have been very tempted to snap his pencil neck."
Annani chuckled. "It does look a little thin, does it not? Navuh has always been slim, but the long convalescence has turned him skeletal." She sighed. "Regrettably, my sister loves him and finds him attractive, so there will be no neck snapping regardless of his usefulness to us."
Brundar, predictably, said nothing, his angelic face remaining impassive, but Kian detected a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, and there was a spark in his pale blue eyes that hadn't been there before they'd entered the elevator.
The important thing was that Anandur's effort to lighten the mood had worked, and Annani's seemed to have improved. For that, Kian was grateful.
Once they were seated in the SUV and Anandur had pulled out of the parking garage, Annani shifted in her seat, adjusting her velvet coat to cover her legs as well. "Could you please turn the heat up a little?" she asked.
"Of course, Clan Mother." Anandur did as she asked, and soon Kian felt like he was boiling inside his jacket.
That was one of the main differences between him and his mother. While he raged and turned hot, she retreated into herself and turned cold.
"Navuh does not know that we have access to Losham," she said. "He probably assumes that we have a spy on the island, whichwas what I wanted him to think. But since it seems that we will need to cooperate at least on some level, perhaps we should tell him that we can control Losham from afar."
"I wouldn't do that unless we have no choice," Kian said.
Annani turned to look at him. "This waiting and calculating might have cost me Khiann. I should have gone with my gut, as I always do, and promised Navuh what he wanted. We could have retrieved Khiann already."
It was her desperation talking, and he didn't know how to respond to that. "We couldn't have, Mother, and you know that. The codes to disarm the booby traps were only one part of the mission, and the other parts were not in place yet. We still don't have the EMP or the submarine, and Onegus is still in the process of assembling a team."
Annani let out a breath. "You are right. I allowed guilt and sorrow to cloud my judgment."
"It's understandable." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You are very brave."
She smiled. "Sometimes bravery is just another word for coping. I have no other choice."
"That is true, but that is not the only way in which you are brave."
At the front of the car, Anandur was enthusiastically nodding, and even Brundar acknowledged Kian's statement with a slight head tilt.
"Thank you. But let us not waste our energy on mutual flattery. Let us agree that we are all brave, all smart, and that we are going to get my Khiann."
"Agreed," Kian said.
