Chapter 24
Twenty Four
Kira
Chance pushed off the dresser. “Call if you need us.”
“I will,” Kira promised.
Harper danced over to his side, winking at Graydon and Kira before disappearing back into the hidden passage.
With one last nod at Kira, Chance followed.
“Interesting encounter,” Graydon drawled as the passageway closed behind them.
“You said you wanted access to my secrets.”
This was her letting him in. Giving him a window into her private business that not many were privileged enough to ever see.
He had to know how difficult that was for her. Her first, second, and last instinct was to hold back. To conceal and hide anything important.
She was trying to change that.
For him.
And if anything ever happened to her, and Chance and Harper came looking for answers, he would know what they meant to her and act accordingly.
“They worship you.”
“They respect me because of what I did for them,” Kira corrected. The same way she’d once respected Himoto. “Selene is the one they worship.”
She’d raised them. Tended their wounds when they were hurt and held them through their nightmares.
All Kira did was give them a chance.
“I don’t think that’s entirely it, coli.”
Kira’s face was filled with confusion as Graydon rolled off the bed.
Her head tilted back to keep her eyes on his face as he prowled close, crowding her personal space.
He touched the spot under one eye, right over where her primus’s runes would be when ascendant.
“They’ve modeled themselves after you. Continuing the cause you started. ”
Kira wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “It’s normal for them to want to make a difference.”
That same impulse was what had driven her.
“They infiltrated your human rear admiral’s ranks, didn’t they?” At Kira’s stubborn silence, Graydon’s lips turned up in a half smile. “They have a touch of recklessness. Just like you.”
“What’s your point?”
“No point. Just observations.”
Kira narrowed her eyes.
Graydon smirked down at her, his expression giving nothing away.
“Maybe keep your observations to yourself,” Kira grumbled, moving toward the door.
“But it’s so fun to fluster you with them,” Graydon murmured.
Reaching the door, she paused.
There was something she had to get off her chest. Had needed to for a long time.
Kira composed herself. “Just so you know—I’d wait.”
Confusion flickered in Graydon’s eyes.
“It’s always been you pursuing me,” Kira explained.
Until now, their relationship had been slanted in her favor. It was always Graydon pulling her in despite her best attempts to avoid connection.
“Kira,” Graydon started.
“Let me finish.” Tears threatened before Kira forced them away. “We have time.” More than she’d ever thought possible. “There’s no need to rush. If Roake falls, I will put it right again. I won’t stop until I have restored my House to its former glory.”
So don’t follow me into exile, she silently pleaded.
“If I have to be patient and play the long game, I will.” There was resolve on Kira’s face as she met Graydon’s gaze. “You know how stubborn I can be.”
She’d spent years in search of Elise. She’d spend ten times that to find her way back to Graydon’s side.
“No amount of distance can change what we mean to each other.”
Graydon had claimed such a large piece of her soul that she knew there was no getting it back.
“You might be willing to wait, but I’m not,” Graydon promised.
“I guess we’d better ensure things end in our favor then.”
Kira raised her hand to knock, quelling her instinctive jolt when the wall next to Jin’s door moved, giving the illusion of stretching and pulling a second before Dylan stepped out of nowhere.
“He’s sleeping,” Dylan informed her.
Kira’s hand hovered for a moment longer before dropping to her side. “This will only take a second.”
Even if she would have preferred to leave Jin to his rest, she knew what his reaction would be if she took off without him.
Loud. With potentially station ending consequences.
Dylan stared at her. His expression stony as he refused to engage further.
“Finn could learn a thing or two from you,” Kira said, impressed.
The oshota had uncompromising silence down to an art form. Even she was having second thoughts about pushing his boundaries.
Dylan started to fade back into the station paneling when the sound of the door opening brought the process to a halt.
Kira and Dylan looked over to find Jin framed in the doorway, his dark wavy hair sticking out in every direction as he didn’t quite manage to smother a yawn.
“Kira,” Jin croaked in a sleep roughened voice. “I thought we were supposed to be resting. Something happen?”
There was a distinct lack of surprise on his face at Graydon’s presence. Either Jin was too tired to have noticed Graydon or he’d tagged Graydon or his people with a tracker so he could monitor their whereabouts.
Knowing Kira’s luck, it was both.
“You could say that.” Kira glanced at Dylan, waiting to see if he would protest. When he didn’t, she relaxed and smiled at her friend. “Can we talk inside?”
Jin swallowed, looking a little more alert as he took in Dylan’s stance. Wordlessly, he stepped aside.
Kira walked into the room, Graydon following.
Jin shot Dylan a look that said to stay put before shutting the door in his face.
Kira looked back. “Is that wise? Take it from me—oshota get funny about being cut out of the loop.”
“Unlike you, I don’t find trouble everywhere I go. Dylan knows my limits. He’ll understand.”
The look on Dylan’s face as Jin had shut the door might contradict that assertion.
“I thought you trusted him with your secrets?” Kira probed.
Jin collapsed onto his bed, reaching back to grab a cozy looking blanket that definitely hadn’t come standard with the room. “There’s trust and then there’s Trust with a capital T. I have a feeling this situation merits the second.”
“Astute as ever,” Kira murmured.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m a genius. That’s nothing new.” Jin snuggled deeper into his blanket until only his eyes and a palm sized portion of his face was visible. “I take it you got something from Chance and Harper.”
“Check our drop site. There should be something there.”
Jin definitely had eyes in the hotel. Possibly the wider station as well. Smart of him to station some of his spawn in the hidden passages too.
“A present? For me?”
“Tied with a bow and wrapped up nice and tight.”
Jin was already moving, grabbing the scroll off the bed next to him and navigating to the website they used for information dead drops. It was in a defunct chat room for a game nobody played anymore.
There were several such sites they used. All meant to help them pass information along without it leading back to the relevant parties.
This one was devoted to Chance, Harper and the rest of the children they’d saved. It was how they’d kept in touch for all these years. Selene had access to it too and used it to pass along updates on the children.
“This is serious business, Nixxy.” Jin sounded distracted as he scanned the scroll. “Selene must be beside herself at the risks they’re taking.”
“That’s the thing about children. You don’t get to decide what they grow up to be.”
They did that all on their own. All you could do was hope you’d given them the tools they needed to survive and thrive.
“Their level of information gathering is pretty impressive. Months of work went into this,” Jin commented. “If I handed everything over to Jace, he could probably earn his way back into Centcom’s good graces within the next year.”
“It’s that good?”
“You’d be proud. They’ve mapped out most of the trafficking ring. All that’s left to do is to roll them up.”
“Anything helpful?”
Jin nodded. “A few things.”
“Before that, are Bez and the rest back?” Kira asked.
“What makes you think I would know?”
Kira gave him a look. “You knew about Chance and Harper.”
He flicked a hand. “They were at Cat Three. It wasn’t difficult to guess. You also only ever check into that specific hotel room when you have a meeting with an informant.”
Graydon appraised Kira with raised eyebrows.
“It’s not like I knew you were going to be there when I made the arrangements,” Kira said, feeling defensive.
Amusement rumbled from Graydon’s chest. “I see.”
Irritated, Kira glared at Jin. “Do you have an answer for me or not?”
“Maksym and Arly returned a few hours ago. They’re sleeping now.”
“What about Roderick’s group? Any word?”
Jin shook his head.
Kira chewed her lip in disappointment. She found it suspicious that the three Tuann she trusted least were also the three who had yet to return.
“Want me to check on them?” Jin offered, seeing her expression.
Kira was tempted. It would be nice to know what they were up to and if there was a chance of it coming back to bite her on the ass.
“Do it,” she said finally.
This was going to bother her until it was settled.
Jin concentrated on his screen, his gaze focused and determined.
Kira glanced up at Graydon. “I noticed House Kashori and House Asanth’s representatives weren’t with you earlier.”
For that matter, Pallas and Alexander hadn’t been either.
“They had a prior engagement.”
Jin’s fingers stopped moving as he and Kira gave Graydon a sharp glance.
“Shit,” Kira muttered.
There was only one thing she could think of that both Houses would consider important enough to draw focus away from the mission.
The forty-three.
Jin’s face was grim as he bent over his scroll. “On it.”
“You would think they were facing off with an enemy from the way you two are reacting,” Graydon murmured with a faint note of amusement.
“You’d be surprised,” Kira muttered.
The forty-three weren’t to be trifled with. Every one of them was dangerous on some level. It made Kira nervous to think of House Kashori and House Asanth meeting with them.
“You don’t think they’d do anything stupid, do you?” Jin asked nervously, flicking through the camera feeds at lightning speed.
Kira leaned over his shoulder. “Only if they planned to start a war.”