Chapter Thirty One
One Tender Touch
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The Thilene, Loros.
Kyra.
A week had passed since one of the Eternal’s hawks had landed on the Thilene, frightening the life out of the raiders, just as it had done to Kyra the first time she’d encountered one.
It seemed that Kyra was not the only one keeping secrets.
Naal had still not told her what had been in the message it had delivered. Kyra hadn’t pushed the matter, though her curiosity was near bursting at the seams. What could have been in the message that Naal would not want to share with her?
Or perhaps it was simply none of her business.
Even if that were the case, she was beginning to resent the Air Warden’s silence.
Though silent she was not when it came to pushing Kyra’s relationship with Kawai. Kyra hadn’t had the heart to tell her the story Kawai had told her. It didn’t feel right to share… however, it might have gotten Naal off her back if she knew.
Or maybe she already knew. And just didn’t care.
It didn’t seem likely… Naal was driven by logic and a quest for greater good, sometimes painfully so, but she wasn’t cruel. Or cold-hearted.
She just lacked a little empathy at times.
Hovering at her shoulder, she was surprisingly quiet as they both looked down at the raiders working to distribute gold to the poor in the little harbour.
Kyra wondered how long it would be before she received another gentle reminder to gain Kawai’s trust. As if she needed reminding.
It was all she had been able to think about. Because she had been successful after that telling conversation at the bow of the ship, and somehow, though it had been terse at first, they had become unlikely friends.
It had become a habit to spar with him once a day.
He actually kept her on her toes: for his wide frame, he was surprisingly adept with a sword.
She was grateful for it too, for she was painfully out of practice since leaving Avaldale.
Most of her attention had been focused on her magic rather than how quickly she could bring a man to his knees with just the sheer power of her body alone.
She’d also fallen into the not-so-healthy routine of drinking to excess with Kawai, Jak and Boony on deck most nights.
She was sure Naal certainly didn’t approve of that, though she hadn’t voiced the opinion.
But those times, with an ale in hand, laughing at Jak’s naivety, or playing drinking games until she had to tap out and stumble back to the cabin before she toppled over the side of the ship, was when she was happiest. When she felt the most… normal.
It was as though she were back drinking a bottle of Sarlalian red with Rosary in that shithole of a house in Avaldale. She hadn’t thought she would ever miss it… but she ached for it every day.
Drinking with Kawai and his friends softened that ache.
She hadn’t mentioned Kano again. Selfishly because it would mean jeopardising this unexpected joy she had found in the raider’s company, but also because part of her completely understood his desperation to keep his brother’s location a secret.
For she would do the same for her siblings in a heartbeat. Even for Dovella, who was about as pleasant as a fucking sand snake.
She watched Kawai in the harbour of the islet now, laughing with a native older man as he laid the large burlap sack filled with gold and expensive trinkets at his feet. Families looked on with hungry eyes, no doubt wondering how much the raiders had brought them.
Anything would be enough to put food in the bellies of their children.
Kyra had teased Kawai about being a raider when they first met. She’d called him a thief. But she’d seen with her own eyes what he and his vigilante crew were doing for the people stuck at the bottom of the food chain under the king’s rule, and could now admit it was a far cry from dishonourable.
A girl, no older than four and clutching a ragged toy cat to her chest, shyly approached Kawai.
He smiled widely and crouched to her level, beckoning her closer.
After a quick glance at her mother just a few paces behind, who nodded encouragingly, she stepped toward him.
He thrust his arm into the sack, mouth moving fast as he spoke to her in the native language, then pulled out an ornate pearl hair clip.
She looked up at him with big, wondrous eyes, and asked him something.
As if in response, he pushed the forked clip into her dark hair where it sat too big, but beautifully above her ear.
She didn’t smile. Instead, she mumbled something else and tried to take the clip out, but Kawai gently guided her hand away from it and pulled the burlap sack shut. He pressed a finger to his lips and winked.
Now, the girl positively beamed. She gushed a thank you in her native tongue, then ran back to her mother to show her what the kind raider had given her. The mother nodded to Kawai, and though her face was grateful, it was also imbued with sadness.
Because she knew her little girl would not be able to keep the gift if they wanted to eat that week.
Kawai’s own smile faltered, replaced by guilt, as if he too were realising the same thing. But he shouldered the sack and walked into the harbour with Boony and Jak, ready to distribute the rest of their stolen goods and coin to the locals.
A warm, tingling sensation swept over Kyra’s skin as she watched him. Watched him smile at the locals as though they were his closest friends. Watched him playfully punch Jak on the arm. Watched the way his sculpted body moved-
‘You two have become close,’ Naal said, and though the statement was completely unsurprising, Kyra had quite forgotten she was even there. ‘Has he mentioned Kano at all?’
Kyra bit back her irritation. ‘He has mentioned him, yes. He knows we’re looking for him.’
‘I figured as much,’ Naal mused. ‘Do you think he will-’
‘Naal, stop,’ Kyra cut her off. ‘He won’t tell me where Kano is because I haven’t asked him to, and the only reason we have any sort of friendship now is because I dropped the subject.
He just kept saying, Kano doesn’t want to be found.
If that’s the case, why don’t we just let him be? He’s little more than a child anyway.’
For a long while, Naal was quiet. Then, in a muted, sad voice, she said, ‘Because this is far bigger than the wants of a young boy, Kyra. If there was a way to not involve him or even you for that matter, I would do it. I resigned myself to being the Air Warden a long time ago. It is all I have ever really known. If there was a way to defend the entire world against Empress Azar and her southern armies on my own, I would do it. But alas, I cannot. As Wardens, we are duty bound to the mortals of Droria, to protect this sacred life the Four Mothers paved for us. That is why we cannot just let him be. It is not in his destiny to remain lost.’
Conflict battled in Kyra’s mind. How was it that both Kawai and Naal could both be right in their thinking?
‘I won’t manipulate him into telling me,’ Kyra said, for that was the only thing she was sure of.
‘You do not have to,’ Naal said gently. ‘I sense a great friendship between you, and a growing trust. Perhaps that loyalty to one another might be enough for him to understand how important it is that we find his brother.’
Kyra didn’t respond. Her gaze found Kawai once more as he, Boony and Jak made their way back to the ship. The sack in his hand was now empty.
Naal squeezed her shoulder lightly before walking away, and at that moment, Kawai looked up, as if he’d felt Kyra’s eyes on him. His face split into that devilish grin.
His easy charm was so mesmerizingly contagious. Despite feeling like she was toe-ing the narrow line of a moral conundrum, Kyra grinned right back.
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‘Liar. Drink.’
‘I’m not lying!’
‘Boony, is he lying?’
Shooting Kawai an apologetic glance, Boony muttered, ‘Sorry, mate.’
Kyra slammed a triumphant hand on the barrel. ‘Ha! I knew it. Drink.’
Kawai scowled and took a great glug. ‘Jak, you go.’
Jak looked up at the sky with narrowed eyes, like he always did when he was thinking. ‘I have… I have…’ His shoulders slumped. ‘I can’t think of anything.’
‘It can be anything,’ Kyra encouraged him.
‘Yeah, I bet there’s loads you haven’t done,’ Boony said with a smirk.
‘Okay! I’ve got it. I have never been to Vrethian.’ Jak peered around at them with a certain smugness.
Kawai chortled into his tankard. ‘Oh, yeah. Good one.’
‘Thank you!’
Kyra rolled her eyes. ‘Sarcasm, Jak.’
‘Oh,’ Jak said with a frown. ‘Why?’
Boony replied, ‘Playing Nevers is s’posed to be exciting. Saying things you’ve never done. Not having been somewhere is just… well, it’s a bit-’
‘Shit,’ Kawai finished.
‘Ignore them, Jak,’ Kyra said, kicking Kawai under the table. ‘This is a drinking game and you got these idiots to drink. I’d say that was a successful round.’
Jak’s smile grew. ‘See! I knew what I was doing. Boony, it’s your turn.’
‘Alright,’ Boony said, placing his tankard in front of him and leaning forward slightly. ‘I have never killed someone.’
They all froze.
Jak’s eyes darted from each of their faces to the next. Kyra wasn’t keen to admit her past to them, even if every life she’d ever taken had kept her alive-
‘What a way to keep it light, Boon,’ Kawai murmured, then slowly raised his tankard to his lips.
She peered at him, and he looked right back. Challenge waited on his face. As though he expected her to run away.
But then she drank too.
‘By the Four,’ Jak whispered.
Half-jokingly, Boony said, ‘Should we be worried?’
‘No,’ Kawai chuckled. ‘I’m willing to bet half of Droria has some sort of blood on their hands.’ His gaze found Kyra’s again, a curious tenderness to his golden-brown eyes now. ‘Who was yours?’