Threshold of Annihilation (The Firebird Chronicles #3) - T.A. White Page 0,49
the emperor's youngest Face. Had Elena not stumbled into him, this trip could very well have ended in a resounding defeat.
Graydon didn't even remember the last time that had happened.
A sharp inhalation told Graydon that Wren finally saw why he'd changed the hunt's prey.
Wren's gaze was locked on the girl as if she was the only thing that existed in the universe. He looked to be barely breathing.
For the first time since Graydon had known him, he seemed off-balance, losing some of that iron-clad control. To strangers, he would still resemble an unfathomable stone statue, but to those who knew him, his emotional state was clear.
Though moments had passed, he looked like he'd aged decades, seemingly lost and adrift—but behind it all was a thinly veiled hope. As if every wish he'd ever had was standing right in front of Graydon. If he blinked, that mirage might crumble, leaving him cold and alone again.
"Graydon?" There was a question in Wren's voice—tentative, unsure.
"Yes." Even as Graydon inclined his head, there was a warning in his expression. This wasn't the time or place for this conversation.
Wren flinched, catching Graydon’s meaning.
Sound from below forced Wren to swallow what he'd planned to say. By the time Raider appeared over the edge, Wren's expression had reverted to his normal stoicism, leaving not even a hint of the turbulence of before.
"Sperm donor, you're quite persistent," Elena teased as Raider climbed onto the roof.
Wren's gaze snapped from Elena to Raider again. "Sperm donor?"
No one answered.
Wren studied Raider for several long seconds before shooting a glance in Graydon's direction. "I submit my name to be considered as his formal seon'yer."
"I thought you’d say that."
"Then you accept?"
Graydon inclined his head. "As long as he agrees."
Wren stared at Raider with a determined expression. "I'll see that he does."
Raider ignored the exchange, instead focusing on his daughter.
"Where's your aunt?" Raider asked.
Elena tilted her head, not even the apparent innocence in her wide eyes quite able to hide her displeasure. "Is that how you greet your long-lost daughter?"
Raider froze.
Silence filled the rooftop, only disrupted as Graydon's oshota, Wren's among them, landed arranged in a circle around them.
Elena startled. "How did you do that?"
Amila grinned. "Practice, little one."
"Can you teach me?" Elena asked, channeling a little girl's excitement again.
Amila's chin dipped as she tried to restrain her amusement. "Perhaps one day."
Elena pouted.
"How is this possible?" one of Wren's oshota asked, staring at the girl like she'd seen a ghost.
"Auralyn," Wren barked.
She startled, looking in his direction with a lost expression.
"Not here," he said.
"But—" As if drawn by a magnet, Auralyn's gaze was pulled to Elena again.
"Discipline," Wren ground out.
Auralyn jerked like he'd struck her, but the reminder worked. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, her expression was composed and still, the previous emotion gone as if it had never been.
Graydon couldn't help but admire their control. But then, he hadn't really expected any less of someone of Wren's status and rank.
"I don't suppose I can trust you to stay put," Graydon said.
Elena flashed him a look, nearly identical to the one Kira got when she thought someone had asked a stupid question.
That was what he'd thought.
Graydon snagged her wrist, sliding a bracelet over it. He pressed his thumb to the clasp, satisfied when a spark of warmth slid into his hand.
"What's this?" Elena asked, shaking her wrist.
"Insurance."
Elena raised her eyes to his.
"As long as you're wearing that, one of us will always know where you are," he informed her.
Her face was a picture of indignant insult as she glanced up at Raider. "Are you going to let him do this to me?"
Raider pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but yes, I think I am."
*
"What are you doing?" Jin asked as Kira fled past pit crews and dodged around landing racers.
"The contact reached out. We've got a meet."
Baran barreled after her, barely avoiding getting clipped in the head by a returning racer in the process.
"And I suppose they don't want any of our friends butting in."
"You suppose right." Kira ducked under the waveboard of a landing racer. Its heat nearly singed her hair as she rolled away from it.
"Why can't things ever be easy?" Jin asked.
Kira would really like to know that as well.
This wasn't the plan. Graydon wasn't supposed to recognize her. He wasn't supposed to send people to retrieve her. And she wasn't supposed to run from them.