"We are," Silas said with a gentle smile. "You and your people have proven worthier than we could have ever hoped."
"Is this about the ships then?" Jace asked, his back straight and his expression guarded.
"No, you will get what you were promised," Silas said.
A sigh of relief came from the humans present. Kira watched and waited. She didn't feel easy just yet.
"However," Silas said. There it was. The catch. "They will not be as helpful as you think. They require an ability to manipulate soul's breath to power them. They're useless without it."
No one moved on Kira's side—the news freezing them in place.
Kira's stomach dipped sickeningly.
Humans needed those ships to fight off the Tsavitee. She wasn't going to be enough this time. The Tsavitee knew she was coming. They knew her strengths and weaknesses. There would be no advantage of surprise.
"We're willing to lend you the individuals needed to make them work," Silas said.
Hope leaped onto the faces of the Curs. Kira felt numb.
"You would?" Jace said, blinking rapidly.
"We would," Silas confirmed. "We just require one thing."
"What's that?" Raider asked, suspicion already on his face.
Silas bowed his head in confirmation.
Kira's gaze swung to her cousin. Liara was pale but looked a hundred times better than the last time Kira had seen her. "You released your claim on me. So much for trusting your word."
Liara met her eyes defiantly. She took a deep breath. "I will keep my word. However, there are subtleties you may not have considered."
Kira waited.
Silas leaned closer. "While your mother's people may have rescinded their claim on you, your father's did not."
Kira blinked rapidly at them, her gaze shifting to Jin. How had they not considered this possibility?
"Uh," Jin said dumbly. "That was not in your code of laws."
Silas's smile was small and humorless. "There are many codices. This is an old law, one rarely invoked since few are born with equal claims on multiple Houses."
"What does that mean?" Kira asked.
Graydon’s smirk said checkmate. "It means you're not going anywhere. You're ours, and we mean to keep you."
DISCOVER MORE BY T.A. WHITE
The Broken Lands Series
Mist’s Edge – Book Two
Wayfarer’s Keep – Book Three
The Dragon-Ridden Chronicles
Dragon-Ridden – Book One
Of Bone and Ruin – Book Two
Destruction’s Ascent – Book Three
Shifting Seas - Novella
The Aileen Travers Series
Shadow’s Messenger – Book One
Midnight’s Emissary – Book Two
Moonlight’s Ambassador – Book Three
Dawn’s Envoy – Book Four
Twitter: @tawhiteauthor
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Blog: http://dragon-ridden.blogspot.com/
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Writing is my first love. Even before I could read or put coherent sentences down on paper, I would beg the older kids to team up with me for the purpose of crafting ghost stories to share with our friends. This first writing partnership came to a tragic end when my coauthor decided to quit a day later and I threw my cookies at her head. This led to my conclusion that I worked better alone. Today, I stick with solo writing, telling the stories that would otherwise keep me up at night.
Most days (and nights) are spent feeding my tea addiction while defending the computer keyboard from my feline companions, Loki and Odin.