Most of all, he wanted to tell her that as soon as she’d mentioned passing her off to someone else, a resounding “not bloody likely” had gone through his head. There was no way in hell Jaxton was going to toss her aside.
She wasn’t quite sure how they’d devolved into yet another argument, but Kiarra had hit a nerve, and while she knew Jaxton was nothing like the AMT staff, Kiarra was too fired up to back down. Instead, she’d use the opportunity to get some answers. “Since you claim to be different, answer me this: what will you do with me once we find the information you’re looking for?”
Jaxton said nothing at first, but just when Kiarra was trying to think of how to keep a grip on the situation, the corner of Jaxton’s mouth rose and he said, “My sister seems to think I should ask you questions rather than just assume answers. So, what would you like to do once we finish with Sinclair?”
Kiarra blinked. She hadn’t expected that response. “I want to continue working with DEFEND and help the first-borns. I have a lot of information that could be useful.”
“If we succeed with Sinclair, finding the leak that we need, then that is quite possible.”
She felt a glimmer of hope in her chest, but a question nibbled at the back of her mind. “What if Ty succeeds in capturing me? What will you do then?”
Jaxton’s eyes narrowed. “Who is Ty?”
Her calm and collected façade slipped. Jaxton was volatile enough tonight; she didn’t need to add fuel to the fire by telling him about Ty. But he tightened his grip on her shoulders and growled, “Kiarra? Answer me. Who is Ty?”
She’d never told anyone about her experiences with Ty, and it weighed heavy on her heart. But she was still wary of trusting another person to not use her past against her.
Yet Jaxton had told Kiarra about what had happened with Garrett, and if she confided in him as well, she knew something inside of her would shift. She resisted it, because of what Ty had done to her, but from everything she’d learned about Jaxton, he was different. The relationship he had with his brother and sister told Kiarra more about Jaxton than he would probably ever realize. From the evidence she’d seen so far, Jaxton would’ve stood up for Kiarra whereas Ty’s ambitions had taken precedence.
But she wanted to hear the answer to her question before taking such a giant leap of faith. “First, answer my question. What would you do if he captured me?”
“I’m tired of this game, Kiarra.”
Kiarra raised an eyebrow and forced herself to remain patient. Jaxton was unaware that his answer would dictate how she viewed him from this point forward.
Jaxton relaxed his grip and sighed. “After seeing what they’ve done to you, both physically with the scars and emotionally, I would never allow you to go back and rot inside the AMT. I can’t promise to move heaven and earth to get you out, but I would bloody well try as hard as I could.”
Jaxton’s eyes were sincere, and she liked that he hadn’t given her some hyperbolic answer such as never sleeping until he found her or conquering armies to free her. To her, the simplicity spoke of honesty, and she believed that he would try to rescue her if she were captured. No matter how difficult it might be for her talk about it, if Ty did succeed in finding her, Jaxton needed to know about him.
Kiarra took a deep breath and said, “Ty Adams was the researcher assigned to me. He developed a formula that, after he injected me for years with different prototypes, eventually succeeded.
“His formula is the reason I can’t gather fire. I was his first success story, and invaluable to both him and his superiors. They see me as central to erasing all elemental magic and allowing Feiru to fully integrate with the human world.”
Jaxton remained silent and studied her face. Kiarra tried to keep her emotions hidden, but Jaxton must’ve seen something, because he asked, “What else did he do to you?”
For most people, ten years would’ve been more than long enough to get over a former lover. But Ty had done something much more than break her heart. He had broken her spirit.
Kiarra felt a brush of fingers on her cheek, and unaware that she’d closed her eyes, opened them. She was afraid that she would see pity in Jaxton’s eyes, but all she saw was concern and kindness.
So many people in the past few days had been kind to her. Between their kindness, memories of Ty, and the effects of the alcohol, she felt overloaded. Her vision began to blur, and she tried to blink away the tears. She did not want to cry in front of Jaxton.
Jaxton stroked her cheek again and asked, “Is he related to the scars on your back?”
Jaxton hated to see anyone on the verge of tears, but it was so much worse with Kiarra. She’d been strong for so many years inside the AMT, was still getting stronger by the day, and Kiarra’s display of weakness and vulnerability unleashed a mixture of feelings. While he wanted to hunt down Ty Adams and make him pay for Kiarra’s pain, Kiarra needed him right here, right now.
He continued to brush Kiarra’s cheek, and she slowly started to lean into his hand. She still hadn’t answered his question, so he cupped her cheek and tilted her head up toward his eyes. He was gentle, yet firm, when he asked, “Is he?”
Their faces were inches apart, and Jaxton could feel Kiarra’s breath on his chin. Kiarra’s cheeks were flushed, her breathing fast. When she started to speak, it took every bit of his self-control to focus on her words and not to look at her lips.
“Yes. Ty and I were together about a year. But once the guards found out about our relationship, Ty tossed me aside. I was accused of seducing him, even though he was the one to start it, and I was punished accordingly.”
“Bollocks.”
Her eyes widened. “You don’t believe me?”
“I believe that a spineless worm of a man used you for his own selfish purposes—but, pet, there is no way you could’ve seduced him.”
“And why is that?”