He leaned closer, his breath whispering across her face. "I am full of surprises. I'd be happy to show you."
He leaned back and waited.
"Why do I get the feeling your surprises might be more than I can handle?" she asked.
His smile was slow and wicked. "You can handle me, coli. I promise."
Kira ignored the innuendo in that statement, though it was hard. Part of her wanted to take him up on the offer, if only to see if they'd burn as hot and bright as she suspected.
"You were good with the children today," she said instead.
He made a sound of amusement, guessing exactly what she was doing. "I understand what they're going through. I was in much the same situation when I was their age."
"Did your parents die in the Sorrowing?"
There was a strained silence, Graydon's gaze growing distant as painful memories surfaced. "No, they died much earlier."
"What were they like?" Kira asked.
A sad smile touched his mouth. "My mother was soft-spoken, quiet. She let my father lead, unless something threatened me, then she was a fierce foe."
"They were both warriors?" Kira asked. This was a different side of Graydon, softer, more inviting.
"Yes. They were oshota, the overlord's personal warriors," he said, his voice wistful. He reached up and tugged on a lock of Kira's hair, straightening the wavy piece only to release it and watch with fascination as it sprang back.
"They died protecting their overlord during an assassination attempt. The overlord and many others survived. They did not," Graydon said, an ache in his voice.
Kira's lips parted. She held in what she wanted to say, unsure what words were fitting in the face of his very real pain, even after all this time.
She didn't know what that was like. She'd never had parents to miss. In the compound where she’d been held, such things didn't exist. By the time she was rescued by Himoto, the concept of parents and family seemed more fairy tale than anything else.
Still, she'd seen other families since, had friends who filled that spot in her heart. She knew what it was to lose those you cared about.
"I was luckier than Joule and Ziva, the overlord’s brother was a friend of my father. He took me in, trained me as my father would have," Graydon said.
"Why didn't you remain with him?" Kira asked.
A grin flashed. "I wasn't born to follow."
"That's obvious," Kira said. Graydon would always be the biggest, baddest thing in the room. She hesitated on this next question. “Did you know my parents?”
As the Emperor’s Face, he would probably have had contact with them at some point—unless his position was a more recent development. Two hundred might seem old to her, but for his people he was probably still considered young.
His thumb brushed the edge of her hand. Quiet stretched between them. “I was more of a passing acquaintance of them,” he finally said. “Your father is more familiar to me than your mother.”
“What was he like?”
Graydon paused as he considered the right words. “Kinder than you’d expect. He was an overlord, but he didn’t let that turn him cruel. He was playful, but when he was mad, he was scarier than even a lu-ong mother protecting her unhatched eggs.”
That sounded like more than passing familiarity with her father. There was nostalgia in his voice, almost as if he missed him. Had Graydon been her father’s friend?
Sensing her eyes on him, he straightened and cleared his throat. “Anyway, the emperor noticed me during my adva ka and gave me a new path. It is a good one."
Kira let him change the subject. She knew how painful it could be to speak about the people you’ve lost.
“They call you the Emperor’s Face. Why is that?”
He was quiet as he thought over her question. She didn’t take offense, knowing he was struggling to put into words something their people intuitively knew.
“The emperor cannot be everywhere at once. This is especially true after the Sorrowing because his travel now carries an element of risk to it. And yet, being fully absent would invite strife.”
“I take it that’s where you come in,” Kira said.
He inclined his head as one corner of his lips tilted up. “Indeed. There are several Faces. I’m just one of them. A Face acts in the emperor’s stead. They forsake their birth House in favor of the emperor’s. For all intents and purposes, they are his face and if needed, they can guide or punish with the full authority of his name and might. They are both generals and mediators. Diplomats and warriors.”
His words stole Kira’s next question as she stared at him in shock.
“That’s a lot of power,” she finally got out.
“Yes, it’s why it’s rare for him to bestow that responsibility on another,” Graydon said. “I’m one of five current Faces.”
“Why accept a position as dangerous as that?” Kira asked.
“Our people have begun to let House loyalties divide them. It might one day lead to our downfall.”
“And you want to fix all that?” she asked.
He made a rumbling sound of assent.
“How noble.”
“What is your end goal?” he asked.
“Survival.”
He made a soft sound of skepticism. “Somehow I don’t see you being a salvager for long.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And you know this from all the time you’ve spent with me?”
“I don’t need to spend a century to learn all I need to know.”
Kira crossed her arms, her spine pressing against his arm. “Enlighten me, oh knowledgeable one.”
He took the touch as an invitation, brushing her cheek with his fingers.
“Your loyalty, once earned isn’t easily lost. It’s the bedrock of your foundation. I also know you wouldn’t have left your humans for so long if there wasn’t a damn good reason. You’re lonely, but you’ve given up on ever finding your place. Sorrow clings to you like a shroud, but you haven’t let it turn you bitter.”
His eyes roved over her face, searching, seeing. Kira held her breath as his words reached deep inside, leaving her feeling vulnerable and exposed.
“You need purpose or else you will eventually wither and die. I don’t know what drove you into exile, but you’ve begun to heal. When you do, you will be ready to take risks again,” he said.
Kira wanted to look away, but knew if she did, he’d take it as a sign he was right. There’d be no escaping him then.
“That’s a lot of guesswork,” she said, pulling back from his touch and turning to where the moonlight bathed the forest.
“I’m right,” he said, not an ounce of humbleness in his tone.
Kira kept quiet, her expression turning pensive as she stared out at the splendor around them.
“I forgot how beautiful nighttime is,” she said.
The moons were high overhead, full and round as they dominated the sky. They looked close enough to touch.
Kira made a small sound of interest as a small furry face peered out of the branches of a tree, green stripes glowing on its fur as it wound its way through the canopy, searching out blooms Kira realized were now unfolding.