Page 50 of The Silent
“But you don’ttrustthem?”
“You think I don’t have reason to doubt?” Ginny asked. “Did you see your sisters slaughtered by Grigori? Have you seen whole families wiped out from their savagery? I’ve felt their blood spill hot on my hands after they raped and killed my sister, soyou tell me. Should I give them magic that could make them even more powerful? I’m glad it’s so easy for youtoknow.”
Leo heard movement at the edge of the garden. Sura and Kyra stood near the pond, clearly having overheard Ginny’s devastating words. Sura’s eyes were wet with grief. Kyra’s face wasstricken.
Ginny stared at them, then she stood and walked toward the temple withoutaword.
“Kyra.” Leostood.
She was shaking her head. “It’s not going to work. It’s not fair for anyone, Leo. We can’t ask them toaccept—”
“Wecan!”
“No.” She turned and walked toward theforestpath.
Leo started after her, but Sura grabbed his arm. Leo was surprised at the iron grip of thesmallerman.
“Wait,” Sura said. “Think about what she’s saying before you gotoher.”
Leo wrenched his arm away. “Do you think she’sright?”
“No. I think union between Irin and Grigori brings healing. But healing can bepainful.”
Leo could still hear Ginny’s footsteps on the gravel. He could hear Kyra walking through thebamboo.
“I’ll try to talk to Ginny if you think it will help,” Sura said quietly. “I don’t want to cause her moregrief.”
“I don’t know her well enough to know what is right. Perhaps you should talk toAlyah.”
Sura nodded and walked toward thediningroom.
Leo took a deep breath and headed toward the cottages. He wasn’t willing to give up. Not when she was finally giving him achance.
* * *
He marchedto her cottage and paused before he knocked. He didn’t want to barge in like the tank his brothers joked about, but he wanted to take some action to make everything better. Fight something. Break something. Get everyone laughing. He was good at thosethings.
Leo knew this wasn’t a problem that could be fixedthatway.
Think about what she’s saying before you gotoher.
Kyra had lived in secrecy, watching her brothers killed by those of Leo’s kind, often after they had already turned away from preying on humans. By all rights, she should be terrified of him. Irin law had been black-and-white. Irin good. Grigori bad. There had never been any nuanceallowed.
With good reason, from the Irin perspective. Grigori had slaughtered their families, wiping out eighty percent of their women and children in the Rending. Irin society had been torn apart for hundreds of years and was changing now only by increments. Layer upon layer of trust had to be rebuilt. Between Irin and Irina. Between free Grigori and wary scribes. And trust between free Grigori andIrina?
Did you see your sisters slaughtered by Grigori? Should I give them magic that could make them even morepowerful?
Perhaps they were asking theimpossible.
Frustrated, Leo turned and sat on the top step of Kyra’s porch. He sat there, looking at the moon and feeling the weight of Kyra’s sorrow in the back of his mind. He didn’t know how he felt it, but he did. He could feel her pain. Feel herhopelessness.
He tangled his hands in his hair and gripped hard, wishing he could take her pain into his own body and knowing that every moment that ticked by could beherlast.
The thought of it pushed him towardmadness.
Her door opened, and Kyra came and sat beside him, being careful not to touch. “You aren’t shielding your thoughtsverywell.”
“I have nothing to hidefromyou.”
