KINSMAN’S OATH By Susan Krinard

The decision had been taken out of her hands. VelShaan had buried Tyr, but not deeply enough. Like a supernatural creature out of ancient myth, he rose again from the dead.

Poor Cynara. Tyr wouldn’t pity himself the way she did. Her petty fears simply didn’t matter anymore.

“Ronan,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”

He blinked, his forehead creased in pain. “What?”

“You were right,” she said. “My mind did hold information about the Pegasus. You were meant to find it… when we joined just before crossing the border.”

Comprehension flooded his eyes. “Planted… for me.”

“False information intended for the Kinsmen who used you.” She leaned forward, trying to make him understand. “It was my doing, Ronan. Lord Miklos, Mes Carter VelShaan, and I discussed the idea just after I returned to Persephone and learned of the incident with the Archon. VelShaan removed from my mind any technical knowledge specifically related to the slingshot drive. It was done to make sure that the Kinsmen couldn’t steal it if we fell into their hands. But she also erased my memory of the secondary plan—to provide any Kinsman interrogators with planted intelligence they’d have every reason to believe was genuine.”

“As I must believe.”

“The only way to make the plan work was if you were also convinced, and—”

“You anticipated that I would attempt to steal this information because of what I did on the Pegasus.”

He turned his anger inward, and that hurt far worse than bearing it herself. “I know you didn’t take anything then, or before when we were together on Dharma. But I had to make sure you did this time. Since telepathic bonds are most acute during sex—”

“You initiated mating so that I would penetrate your shields, discover this information, and accept it as truth.”

“I didn’t remember what I was supposed to do, any more than you remembered that you were supposed to assassinate the Archon. The difference is that I… truly wanted what we shared, Ronan.”

He seemed not to hear. “Did you believe I would go to the Kinsmen?”

“We knew that you’d go directly to Aitu if given a choice, that your first loyalty was still to Kalevi. But we also assumed that once you’d entered shaauri territory, Kinsmen would eventually find a way to question you. If you reached your shaauri before them, you might find allies who would give you some protection and compel the Kinsmen to compromise.” She almost smiled at the irony. “And I’d be with you.”

“In the past, you did not accept that I had friends among Kalevii.”

“But you always believed in them. I’ve finally begun to understand why. Sihvaaro won’t give you up without a fight. If Constano and his crew behave as we predicted, they’ll insist on questioning you but won’t find it so easy to make you disappear.”

“There is no predicting what Lenko will do.”

“We couldn’t know that your personal enemy would be running this place.”

Ronan bent his head, deep in concentration. “You were not meant to remember this plan within a plan.”

“I underestimated… the effect deep mental sharing between us would have on my memory.”

“Yet you tried many times since our arrival to discourage me from giving information of humans to Lenko, even to preserve your life.”

“When you mentioned going to the War-Leader with your suspicions about the Kinsmen, I was afraid. You didn’t have real proof of their disloyalty, and I truly didn’t believe you had anything else to offer.” She wrung her hands in her lap, struggling to reach him. “We want the same thing, Ronan—to expose these Kinsmen if they’re acting for themselves against shaauri interests.”

“By making us both Concordat tools.”

“It was the only way to get the assassination charges dropped and secure your release from Persephone. I didn’t trust Damon. I knew you must despise what the Kinsmen had done to you. Lord Miklos wanted to let you go, but he needed a reason. And you needed the freedom to face your own demons without Challinor threats hanging over your head.”

Ronan laughed softly. ‘Then Lord Miklos’s last words to me were untrue.”

“Not completely. He’s still unsure of you and the part you were intended to play. But he was willing to try this, for your sake and for the Concordat.”

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