Page 12 of Seasons of War
Damn it, not her.
“Kira Stiles,” his father said. “Daughter of Rebecka Stiles. Known alias, Becka Rogers.”
The weight of Edwards' body returned to his chest. Couldn't breathe.
“Give us full control over her.” His father stared down at Kira with the detached eyes of a man who'd spent his life destroying the innocent for the Phaedra. “She'll trust you because you can never help caring. Use that trust.” That expectant stare shifted to Zayne. “You must be strong and do what needs to be done.”
“Yes, father.” Zayne's voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. So calm and so cold. So devoid of the panic rampaging through his chest. “The Phaedra can always count on me.”
He'd never forgotten what Kira had done. People rarely surprised Zayne, but she did. That night, she used the PXI to etch her fire in the sky, writing her revolution in the color of blood. Not the kind that trickled, but that gushed from deep within, from places best kept untouched and hidden away. Kira bled her spirit dry for all of Kallum to see, and the dark of her blood burned desperately over the Phaedra's tower.
And now his father demanded that Zayne manipulate and use and crush her.
The Phaedra would wring the beautiful life from her spirit.
Zayne would never allow Kira to trust him. Though he'd never hurt her, opening her heart up to him was too dangerous with how cleverly their emperor schemed.
That meant sabotaging his own mission with the High General and the Phaedra watching.
His father clutched his shoulder, squeezing. “This is unpleasant work. I know you can manage, though.”
Rage melded with panic and dread in a dangerous brew that threatened his disciplined demeanor. He lived his life hiding in plain sight, expertly managing what others saw when they looked at him. A few minutes into this operation, and already Zayne felt like losing control.
No one could save Kira from the focus of the Phaedra's obsession and the most highly guarded prison in the empire, but he refused to accept that. Refused to abandon her to the tortured fate awaiting her.
Kira's eyes lifted to the observation window, and, though she couldn't see the other side, it felt like she peeled back time, tore his goggles free that winter night, and looked directly into his soul.
CHAPTER 3
Kira
The Capital
Kallum, Ciondo
833 P.C. [Post-Collapse]
“Panic kills.”
Kira repeated the words to herself so many times that they lost all meaning. Her mother had whispered it to her their last night together as they hid from the soldiers, listening to their creaking footsteps overhead. Even though Kira struggled to remember Mom's voice, those words never left. They always saved her.
Today, though… Today, Kira failed to stop that absolute horror from rushing through her veins. She needed to keep moving. Keep stalking around the empty, white room.
When the soldiers ambushed her in the market yesterday, she thought for sure the Phaedra had finally figured out she'd written in the sky above his tower. But when she arrived at the prison, an officer kept interrogating her about her mom and some military operation with the Followers. Insane. Kira knewnothing about it.
If she possessed the ability to laugh without falling into a heap of sobs, then she'd laugh hysterically that she ended up in prison for anything other than what the Phaedra called one of the greatest crimes of the century. Which, what kind of joke was that? Writing a message in the sky didn't compare to the atrocities he and his soldiers committed. But as much as it frightened Kira to think of how she'd infuriated their tyrant emperor, she carried his rage as her only badge of honor. Kira did that. Kira threatened his power over the people.
The pursuit started as a hobby in the children's home. The house mothers and instructors praised her for the interest she showed in science and math. When she began tinkering with drones, they gave her all the time and resources she wanted to study. But once Kira saw the power of chemistry, autonomous drones, and Pixi Dust, she pretended to lose interest. Because she knew she'd found a weapon against the Phaedra, and she needed to avoid suspicion. All that helped her to write in his sky and to continue devising ways to use Pixi Dust against him. Despite being so careful, Kira always expected she might end up in this prison.
But she was here because of a totally different reason?
Absurd.
It didn't distract from the fact that they'd torture her indefinitely for something she knew nothing about. No one who entered this prison left. It was inside the military base, beneath the shadow of the Phaedra's tower. The most secure facility in all the empire.
What about her friends? They'd never stop looking for her. Fearing for her. Especially not Elijah.
If the Phaedra didn't know about Kira's subterfuge, then she needed to do whatever it took to keep it hidden.
