“I don't relish that reality, but I've learned its truth. Goodbye, Ms. Stiles. May you find as much wisdom as you have conviction.”
Kira stole in a shuddering breath.
She'd made a terrible mistake talking to this man.
In the evening, Kira sat with Adelle in a dining room so large and full of such exquisite decor that it felt painfully empty with only the two of them here. Though Kira only saw the High General this once in the afternoon, he did come home many nights. She just never encountered him. Late at night, Adelle disappeared upstairs, and a few times, Kira heard the low tone of a male voice. There were several entrances to the large estate, so he likely used a more private one to avoid her.
Still, Adelle must feel lonely being on her own all day. Did she stay for Kira, or did she always spend this much time at home? It felt like Kira was not the only one under house arrest.
“Are you okay?” Adelle watched her. Already, Kira had become accustomed to that sweet voice of hers and the comfort it brought.
She nodded.
“I hope my husband didn't scare you. He didn't want me around when he talked to you.” Her brows pinched while she cut the grilled chicken on her plate. “I tried to keep an eye from inside the house.”
How did Adelle stand living with such a man?
“You can talk openly with me,” Adelle said. “I live in a house of complicated emotions.”
“You really do.” Kira looked up at her. “Are you happy?”
That wasn't the question she expected to ask first, but she realized it was what she wanted to know most. The thought of Adelle suffering in silence hurt too badly to consider.
“Happiness might be as complicated as my family.” The quiet chuckle didn't sound sad, but rather full of wisdom. “I'm happy, and I'm not, like everyone. There's a great deal in my life that I love and a great deal I do not.”
This bordered on the kind of conversation Zayne warned her to avoid indoors. As if noticing the anxiety tensing her body, Adelle lowered her voice.
“Did my son tell you to be careful what you say inside?”
Her heart picked up. She didn't confirm anything but just stared.
“He's very cautious. Very protective.” With a sigh, Adelle put down her silverware. “So is my husband. There's no recording devices in the house. Brandon ensures that.”
“Then why—”
“Because Zayne gets scared, too. Even if he doesn't show it the way we do.”
The smaller hands scratching at the glass of Dr. Cooper's tank cut into her heart. “I'm starting to see that.”
“With the biggest things, we'll listen to him, but it's safe to talk to me here. You might be surprised at how much Brandon knows about me.”
He knew compromising information about his wife. Zayne and Adelle clearly carried dangerous secrets, but did the High General as well? For her entire life, Kira assumed the Rivens to not just be the most powerful family in the empire, but the most loyal and devoted too.
They appeared that way in every regard.
At least until moving into their house.
“I'm full.” Adelle stretched. “Let's walk before we lose our daylight, and it gets cold.”
Together, they cleared the table and then walked down the hallway toward the sliding glass door. Adelle paused at the pictures lining the wall, touching her finger to the round cheeks of her daughter when she was a toddler.
“I never had enough time with them at home before the Phaedra took them.” A step forward, and she looked at a picture of all three children. Kira stared at Zayne, searching for the man she knew in the young gray-blue eyes. The brothers each held one of their sister's hands, the three walking down a woodsy path Kira recognized.
Andi, possibly three in the picture, smiled widely at the camera with her eyes sparkling. Zayne didn't smile, but he didn't frown either. He looked like he might have been around ten. That meant five years at the Academy learning all the things that mattered to the empire, like reading, writing, arithmetic, and killing effectively.
Luke towered over them both, a teenager who already wore his father's eyes. But he did smile softly, and to her surprise, looked at his brother.
“I never forgot to love those moments,” Adelle whispered, longing eyes on her three children. “I knew what was coming.”
