Chapter 23 #2
He softened but stayed inside her, pumping gently every now and again against still too sensitive nerves. Little bursts of pleasure shot up her spine, tightening her nipples and making it difficult to come down from her high.
Graydon pressed kisses against her shoulder and neck, whispering Tuann words that her brain was too tired to translate.
After several minutes, Kira pushed upright, pausing at the sight of grayish black runes covering his torso.
Kira touched one on his left pectoral muscle. “What is this?”
She knew every inch of Graydon’s body, and this was new.
Graydon covered her hand, holding it tight where it lay over his chest. “The Mea’Ave’s gifts are not always kind—or welcome.”
With a sick feeling, Kira glanced back at the set of runes covering his chest. The script was vertical, running the length of Graydon’s torso before ending just over the v-shaped groove where the obliques met the transversus abdominis muscles, near his hips.
“You’re saying the Mea’Ave did this?”
“It started with one rune before becoming what you see now.”
“When?”
“A few months back.”
Kira pressed into sitting. “Your coma.”
It had changed him. Gave him something Pallas had referred to as the madness. From what Kira had seen, it was a slightly dialed down version of her burst.
She tried to look it up later but found herself hitting a wall. The most she’d gleaned was that it was considered deadly. And that at one point in Tuann history it had been much more prevalent before fading into obscurity.
It was almost like someone had suppressed all mention of it. Leaving just enough so people knew it once existed but not what it was or what it did.
That made Pallas’s possession of such knowledge both strange and worrisome.
“That was the beginning. Yes,” Graydon admitted.
“What does Torvald have to say about all this?”
Graydon’s silence was telling.
“He doesn’t know,” Kira guessed, suddenly certain.
“I fear such knowledge would put him in a difficult position. A Face’s job is to be unimpeachable.”
“And you worry you no longer are.”
Kira supposed her presence in his life had played a big part in that. The right thing would be to walk away, but she wasn’t going to.
Call her selfish. He was hers every bit as much as she was his.
“The islax is not well understood and considered volatile. Perhaps more than any other gift.”
“Even the primus?”
“The primus can be controlled.” Graydon tugged on the knot over Kira’s breasts, reminding her that she’d somehow managed to retain her towel through all of that.
“Training and discipline can tame the beast inside. You could say it’s part of you.
Written into your bones and stamped on your soul. As are any other gifts you might have.”
The knowing look on Graydon’s face made it clear what he was speaking about.
Her burst.
That power that was solely hers—but also not.
Kira suspected Jin had been its original owner and during the formation of their soul bond some things got switched around. She’d thought it might go back once he got his body. So far that hadn’t been the case.
“The islax exists to carry out the Mea’Ave’s will,” Graydon explained.
She understood now.
“You worry that it might conflict with Torvald’s.”
Graydon grunted. “Emperors and the Mea’Ave have always coexisted in uneasy harmony. They do not always agree on what direction the Tuann’s future should take.”
Kira propped her chin on Graydon’s chest. “It can’t be easy sharing your rule with the sentient soul of a planet.”
“Hence the need for a priestess like Lady Amaris to act as an intermediary.”
Except in Amaris’s case her relationship with Torvald meant there was no such thing as impartiality.
Once lines got blurred, it was hard to keep your feet. You could find yourself in dangerous water very quickly if you weren’t careful.
Just look at Kira and Graydon’s situation.
His position under threat. His every word and deed questioned.
“What makes the islax so dangerous?”
Graydon contemplated the ceiling. “It’s said to erode the user’s mind.”
“What did you just say?”
Graydon’s silence acted like a wall.
Kira forced her anger back down, knowing her reaction wasn’t helpful. “Why would the Mea’Ave do this to you?”
She’d thought it was a source of good.
Naive of her. There was no such thing as ultimate good or evil. That was a trap to make you overlook what was right in front of you. The Mea’Ave had an agenda. Just like everyone else. And like everyone else, it would go to extraordinary lengths to achieve its goals.
“Because I’m strong enough to bear it. War is coming. I am the Mea’Ave’s weapon to ensure the outcome it desires.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter what happens to you in the endeavor,” Kira flared.
She wanted to rail at him. To knock him upside that hard head of his and demand to know why he’d kept this from her.
Except she knew why. She didn’t ask so he didn’t tell.
Graydon lifted her hand, pressing a gentle kiss to the inside of her wrist. “Coli, there’s no reason to fret. I will be fine. It is called the madness, but that is because of what I will become to my enemies. I will be their madness. Their nightmare.”
“At a cost.”
“There are costs in all things. You said that once, remember?”
That was her. It wasn’t him. The man who’d claimed half her soul and all that she was. Including that shriveled muscle in the center of her chest.
“Will you still love me if I’m a little mad?” Graydon teased.
“You know I will,” Kira stated with a fierceness that had his eyes softening.
He pulled her down against him. “Good. I’m counting on that ruthlessness to hold me together.”
Kira’s face was serious as she nestled against him, pressing her face into his neck so he couldn’t see her expression. A little of her own madness. No matter what he said, even if this was the Mea’Ave’s will, she was not letting it take Graydon from her.
They fell asleep. Kira didn’t mean to. But soon she was drifting into dreams of a golden figure standing over the pinned body of a scarred lu-ong.
Golden eyes found hers.
A hard shake ripped her out of the dream. Kira woke to find someone leaning over her.
She jolted, swinging her fist before she had fully focused.
The person caught it. “It’s me.”
Kira relaxed at the sound of Graydon’s voice. Blearily, she struggled to bring Graydon into focus.
“Your skin is on fire,” he informed her.
Kira looked down, expecting to see actual golden flames. Unblemished skin, slick with sweat, greeted her eyes.
“You were also moaning,” Graydon added.
“Sorry.”
Kira stretched, realizing that at some point Graydon had pulled the bed’s thin sheet over the two of them.
A glance at the digital clock on the nightstand had her springing upright.
“Why is it so late?”
Kira scrambled out from under the covers in search of the clothes she’d discarded earlier.
She was late. Very, very late.
“Where are you going?” Graydon asked, not moving.
Kira was brought up short by the sight of the empty floor. “Where are my clothes?”
She’d left them right here.
“Oh. Those.” Graydon rolled onto his back and folded his arms behind his head, showing off the well-defined lines of his chest. “They were an offense against all that is right. I had them discarded.”
“You did what?”
Graydon waved his hand at the dresser where a pile of clothes that Kira hadn’t noticed were neatly folded. “Don’t worry. I made sure to replace them with something better.”
Kira grabbed a garment off the top. “That’s not the point, Graydon. The whole reason for those clothes was so I would blend in.”
Tuann material was nicer and more luxurious looking than the synthetic fabrics worn by most on station. They were practically a signpost proclaiming her a target for all comers.
“I hate to say it, coli, but you’re not a woman who blends in. Even when that’s your intention. If that’s the case, you might as well stand out.”
Kira made a vexed sound in the back of her throat.
Pressed for time, she threw the clothes on as Graydon regarded her with bemusement. “You act like you’re planning to go somewhere.”
Dressed, this time in an all-black outfit that made her feel like an assassin, Kira sat down to shove her feet into her boots.
“Not me,” she said enigmatically.
Graydon sat up. “You can’t mean me.”
A knock came from behind the large wall display responsible for the room’s ambiance. It slowly shifted between a rotating set of images. Most of majestic planetside vistas. A few of galaxies and one of a supernova.
“Are you expecting someone?” Graydon asked.
Kira headed toward the wall and the secret entrance located there. “You might want to get dressed.”
Graydon’s synth armor sprouted from under his skin like a dragon’s scales, fully covering him within moments. Kira touched the wall lamp next to the display, unlocking the entrance. A second later someone pushed through from the other side.
The scantily clad woman from the bar stepped inside, wearing clothes that looked a lot more comfortable than what she’d had on earlier. Cargo pants paired with a long-sleeved shirt that loosely draped over her torso.
Seeing Graydon, she stopped short.
Her companion nearly bumped into her back as she sent a startled glance toward Kira, silently asking what was going on.
Kira shrugged. Graydon hadn’t factored into her plans when she’d arranged this meet, but she couldn’t bring herself to be entirely unhappy about his presence either. He already knew most of her secrets. It might be good for him to have faces to put to some of those secrets.
At Kira’s unconcern, the woman relaxed. “Are we interrupting something?”
Graydon’s emphatic “yes” overrode Kira’s automatic “no”.
The woman chuckled at Kira’s irritated expression, making a show of looking Graydon over as Cat Three’s bartender entered to slouch against one of the room’s end tables.
“Is this the mountain Tommy and the little’s keep going on about?” the woman asked, shooting Kira a mischievous glance.
“One and the same.” Kira sighed, ignoring Graydon’s arched eyebrow.
A smile bloomed on the other woman’s face right before she threw herself into Kira’s arms. “I wanted to do this last time but felt it was inappropriate given the role I was playing.”
Given their identities—or rather the lack of them—that was probably the right choice.
“Jace would have had questions.” Kira set her cheek on the top of the woman’s head and gave her one last squeeze before straightening. “It’s good to see you, Harper.” She glanced at the man. “You too, Chance.”
Chance tipped his head at her. The tiny hint of warmth in his features a sign of the affection he reserved for a very privileged few.
“Now that we’ve got our hellos out of the way, why don’t you two tell me what you’re doing on Titan?” Kira said with a no nonsense expression.
As happy as she always was to see these two, it worried her to find them here.
Chance and Harper shared a look, an entire conversation taking place in the span of a few seconds. The two were part of that first group of children Kira had liberated from a camp horrifyingly similar to the one she’d grown up in.
Back then, she hadn’t known the true scope of what the Tsavitee were doing. How insidious their influence was or how prevalent. All she could think about was getting the children away from the ones who were hurting them. She hadn’t spared a thought for what would come after.
She’d still been in the military back then. Without the time or resources to give them the care and love they required.
Selene had come later. A means of last resort. Her sister as lost and in need of affection as the children Kira had rescued.
It turned out to be the best choice Kira could have made.
Selene found purpose in caring for the children and they found a protector who would shield them from harm until her very last breath.
Kira had checked in with them now and then through the years. Spent time in Selene’s home whenever she thought it was safe.
Eventually, the children she rescued grew into teens and then young adults. And as most adults did, they left home, heading out into the wider universe and what awaited them there.
Some of them found jobs in influential industries. Others infiltrated the government and military. Selene and Kira never cared what they did as long as they were happy. Their lives were their own. To shape and mold as they wished.
As far as Kira knew, Chance and Harper were roamers, flitting here and there. Always up to something. Sometimes crossing Kira’s path. Most times not.
Chance focused light hazel eyes on Kira. “We’re investigating something.”
“A child abduction ring,” Harper volunteered.
“We’ve been tracking them for months,” Chance added. “So far nothing to indicate Tsavitee influence or we would have brought you in.”
“Just regular old fashioned human greed,” Harper agreed.
Their reasons for pursuing this were understandable. A human trafficking ring was likely responsible for how she and Chance wound up in Tsavitee care.
The war had left a lot of orphans. Both during and after.
The powers-that-be were already swamped with reconstruction efforts and their other responsibilities.
The smallest and most vulnerable were the first to slip through the cracks.
Since there was no one to miss them or advocate on their behalf, it was easy for the Consortium to look the other way, making it the perfect situation for the Tsavitee to insert themselves into.
“Why are you here?” Chance asked.
“Tuann children have been taken. I suspect they were brought here,” Kira said.
Chance cocked his head, looking contemplative. “You suspect Tsavitee influence?”
“It had crossed my mind, yes. The situation bears a resemblance to the circumstances that put me and Selene in the camp.”
Kira prayed that she was wrong.
“We’ll send you what we have,” Chance promised.
Harper nodded in agreement.
“I appreciate that.”
If they were already embedded into the criminal element of the station, they would have a better sense of the movers and shakers. It would at least give Kira a place to start.
Bonus—no one would object too strenuously if she were to take it upon herself to deal with the humans responsible.
Jace might even give her a commendation.