Cynara was profoundly grateful that she was not prone to tears. ‘Thank you, Lord Miklos.”
“I’ll also supervise the questioning myself. I trust you will find this satisfactory, Ser Ronan?”
Ronan inclined his head. “I hold you in great respect, Aino’Kei Miklos Challinor,” he said. “I will cooperate.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been given such a sincere compliment.” Miklos rose and extended his hand to Cynara. “Rest assured that I will have a detailed report for you on your next return to Persephone, which I presume will be soon. No matter what we discover, your friend will be given fair and humane treatment, and all the circumstances of his life will be considered.”
If Ronan was a shaauri agent—God forbid—he meant that judgment would be tempered by compassion for what he had suffered as a child among them. He would be confined but wouldn’t face the severe punishment he could be dealt on Dharma, or if Ser Janek had the deciding of his fate.
She met Miklos’s gaze. “If I believed for an instant that he was truly betraying my crew and the Alliance, I would never have brought him here.”
“I know.” He clasped her hand. “I look forward to a more thorough and leisurely discussion when you return to Persephone, Captain. Perhaps next time you can bring Jesper with you.”
“Perhaps.” She squeezed his fingers and released his hand. “I hope that one day I can repay the debt we owe you.”
“Perhaps you have already done so. Continue in your mission with the same level of courage and commitment, and you will more than requite any obligation.” He turned to Ronan. “Ronan, I’ll escort you to your quarters. Any questions you may have will be answered before debriefing begins.”
“I understand.”
“Then I will wait outside.” He nodded to Cynara and strode to the door his men guarded, leaving her and Ronan alone.
“You are satisfied?” Ronan asked softly.
“Satisfied?” She banged the back of the chair with her fist. “I won’t be satisfied until you’re cleared and… life returns to normal.”
“What is normal, Cynara?” He moved closer, bathing her in his warmth. “To risk your life evading shaauri whose only purpose is to kill you? To hold yourself apart from others who would give you what your heart desires?”
She smiled. Her chest ached, and she didn’t care what vulnerability she revealed to him now. “Even I don’t know what that is anymore.”
“You will find it.” He touched her hand, so small a gesture and yet so charged with emotion. She wanted him, and he wanted her, and it was impossible.
“How do they say good-bye in Voishaaur, Ronan?”
“There are many ways. ‘Sil akai’ means ‘With the Ancestors.’ It indicates a final parting. ‘Kei’lai’ is said to be’laik’i when they leave on Walkabout. It means ‘Fortunate Path.’ Once a youth has selected, she seldom leaves her House or Line permanently. Among kin, shaauri say ‘Tan uri-kah.’ ‘Until we are whole again.'”
“And which kind of parting is this?”
“I do not know, Aho’Va. Because we are human, our Paths can never be certain.”
“I think I prefer—” He caught her words with his mouth, kissing her with heartbreaking tenderness. It was as if he truly believed they would never meet again.
With the Ancestors.
She returned his kiss almost angrily, wanting to punish him, make it impossible for him to forget what they had shared. Yet she had been the one to raise the corrosive doubts and build bitter walls.
He had forgiven her.
“No good-byes, then,” she said, stepping back. “On Dharma we say ‘safetide.’ It comes from the days when all Dharmans, great or small, made their livings from the sea. It still holds true in space.”
“Care well for yourself, Cynara,” he said, stroking her cheek.
“And you.” She turned abruptly and strode for the door, clenching her jaw to dam her tears. Miklos politely averted his gaze until she had overcome her weakness. His men had retreated to the far end of the antechamber.
“I knew a woman once,” Miklos said, “who would gladly have sacrificed everything she possessed for the man she loved. And he would have done the same. In fact, one might say they both sacrificed everything for love—of each other, of their people, and of peace.”