Facets of revolution, p.3
Facets of Revolution, page 3
Graydon’s amused sidelong glance told Kira she wasn’t fooling anyone. “You haven’t even heard the payment for the first.”
Kira made a come-on motion with her fingers. “Let’s hear it then.”
The smile that spread across his face did dangerous things to Kira’s insides. Particularly when he stepped into her personal space, using his larger size to loom over her.
There was nothing threatening in his manner, but that didn’t stop a delicious thrill from sliding through Kira’s insides as Graydon caught a disobedient strand of her hair and tugged.
His bewitching gaze snagged hers, tempting her to close those last few inches and steal a kiss.
Kira’s gaze dropped to his lips, her resolve teetering. It didn’t help that she knew exactly what they’d taste like. The way they’d feel against hers.
Kira swayed forward as those tantalizing lips formed words that were as effective as a splash of cold water on her libido.
“You’ll travel back to Ta Sa’Riel with the rest of the Tuann contingent on our ship.”
Kira jerked back, her hair sliding out of Graydon’s grip as he watched her with a predator’s stillness.
“You asshole,” Kira swore.
There was always a catch.
“Big favors require an equitable exchange. I could have asked for something much more difficult for you to give. In the scheme of things, I’m letting you off easy.” Graydon was unrepentant in the face of her anger. “I don’t think you realize how upsetting Yukina found your involvement in the discussion regarding Selene’s future. It’s almost like she’s afraid you’ll infect Selene with your bullheadedness.”
Kira’s scoff would have contained fire had she been a dragon. “She should be thanking me. My interference resulted in another of their lost children coming forward.”
“Which is why I was able to ask this in exchange as opposed to the price she wanted to exact.”
Kira’s mouth clicked closed on the rest of her argument. She’d known when she asked Graydon to get her into the meeting that it would put him in an impossible position and that she might have to give up some things as a result.
At the time, she’d judged the risk as necessary.
“I’m not leaving my ship behind,” Kira snarled.
The last time she left the Wanderer unattended her niece had stolen it and put herself in danger. While Elena would be under Kira’s close supervision for the foreseeable future, Kira didn’t want to leave anything to chance. The Wanderer was staying with her. End of story.
“No need to fret, coli. There’s plenty of room to store your vessel in our ship’s docking bay.”
“Why can’t I travel to the Tuann’s home planet on my ship?”
Graydon threw his head back on a roar of laughter, the smooth line of his throat distracting Kira for a moment.
That didn’t last as he continued to chuckle, her glower growing more pronounced the longer his laughter rang out.
Finally, Graydon got ahold of himself as he wiped away the tears that had formed at the corners of his eyes. “I apologize, coli, but if you think you’ll be allowed within eyesight of that ship before we reach the waystation on the edge of our solar system, you have another think coming. No. You will travel with the rest of your House and stay in the room I’ve already procured for your use. Once we arrive at the waystation, you may make repairs to your ship before journeying to the planet.”
“Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense,” Jin interjected from where he hovered over their heads. “You don’t trust us with the ship on the journey to the planet but you’ll let us fly it down?”
Kira was with Jin this time. The Tuann’s reasoning was nonsensical. Illogical even.
“The ship we’ll be traveling in is much too large to land on Ta Sa’Riel. Otherwise, you’d never be allowed to have contact with your ship,” Graydon said. “Besides, our defenses have been instructed to pay careful attention to every move your ship makes. Try to run and they will stop you.”
He didn’t have to say the means by which they’d do that. Kira was betting they’d disable her ship in a way that would render it unusable.
“You get to have your ship and the Tuann get to have you. This is a reasonable compromise, yes?”
Kira’s eyes narrowed, her tongue tingling with the urge to argue. The problem was he had a point. Their requests could almost be considered sensible even.
That didn’t stop Kira from wanting to argue however.
Graydon leaned over, his breath brushing her ear. “Play nice and I’ll get you that meeting with the Tsavitee prisoner you’ve been asking for.”
Damn.
“And have to pay another price? What’s next? My firstborn child?” Kira bit out.
“Nothing so extraordinary, though I’d never say no to a child of yours,” Graydon teased, his face softening in a way she knew that meant he liked that idea. Liked it very much. “But no, any exchange would be no more painful than the current one.”
“When?”
Graydon straightened, the question a sign of Kira’s surrender. “Three days from now. Once we’re under way. I’ll send you the location.”
Smart man. He knew Kira well enough to realize if he left anything to chance, she’d use it to wiggle out of any agreement she made with him. This way he guaranteed her presence on the ship before she got what she wanted.
“Can I bring a friend?” Kira asked.
Graydon considered her with a deep gaze. “Depends. Do you trust this person?”
Kira barked out a laugh. “You know me better by now.”
Trust wasn’t exactly a well-used word in her vocabulary.
“But they have knowledge that could prove useful,” Kira conceded.
“Very well. If that’s what you desire.”
“I’ll be there then.”
And hope she found the answers she sought.
“I look forward to it, coli.”
That made one of them.
three
Three days later – Tuann ship
Somewhere between Jettie and Ta Sa’Riel
“Wait for me here,” Kira told the figure next to her.
The person, their face and hair hidden by the hood of the cloak they wore, dropped back, waiting on the threshold as Kira advanced toward Graydon.
Her footsteps echoed in the large room, the sounds bouncing off the empty surfaces of the walls and floor.
As irritated as she’d been at being told she had to return to Ta Sa’Riel via a Tuann ship, she had to hand it to the Tuann. Their ships were works of art.
Better than the human rust buckets she was used to. Every bit as beautiful as a Haldeel cruiser.
She didn’t know if it was because she was Tuann but she found a part of her preferring this ship to the Haldeel’s.
Every room and communal area were as perfect as they were functional.
Of the areas of the ship she’d seen, she’d have to say this room was her favorite. Something about it called to her. The place was simple. The walls, floor, and ceiling a dark black that transitioned nicely into the transparent floor-to-ceiling wall that offered a view of space.
The sound of Kira’s footsteps changed as she stepped onto glass. She paused, noting the stars streaming beneath her feet before examining her surroundings a little more closely.
What she’d previously thought of as a simple wall was actually more of a bubble, allowing viewers to step onto the glass. It gave the illusion of the person being in space. Without an EV suit, armor, or any other barrier separating her from the great universe beyond.
Graydon stood in the middle of it, his back to her as he observed the stars.
Waiting.
“I love it out here,” Kira said, joining him.
There was a quiet peace to being surrounded by the cold beauty of the void. Stars streaming by as the ship made its return voyage to Ta Sa’Riel, the emperor’s home planet and the center of the Tuann empire.
Space had always been the place she felt most at home.
It didn’t matter if sometimes the air was stale from too many times through the Wanderer’s scrubbers or if she was stuck eating nasty MREs when her fresh produce ran out.
She didn’t care that it was inhospitable in the extreme, a single misstep carrying the possibility of death. You had to be on guard at all times. Prepared for that instant when things went wrong—especially when that danger came from an unexpected quarter.
Kira had gotten so used to that heightened sense of alertness that it felt unnatural when it was no longer required.
Awareness spread through Kira as Graydon’s gaze swept over her.
He had always seen too much. Even from the very beginning. His storm gray eyes penetrating her thickest defenses.
With as many secrets as she had, the feeling was disconcerting.
In her more paranoid moments, she thought it would have been better to maintain her distance. Something she recognized as impossible even then.
There was a raw, magnetic pull between them that she’d long given up resisting. Graydon wouldn’t have allowed it anyway.
As the youngest Face of the Tuann emperor, he was used to getting his way. Even when he didn’t, he was capable of turning any situation to his advantage.
There was an almost cruel beauty to the line of his features as he turned to face her more fully.
“I can see the draw. It would seem like freedom out here,” he said.
That was exactly what it was.
Graydon looked past her to the person waiting on the threshold of the room. “Is the hood necessary?”
Kira’s grin was brief. “They have a slight obsession with seeming mysterious. You’ll get used to it.”
Graydon shook his head, not pushing the issue. “I hope you know what you’re doing, coli.”
Kira did too.
“I appreciate the risk you’re taking,” Kira told him.
Gratitude was an uncomfortable and new experience for her.
In the past, she’d always played by the rule that it was far easier and less emotionally messy if she took things into her own hands. Who cared if a few laws got broken?
It was simpler that way.
Unfortunately, such a lifestyle was no longer conducive to her goals. She needed friends—and allies.
Also, she’d looked into doing this on her own. It was virtually impossible to penetrate the tight security of the place where she wanted to go. Not even the two best hackers she knew were confident in their chances of success.
Hence her asking Graydon for a favor of this magnitude.
Graydon’s smile was slightly crooked. “We both know you would have found your own way whether you had my help or not.”
True.
It would have been a tad messier, though. Not to mention she probably would have angered a lot of people she couldn’t afford to offend in the process. At least this way, she wasn’t in jeopardy of being thrown in a jail cell next to the person she was trying to get a conversation with.
Graydon moved past her. “I’m simply glad you chose to use words this time to ask for what you want rather than blunder forward on a dangerous plan that was bound to backfire.”
Kira followed him off the glass and onto the black floor as her companion, sensing Kira had won the argument, glided toward them.
“As always your faith in me is overwhelming,” Kira said in a dry voice.
Graydon’s chuckle rumbled from his chest as he stopped in the center of the room.
Kira frowned before noticing the complicated pattern inlaid into the floor. Almost unnoticed, due to the dark swooping lines that looked like shadows against the dark background.
Kira crouched, tracing a line with one finger. She jolted as a hum of electricity zipped up her arm.
“Recognize it?” Graydon asked.
“Should I?”
Tuann technology wasn’t always obvious. A simple stone could act as an unexpected communication device. A doorway could sometimes teleport you halfway across the planet, and apparently an unobtrusive pattern embedded in a floor could allow one to contact a secure prison—the location of which was so secret this was the only way to gain access.
“Ta Da’an.”
Graydon’s answer made Kira frown.
Her stay on the planet of Ta Da’an, home to House Luatha and her mother’s family, had been short—but memorable.
“I’m still not quite sure how you managed to project your consciousness onto my diplomatic ship since the Nexus isn’t really built for that. But this is the proper way to do the same thing,” Graydon explained.
Kira stiffened, avoiding Graydon’s gaze as she rose. “Ah. That.”
“My captain thanks you for your assistance, by the way.”
Kira’s nod was uncomfortable.
Her actions might have saved his ship and the planet from invasion, but she’d also used the chaos to her own advantage.
“This will enable us to astral project to the prison?” Kira asked.
The term “astral projection” originated from early nineteenth century Earth as a description for what was essentially an out-of-body experience where one projected their consciousness onto the astral plane.
Most humans considered the idea nothing but superstitious nonsense. How fitting that the Wizards, as humans sometimes called the Tuann, were the ones to make the idea into a reality.
Himoto always did say that the separation between magic and science became more and more indistinct as civilizations advanced their technology.
“Something like that,” Graydon said.
Kira’s companion joined them as Graydon lifted his hands, palms facing up as a look of concentration showed on his face. A hum rose all around them before the pattern beneath their feet took on a soft glow that grew.
Graydon’s hands dropped, and the world changed.
The stars disappeared to be replaced by the unrelenting gray of stone.
Kira took a moment to glance around in amazement at the surrealness of it all. Her senses doing a very good job of insisting she was actually standing in a prison cell despite her physical body existing trillions of miles away.
It was all so very real. The smell of mildew and rot all around her. An aura of bleak desperation clung to the walls.
She shivered as a damp chill invaded her bones.
If she concentrated very hard, she could make out the thrum of the ship’s engines under her feet. The feeling grew as black invaded the gray.
Graydon touched her elbow, the black of the room vanishing as her focus snapped. “Careful. If you think too hard, you’ll be pulled back.”
Kira nodded, a little relieved.
If breaking the connection was as simple as a thought, it meant the danger of getting permanently separated from her body was small.
“This is amazing.” Kira touched the wall next to her.
It was more than an illusion. She could actually feel the stone under her fingers. The rough imperfections of the rock.
The bio feedback loop was probably one of the most realistic she’d ever experienced. Leagues beyond what the Consortium created through their online holo experiences.
“I was expecting you a lot sooner than this,” a voice said from the corner of the cell. “Tell me, Phoenix, what brings you to my humble abode?”
Kira looked at the speaker, locating a young man sitting with his back against the wall on the cold, hard floor. His legs were extended in front of him, and there was a flat look in his eyes that reminded Kira of a caged tiger she’d once seen.
The animal was considered a rarity. Almost extinct even on Earth where it had originated.
And like the boy, it possessed an aggression that nothing could hide.
“Aeron. It’s good to see you. You’re looking better.”
It was true. He seemed healthy. Far from the boy barely able to breathe through the blood filling his lungs.
Aeron touched the spot where his injury had been. “Wounded prisoners aren’t as easy to interrogate. That whole threat of dying and all.”
“Yes, your death would be such a shame,” Graydon drawled.
Aeron’s gaze flicked toward the emperor’s Face.
As a general, Aeron was part of the ruling class of Tsavitee. Those Kira had considered her greatest enemy and the mastermind behind their species until recently.
It had become clear, however, that there was a group above them, pulling the strings.
That even the masters had their masters.
She found it interesting that he was in his Tuann form and not the general. It made Kira wonder if the choice was his own or part of some plan.
To Kira’s surprise, Aeron didn’t respond to Graydon’s taunt, instead focusing on the cloaked figured beside Kira. “Who’s your friend?”
“No one to worry about.” To distract him, Kira changed the subject. “I hear you’ve been less than cooperative.”
It worked as his focus jumped back to her. “Would you bow to your captors?”
She wouldn’t. She’d proven that time and time again.
Aeron settled against the wall. “Why have you visited me?”
“You have answers I want. Isn’t that enough?”
Aeron studied Kira for a moment. “If that was the case, you would have been here weeks ago. No. Something has changed.”
Kira held still at the astute observation.
Aeron’s eyes narrowed before widening in realization. “You met her, didn’t you? You found Elise.”
Kira said nothing as Aeron threw his head back on a laugh, the sound containing a hysterical edge.
“Tell me what you know about her and her goals.”
“What’s wrong, Phoenix?” There was a twist on the last word. “Not the reunion you hoped for?”
Kira’s face remained blank as she let him talk, hoping his arrogance would allow something to slip through.
“I take it you know she’s working for us now,” Aeron said. “How does it feel to be made a fool?”
“You’re awful confident I’m the fool in this equation.”
Step one of her goal had been accomplished—verifying that Aeron was aware of Elise’s cooperation.
It was a start. She was close; she could feel it in her bones.
