Trials of Conviction, page 11
Kira's cheeks were wet with tears as she covered his hand with hers. "Okay."
Graydon's glare remained hot. "You're such a difficult woman."
Kira's laugh sounded clogged. "Isn't that why you love me?"
"You're damn right I do." Graydon's lips covered hers, bruising and fierce. "I don't want to ever have this conversation again."
Kira leaned forward, their breath mingling. "I need this."
Graydon's hand landed on her ass. He lifted her over him. "Then take it."
Seven
Kira devoured Graydon’s mouth, her desperation making her frantic.
A beat passed. Two.
Graydon set her away from him, his eyes almost wild. He looked at her like a starving man offered a rare feast. His hunger searing.
They stared at each.
Graydon's control broke first. He yanked her back to him. This time it was him who ravaged her mouth. Savage as he took what he wanted.
His hands guided her hips, grinding her against him. The delicious pressure sent tingles of need through her.
Kira moaned, desperate for him. If she didn't have him inside her in the next second, she was going to combust. Go up in flames to become ashes.
She let her hands roam his shoulders and chest, barely noticing as the hard feel of the synth armor changed to the warmth of flesh. His muscles flexed under her touch. She scratched lightly at his skin, relishing the masculine groan that followed.
Kira rolled her hips, causing both of their breaths to catch.
Graydon's hands slid under her shirt, finding smooth skin. They wandered up the length of her back, creating a trail of fire.
Kira's head dipped back from the drugging pleasure. "What about the chaterlings?"
Her thoughts splintered as Graydon kissed his way along the side of her neck. He found a sensitive spot, nibbling it for a second before pressing his lips to the edge of her jaw.
"What chaterlings?" he whispered.
Graydon tipped Kira onto her back, coming to crouch over her. Kira held still as he brushed hair away from her face, his thumb caressing her cheekbone as thoughts moved behind his eyes.
"You're not the only one afraid of loss," he told her a second before he sealed her lips with his.
Kira wrapped her arms around his shoulders as his body moved against hers.
It wasn't enough. She needed more.
As if he heard that thought, his hands dove under her shirt. He broke their kiss, sweeping the scrap of material up and over her head in an instant.
Kira lay there, bare from the waist up, except for her bra.
Graydon's gaze swept over her. "The most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
His hands traced the path his eyes had just taken. They started at the base of her throat. Dancing over her collarbone until shivers tightened her nipples. Warmth pooled at her center as his fingertips sketched the upper swells of her breasts.
Kira panted. "Graydon."
A throaty rumble came from Graydon. His gaze half lidded as ki manifested around his hand. It sparked, crackling over her skin.
Her clitoris pulsed.
"Shit," Kira breathed.
She yelped as Graydon yanked down the cups of her bra. Because of the way the constricting band sat, it pushed her breasts upward, making them look like a juicy offering.
Graydon stared. Long enough that Kira started to feel self-conscious.
"Mine," he growled.
His tweaked her nipple. The spark of ki that followed had Kira's hips lifting, the pleasure pain making her see dots of color.
"You know I heard you talking to me when I was in my coma," Graydon said conversationally.
He bent, fastening his lips around one nipple while his hand massaged the other. Kira's hips bucked, her urgency growing.
"Hearing the oath of Aliria from your lips may be one of my all-time favorite memories."
Kira cried out as the ki he was using set her nerves alight.
Graydon drew back, waiting for her to look at him. The smile he aimed at her was wicked and full of all the things he planned to do to her. "Consider this my long delayed gratitude for the honor you did me. By the time it's over, you won't remember anything but how to scream my name."
His eyes never left hers as his hands moved slowly to her pants. He unsnapped one button and then another. Kira's breath quickened as he slowly drew down the zipper.
He slid a hand into her pants, the tight fit not giving him the leverage she needed.
"Please, Graydon," Kira moaned.
His chuckle was husky as he dipped a finger into her folds, drawing a circle over her clitoris before withdrawing.
Kira wanted to cry at the emptiness he left behind.
Her pants were gone in the next second. Across the room before she could blink.
Kira raised onto her elbows, letting Graydon look at her. From the dark light in his eyes, he liked what he saw.
"My coli. My breath."
He lowered over her, exploring with an agonizing slowness that quickly drove her a little mad. He took his time, pausing here and there. Kira's hips lifted. Needy sounds escaping her.
Finally, his mouth reached the place she most wanted it. He pressed a kiss over her clitoris, the touch butterfly soft. A tease.
Everything coiled as he fastened his lips over the sensitive nub, lashing it with his tongue.
Kira cried out. Her core clenched. Her climax hovered just out of reach.
Her fingers threaded through his hair as she pressed his face against her, her hips rolling in search of her pleasure.
Something opened up inside Kira. A parched desert sucking down every drop of sensation. Graydon's soul's breath acted like a gentle rain, soaking into the cracks and gluing them together.
His ki speared into her center. It was the shove she needed. Kira detonated with a startled cry, the climax on a deeper level than just the physical one. It went all the way to her soul.
When her vision cleared and she could think again, Kira opened her eyes to find Graydon staring down at her. His face tender.
Kira felt him poised at her entrance, his hard length scorching.
He waited for her to look at him before pushing inside. The fullness stretched her. Kira caught her breath as the overly sensitive nerves protested.
He withdrew, plunging forward again in a slow glide.
Kira made a sound in the back of her throat as he dragged along her poor, abused clit. He nipped the edge of her jaw, his pace increasing as her inner muscles fluttered around him.
She found herself climbing with him as he used the friction to send her to new heights.
Before long, her core tightened. The prelude to another climax.
"Together this time, cheva nier," Graydon ordered.
Kira found herself complying, lights bursting behind her eyes as his fingers found her center. He thrust forward, sinking deep with one last cry that she echoed.
They wrung each other dry as release found them. Replete, they held each other as the stars passed overhead until finally Kira slipped back into slumber.
This time her rest was dreamless.
Graydon
Graydon brushed a caress across Kira's bare shoulder. Even in rest she looked tired. As if part of her couldn't fully relax. The toll from the past few days was evident in the bags under her eyes. The pinched look on her face. The signs of strain that never fully went away.
She was so strong, but even her strength had its limits. This was breaking her. Slowly but surely. And Graydon was helpless to stop it.
"What am I to do with you?" Graydon whispered.
This stunt—breaking Aeron out of custody. It was reckless. Impulsive.
While Kira could be all those things, she was rarely all of them at once. She usually showed more restraint. If she couldn't solve a problem directly, she schemed and she planned, coming at her objective sideways if necessary. She didn't go after the most dangerous option right out of the gate. At least not until she'd exhausted every other avenue.
He traced the faint runes on her upper shoulder, his hand trailing to the ones on her back. Without Kira awake to consciously suppress it, the primus pressed against her skin. Just barely contained.
Its influence was likely the reason behind Kira's out-of-character behavior. Her ability to maintain balance with her primus was impressive. There had been many Tuann in their history who'd attempted similar feats only for things to go drastically wrong. It was a wonder she'd managed so far. Normally, such endeavors ended with the primus in question slaughtering everyone in the vicinity after eroding their host's sanity.
Graydon suspected this wasn't Kira's first experience riding this line. From the stories she'd told and what Baran had uncovered when Graydon sent him to investigate, it sounded very similar to what she'd gone through after her Curs died. In fact, he suspected it and her use of the heaven's wrath, a rare Tuann ability of immense destruction, were what landed her in her coma in the first place.
It couldn't be that Harlow didn't know either. Graydon's mentor didn't miss much. He would have seen Kira's state and known the challenges. Maybe he, like Graydon, realized that the only way for her to survive was to save the other two. Anything else would result in her fading.
It was a demonstration of Harlow's love and the faith he’d placed in her. By rights, he should have put her under observation. A Tuann in this state was inherently dangerous. It was the responsibility of the Overlord to ensure members of his House didn't become mindless killing machines. That he trusted she'd weather this storm without breaking was testament to how far he was willing to go for her.
"We've got quite the fight ahead of us, cheva nier."
Kira was right to be concerned about what was coming. Not all of them were likely to make it through this. There would be loss. It was almost unavoidable. They were up against monsters. Even someone of Graydon's skill wasn't safe. Not when it came to their old masters.
It was why the emperor had agreed to this mad plan when Graydon proposed it. To get his first born back. And because he knew there was no one else qualified and stupid enough to throw themselves into danger like this.
Only Kira had that honor. Where she went, Graydon would follow. Which meant he fit that description too.
There was another order Torvald had given Graydon in addition to the first. Insurance against a worst case situation. Graydon's directive was to destroy the soul bound if it looked like Jin couldn't be recovered or his sanity was compromised. It was Torvald's last gift to his son. Eternal peace free from the tortures the Tsavitee's masters would inflict on him.
But Jin would come through this intact, even if Graydon had to crawl into the abyss itself to drag him out. He would come home to Kira.
Graydon touched the bonds he shared with his oshota to send a wave of reassurance down them. They hadn't been thrilled at the idea of separation, but they were professionals and used to acting unilaterally when needed. As a Face, there were often situations where Graydon had to be flexible. His oshota too.
Snagging the blanket Wren had dropped off earlier, Graydon draped it over Kira's spent body. At a thought from him, Graydon's synth armor covered his body, flexing as he rose and padded toward the hatch.
He opened it to find Raider waiting in the hallway. Graydon stepped outside, closing the hatch behind him to give Kira privacy.
"How is she?" Raider asked.
Graydon acknowledged Finn's presence at the cross section of hallways. "She's resting."
Graydon didn't want her disturbed. To maintain the delicate balance with her primus, Kira needed sleep and fuel. Access to a planet's Mea'Ave would be best. If they were on Ta Sa'Riel, she'd be put into a deep slumber and taken to a nexus, a place where the planet's soul and its surface intersected. Where reality could bend until it felt like you could reach out and grasp the Mea'Ave itself.
"Is there something else?" Graydon asked when Raider stayed quiet.
The human was acting unusual. Almost as if he was uncomfortable.
"Wren told me a little about what it means to fade." Raider's hands clenched and then relaxed.
How very kind of Wren. Though, it didn't seem to have the effect Kira's seon'yer no doubt hoped.
Raider avoided Graydon's eyes. "I should ask her to sit this one out."
"That would be the honorable thing."
But he knew—and Graydon knew—that Raider didn't always follow the righteous path.
"I'm not going to do that," Raider said.
No, Graydon hadn't imagined he would. Not with Elena in danger. A father would do a lot for his offspring. As they should. No sacrifice was too great when it came to your young. The fact Raider understood that was a point in his favor.
That still didn't lessen Graydon's rage.
"Kira wouldn't listen anyway," Raider ground out as Graydon swept past him.
Graydon stopped, amazed at the human's audacity. "We both know it wouldn't have mattered. You would have asked this of her regardless."
In Raider's desperation, he'd latched onto Kira as his best chance of getting his daughter back. Even if Kira were the type to walk away, he would have found a way to justify pulling her back in.
"I'm a selfish man, human. Three hundred years. That's how long I’ve waited for someone like Kira. If you think I'll lose her now that I've just found her, you're a fool. This will not be a suicide mission no matter what you or Kira have planned. She will walk away from this."
Jin. Elena. Even Elise. Graydon would save them if he could. He'd do everything in his power to get them out of there. But he wouldn't sacrifice Kira to do it. She'd done enough of that on her own.
"I'll hold you to that," Raider said softly as Graydon walked away.
Graydon didn't respond as he passed Finn with a nod to make his way over to where Talon leaned against the wall, munching on a piece of fruit. It was a virt, a staple of space travel for centuries because of how well it kept and the number of essential nutrients it provided.
The fruit was also a favorite among their people. Its sweet taste contained a hint of sour.
"I'm surprised Finn managed to convince you to leave your bar," Graydon said.
Talon took a giant bite out of the virt, juice squirting onto his hand. He licked it off. "I have my reasons."
"They must be rather important. If I recall, you swore you'd never pick up an en-blade again."
Talon had been a contemporary of Graydon's parents. He'd been the one to inform him of their deaths.
When Graydon was aiming to become an oshota himself, Talon offered some much needed advice. He’d always thought it a shame how the other man had exiled himself to that bar and refused to let anyone drag him out of it.
Talon nodded at Raider's departure. "I'll return to you the words you gave him. You're here to make sure your woman survives. I've got someone I want to protect as well."
Finn. Of course.
The two had always been close. Long before they were oshota, they were friends. Even serving the same sword, the Overlord of House Roake. They'd maintained their friendship even after his death when they went their separate ways.
"You could also argue I owe a debt to her father," Talon added.
"Does Kira know?"
"She does."
"I'm surprised she allowed you on her ship."
The subject of her father and what others owed him was a bit taboo for her. Graydon couldn't tell if that was because she felt herself unworthy of being the recipient of the loyalty he'd inspired or if it was due to guilt over how he’d died.
"Let's just say we reached an understanding," Talon said with a mysterious little smile.
Graydon doubted that. If he knew his coli, she probably thought keeping Talon close would allow her to prevent him from doing anything too stupid. There was no way she'd know that Talon once had a reputation that rivaled hers for being a loose cannon.
Watching these two lock horns was going to be entertaining.
Talon pushed off the wall. "This should be quite the experience. After so long tending my quiet bar, I find myself looking forward to a little action."
"Quiet. Right," Graydon murmured as Talon sauntered away.
A jeha didn't change its spots. Talon's 'quiet' bar was nothing more than a front. So much information flowed in and out of that place that it was a wonder all the major Houses didn't realize that it was Roake's intelligence hub.
Talon might look like he was out of the game, when in fact he'd simply assumed a new role.
Why else would Finn ask a person who hadn't picked up an en-blade in almost a century to watch his back?
Elena - Tsavitee Planet
"Follow," the general grunted, stalking off.
Elena glared after him. The least he could do was wait until she was done freeing herself. But no. There he went. Just expecting her to scurry after him like a dog brought to heel.
Elena hurried, uncaring of the cuts and bruises such an action left as she ripped the bolas free. She sprung to her feet, stashing the bolas in one of her pockets as she hurried after the general like the good little pet he was expecting.
"Where are we going?" Elena asked in Tuann, catching up to the general.
The general sent her a probing glance. "You understand Tsavitee."
Belatedly, Elena realized he'd given his order in Tsavitee. The same language he was now speaking.
Elena caught her stumble, lifting her chin in a bluff. "I'm not stupid. I've been in there for days. That's plenty of time to listen and learn. It's not like your language is that hard."
It was, actually. Very hard. It had taken Elena months learning all the dialects and intricacies that came from a language influenced by dozens of species of different origin.
The general didn't know that though.
His lip curled. "Arrogant."
"Only if I didn't have the skills to back it up."
The general eyed Elena. "Now you sound like that woman."
Elena took note of their path as she followed her captor. Three turns. No. Four. It was left. Right. Right. And left again.
The structure was more massive than Elena had predicted. Every bit as complex as Roake's fortress. She'd have to pay careful attention if she hoped to make use of this information later.
