That gave her pause.
“Auryn, in those days without anyone to help you during Flares, anyone could have come into your room while you were ill and done anything they wished.”
“No one knows,” she insisted, but he’d sparked a flare of doubt.
They went silent for a while, turning to watch Zarrek correcting Lu’ma’s stance. She was wielding a dagger, one that Auryn recognized.
“Still carrying it, even though I told her to be more careful.”
“She’s right to,” Kailorien said. “Things in the Lattice are more dangerous than they’ve been in decades. Attendants commit murder every day, yet no one says a thing. Bodies are moved. Forgotten. Hosts are shuffled. She needs to be ready.”
Auryn took a steadying breath. “You’re right. I know you are. It’s just…I worry. If she’s seen. If they know how important she is. How special. They won’t hesitate to hurt her to lash out at me.”
“Then let me give her what she needs to stand strong.”
Auryn stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Kailorien. He bent down and kissed the crown of her head. Again, they fell silent.
He knows. He sees. The Resh’Agar watches the blind leading the deaf, and he fears for you—admits he cannot protect you.
"You were looking at him with such hope," Kailorien said suddenly, startling Auryn from her daze.
She blinked. "Who?"
"Shu'Khan. Today in Council. Your eyes strayed to him more than usual."
Her mind jumped back to the Council session that morning. To the way Shu’Khan had stared down, silent and unaffected. Amused, even. She hesitated, but they’d promised. No more secrets.
Her voice, when it came, was barely a whisper. "He promised me something important. Before that session."
Kailorien turned to face her more fully. "What was it?"
When she didn’t answer, his fingers found her chin and tilted her face up to his. “Auryn.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. “He promised me a year of reprieve for you. FromEstâr.That we’d assess the Shields, whether abstinence truly affected them. I...bargained for it.”
Kailorien’s jaw flexed. “And what did you promise in return?”
She glanced away. “He hasn’t asked for anything.”
A beat passed. Two.
“Now I’m starting to think…he was just toying with me.”
Kailorien’s hand dropped away, his voice menacing. “That isn’t how he operates.”
She flinched, and he softened his tone, but the words stayed hard. “He doesn’t say anything without consequence. If he gave you something, Auryn...then he’s already written the cost in blood.”
She hugged him tighter. “I want to say that I would pay it, if I could just spare you one more night like the one I witnessed all those years ago. If I could shield you from that—Kail—there is very little I wouldn’t agree to.”
Kailorien held her a moment longer, his arms tightening around her, then exhaled slowly through his nose. He didn’t say 'I understand'. He didn’t need to. Instead, his hand slid from her back, and he stepped away.
“Alright,” he said, his voice grounding both of them. “Enough shadows for now. Let’s make sure you can shoot straight when the day comes.”
She nodded, pushing her emotions down like a lock clicking into place.
We can worry about Shu’Khan later,she told herself.For now, I need to focus.
She wiped her palms on her trousers and stepped into the center of the ring, Kailorien following close behind. She turned—just in time for him to step into her space. Not touching. Not quite. But his heat brushed her shoulder. He reached around her, slow as molasses, to pull the training bow from the wall.
