Page 110 of The Eye of the Fifth
She just prayed that her people and family could do the same.
Chapter Thirty One
One Tender Touch
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The Thilene, Loros.
Kyra.
A week had passed since one of the Eternal’s hawks had landed on theThilene,frightening the life out of the raiders, just as it had done to Kyra the first time she’d encountered one.
It seemed that Kyra was not the only one keeping secrets.
Naal had still not told her what had been in the message it had delivered. Kyra hadn’t pushed the matter, though her curiosity was near bursting at the seams. What could have been in the message that Naal would not want to share with her?
Or perhaps it was simply none of her business.
Even if that were the case, she was beginning to resent the Air Warden’s silence.
Though silent she wasnotwhen it came to pushing Kyra’s relationship with Kawai. Kyra hadn’t had the heart to tell her the story Kawai had told her. It didn’t feel right to share… however, it might have gotten Naal off her back if she knew.
Or maybe she already knew. And just didn’t care.
It didn’t seem likely… Naal was driven by logic and a quest for greater good, sometimes painfully so, but she wasn’t cruel. Or cold-hearted.
She just lacked a little empathy at times.
Hovering at her shoulder, she was surprisingly quiet as they both looked down at the raiders working to distribute gold to the poor in the little harbour.
Kyra wondered how long it would be before she received another gentle reminder to gain Kawai’s trust. As if she needed reminding.
It was all she had been able to think about. Because shehadbeen successful after that telling conversation at the bow of the ship, and somehow, though it had been terse at first, they had become unlikely friends.
It had become a habit to spar with him once a day. He actually kept her on her toes: for his wide frame, he was surprisingly adept with a sword. She was grateful for it too, for she was painfully out of practice since leaving Avaldale. Most of her attention had been focused on her magic rather than how quickly she could bring a man to his knees with just the sheer power of her body alone.
She’d also fallen into the not-so-healthy routine of drinking to excess with Kawai, Jak and Boony on deck most nights. She was sure Naal certainly didn’t approve of that, though she hadn’t voiced the opinion. But those times, with an ale in hand, laughing at Jak’s naivety, or playing drinking games until she had to tap out and stumble back to the cabin before she toppled over the side of the ship, was when she was happiest. When she felt the most… normal.
It was as though she were back drinking a bottle of Sarlalian red with Rosary in that shithole of a house in Avaldale. She hadn’t thought she would ever miss it… but she ached for it every day.
Drinking with Kawai and his friends softened that ache.
She hadn’t mentioned Kano again. Selfishly because it would mean jeopardising this unexpected joy she had found in the raider’s company, but also because part of her completely understood his desperation to keep his brother’s location a secret.
For she would do the same for her siblings in a heartbeat. Even for Dovella, who was about as pleasant as a fucking sand snake.
She watched Kawai in the harbour of the islet now, laughing with a native older man as he laid the large burlap sack filled with gold and expensive trinkets at his feet. Families looked on with hungry eyes, no doubt wondering how much the raiders had brought them.
Anything would be enough to put food in the bellies of their children.
Kyra had teased Kawai about being a raider when they first met. She’d called him a thief. But she’d seen with her own eyes what he and his vigilante crew were doing for the people stuck at the bottom of the food chain under the king’s rule, and could now admit it was a far cry from dishonourable.
A girl, no older than four and clutching a ragged toy cat to her chest, shyly approached Kawai. He smiled widely and crouched to her level, beckoning her closer. After a quick glance at her mother just a few paces behind, who nodded encouragingly, she stepped toward him. He thrust his arm into the sack, mouth moving fast as he spoke to her in the native language, then pulled out an ornate pearl hair clip. She looked up at him with big, wondrous eyes, and asked him something. As if in response, he pushed the forked clip into her dark hair where it sat too big, but beautifully above her ear.
She didn’t smile. Instead, she mumbled something else and tried to take the clip out, but Kawai gently guided her hand away from it and pulled the burlap sack shut. He pressed a finger to his lips and winked.
Now, the girl positively beamed. She gushed athank youin her native tongue, then ran back to her mother to show her what the kind raider had given her. The mother nodded to Kawai, and though her face was grateful, it was also imbued with sadness.
