Emotion chased across the boy's features before defeat settled over his face. "You might as well just kill me. I can’t leave or else they’ll punish my family line. If I stay, my fate will be worse than death when they learn of the exalted one’s demise."
Elena looked stricken at that response.
On the other hand, Raider seemed considering. "There is a solution to that dilemma. It’s a bit out of the box though."
Graydon raised his eyebrows at the human.
Raider offered him a shrug. "We fake his death—Kira style."
Elena clapped her hands excitedly. "That’s it. If we take some of his DNA and fabricate it, it should be enough. Especially if we blow this place up on our way out. They’ll assume his body got caught in the blast."
Raider gave his child a careful look, his expression turning dark as Elena walked over to Graydon to reach into Kira’s battle suit. "Why is your plan so specific?"
"Auntie taught me what to do," Elena answered, withdrawing a tiny device from Kira’s pocket.
"Why would she teach you that?"
"Just in case."
Raider’s glare moved to the woman in Graydon’s arms.
Coli, it's a good thing you're not awake right now or you'd have a lot to answer for, Graydon thought with some amusement.
There was an explosion from somewhere else in the facility that made the ground rumble under their feet.
A second later, Talon peered through the massive hole in the ceiling. "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."
His gaze stopped on Finn. "Are you injured?"
Finn's glare contained a hint of fire. "I killed an Osiri."
"You did? Or her?" Talon nodded at Kira.
"It was a team effort," Finn said through gritted teeth.
"If you say so," Talon said before focusing on Graydon. "You should get a move on. The Tsavitee have begun evacuations. Their towers are leaving one by one. This one will follow. You don't want to be here when it does."
Talon disappeared from the ledge.
"Did you do something?" Finn called.
A chuckle from above was Talon’s only answer.
Graydon glanced back at the general. "Time for that choice."
The general’s hesitation lasted only a second before his gaze met Graydon’s. "I'll come with you."
"If you ever betray us, your death will be long and painful."
The general swallowed hard.
Graydon turned toward his people. "Let's get out of this place before that thing Talon is worried about becomes a reality."
Kira
Kira’s eyelashes fluttered as the quiet murmur of conversation pulled her back to awareness. She blinked, taking a second to register the presence of the Tuann shuttle ceiling above her. The sensation of movement under her came a second later.
It looked like Wren and his pod had come through for them.
Kira patted the surface under her, conscious of the fact she was lying across a shuttle seat. She wasn't alone either. A woman with white blond hair sat beside her, her attention elsewhere.
Kira twisted to take in the woman. "You're supposed to be on Ta Sa'Riel recovering."
A faint smile creased the corners of Auralyn's eyes as she nodded at the trio across from her. "This felt more important."
Kira looked over to find Wren sitting on the opposite side of the aisle. Like Kira, Elise was stretched across a seat, her head in Wren's lap. Elena was clutched to his other side, his chin resting on the top of her head.
His eyes were closed, his features lax with relief. As if his entire world had just been given back to him.
"Yeah," Kira agreed softly.
Auralyn looked down at her. "You gave us our family back. Thank you."
Kira settled back on the seat, not knowing how to respond. "Elena and Elise are my family too."
Amusement touched Auralyn's eyes as she inclined her chin regally.
Kira looked at the other out of the corner of her eye. "You going to be okay?"
It probably wasn't a good thing for Auralyn to have cut her recovery short. Harlow had seemed to think she would need much longer than a couple of weeks to fully recover from losing her arm.
Kira wasn't very familiar with the Tuann methods for treating a lost limb. If this had been Consortium territory, Auralyn's options would have been limited to a mechanical arm or a synthetically grown limb that would then be re-attached.
Either of those would have taken months of recovery and rehabilitation.
Auralyn touched the place where her arm would have been. "I will adapt."