turned to Grace. This was her specialty, though neither of us had taken a hard look at the actual quotas since we’d been too involved with Kian’s recovery to spend so long hopping from sector to sector.
She cut her eyes towards me, and at my nod, she sucked in a quick breath before answering. “So far, the Angels have met what I originally had as the goal. We barely reached it, but I’m happy that we got the number at all.” Grace exhaled through pursed lips and smoothed out her cloak, though I saw no wrinkles or bunching. When she spotted the tremble that shook her hands, she pressed them flat against her thighs, muttering something quietly.
“That doesn’t tell me what the long-term projections are, Angel,” Stin’ul groused with an oddly gleeful edge to his tone.
Grace’s head jerked up, and she shot a wide-eyed look at me. The shaking was no longer confined to her hands, so when she opened her mouth, I cut in.
“No, it doesn’t,” I said lazily, leaning back into my chair a little more as I draped myself over it.
My posture announced that I had no worries, and my smirk only amplified that assertion. I kept my expression calm, but I watched Stin’ul closely. His gritted teeth and the throbbing vein on his temple spoke loudly, but it didn’t seem to agree with the twinkle in his eyes or the relaxed slump of his shoulders. Hmmm, perhaps I dismissed him too soon. He doesn’t really care. He just wants to put on a show. Why?
Maybe he’s the one we’ve been searching for, whispered through my head, and I slid my gaze to Master Akai. Still, I studied Stin'ul out of the corner of my eye, hoping to catch a slip up once he thought no one paid any attention.
“Well, if that is all, it is time to dismiss.” Master Akai scanned the room, waiting only moments before nodding and standing.
The others followed his lead, rising and gathering their things. Sounds of rustling fabric, low conversations, and the scuffing of chairs drew Grace out of wherever her mind had drifted off to while I’d been playing a game with Stin’ul. Her head jerked around, and she started to stand, but I reached out, laying a hand on her arm before she got more than halfway to standing.
She looked at me with obvious questions in her eyes, but lowered herself back down and folded her hands in her lap. I shifted until I could lean over and whisper in her ear.
“Don’t let others walk at your back if you can help it, particularly these Reapers,” I murmured, inclining my head towards the fleeing Masters.
“Oh,” she breathed out, then turned to watch the procession leaving the room.
When all of them were out of sight, I finally stood, touching Grace on the shoulder. She jumped, but when she spotted me standing beside her, she shot me a sheepish grin and rose from the chair.
“A moment, Zella,” Master Akai said, never looking up from his ferrule.
“Of course, Master Akai.” I turned to Grace, preparing to instruct her to wait outside by the door, but he preempted me.
“Liaison Grace should stay as well,” he announced, and after one more swipe across the ferrule, he looked up.
His scrutinizing gaze scanned both of us, his lips tightening when he found the dirt on Grace’s cloak, but he said nothing. His eyes slid away from us to take in the open door, then darted back to me.
“How have things been going on a personal level? I received your message, but I’m afraid I couldn’t drop in. I believed I would have a visitor, but they canceled at the last moment. Pity.” His tone carried warmth and apologies, but his eyes were piercing and conveyed something much harder.
“It is not an issue. We only wished to check on you using the guise of a meal. All ended as it should have, though. Poor Kian became ill, so it would have been canceled, anyway.” I waved a hand and lifted a single shoulder. “He is on the mend, so no need to worry over him.”
Master Akai’s right eyebrow developed a spasm, and it jumped over and over. His bony, weathered fingers pressed on the spot and rubbed while he nodded. “Sounds like an eventful set. Do you know what caused him to become ill? It wouldn’t do for the contagion to spread, particularly knowing how few sicknesses can affect Reapers at all.”