Page 14 of Guiding Reason
“Perhaps we could build this trust by you telling me about your suspicions then? Otherwise, I feel like you’re hiding things from me, Hyran.”
Hyran rubbed his eyes. “I’m doing this wrong, and I really want to do it right. All I want you to know is that I lived close to Linar and Durgo, and I don’t want what they had. I know I can’t change how I feel after the imprinting, and you might not want to change how you feel, but I hope there is a path—I just want to be with you, and I want you to want that. That’s all. I want you to not wake up calling another Guardian’s name. That’s really everything.” He looked at his feet. “I’m not above begging for any of that.”
When Hyran looked back up, Coldis’s mouth was a line pressed tight. “I told you, it was a dream. It has to be this Hound-fucking medication. It’s messing with me. It’s what made me cry over something as silly as a shirt.”
“I know. And I told you I didn’t mean to imprint upon you.”
“No Guardian ever does.”
“Wrong.”
Coldis opened his mouth, closed it. “True enough, Hyran. Why couldn’t Vin control you? I just remembered. During the fight, after you saved me, he tried and couldn’t.”
“Oh. I don’t really know. Psionics and illusions just don’t work on me.”
“That’s not a secondary power I know. And I meant to ask, what’s your secondary?”
Hyran shrugged. “Don’t have one unless you count that weird resistance. I just run really fast. I’m afraid that’s all you’re getting.”
Hyran was prepared for pity and dismissiveness. It was what he had encountered often enough.Isn’t a solo power more a lower-classer thing? I thought you were an A-classer,was what he’d heard most and had learned to shrug off or ignore. He’d blamed that for never really having any of his relationships last, but honestly, he wasn’t so sure it was just that.
Yet Coldis didn’t offer pity, didn’t dismiss Hyran. In fact, he didn’t say anything, just looked at Hyran as if he were seeing a new side of him.
If only there were a way to tell whether it’s a side of me he actually likes.
“Please tell me about why you would suspect someone from outside the city, and why you were suspecting us when you saw us on the boats.”
“We don’t have to talk about this now.”
“Oh, but we do. An Op-AI died today. Or yesterday. People died or were hurt. Back in Argentea, my home, more people are dead. I would like to know everything about suspicions that my Op-AI only ever formed after the attack on it and presumably after we were found out there on the river. I am curious to learn where your suspicions come from, Hyran.”
Hyran shouldn’t have mentioned it, but he knew he’d have to if only to see Coldis’s reaction.And maybe now is the best time to see it.
“Fine. But follow my words, this is something I would prefer you keep to yourself.”
“I’m not inclined to promise you anything.”
“Not unreasonable.” Hyran took a deep breath. “It might scare you, the things I’m about to say, but I assure you, I know what I’m doing when I’m outside the walls. And you have been there, met a Hound and an outsider. You know they aren’t all dangerous like the dramas show it. Not all Hounds will look at someone and see another earring gained if they kill them.
“I’ve cultivated contact with outsiders. Closer contact than brief encounters. Some of the Hounds too, although they make that more difficult. But there is a place near Cuprea. It’s a town where the outsiders live. It’s like one of our cities. Not as big, of course, but they have made a life there for themselves.”
Col licked his lips. “You do realize my team runs missions outside the walls. The one that turned into this mess was a med drop. I know what a town is, Hyran, and I know outsiders live in them.”
“Of course you do. Well, this one is called Lowvalley. People there were mentioning strangers coming to town who were talking about how things should change, how the walls should come down. How the cities had been built to fail, and now it was finally the time for them to fall. They said the strangers didn’t stay very long when they realized there weren’t any Guardians in the town.”
Coldis cocked his head. “None?”
“None they told them about at any rate. They have a mycologist—that’s a mushroom specialist—who has some healer ability. Maybe a D-classer, but I’m not sure. The people of Lowvalley aren’t too friendly with people they don’t know or trust, and from how they told it, those other outsiders made them very suspicious.”
Col leaned forward. “But you they like?”
Hyran made himself smile. “Believe it or not, I’m a likeable person.”
“I’ll come to my own decision on that. You accosted my little brother when he was alone in a clinic room like this one. Don’t think I’ll soon forget that.”
Hyran shifted and reached for one of the candies. “Don’t you see, I had a reason for doing that. I thought he would talk to me. Because he was a protector. I thought he would tell me if he’d seen anything that might hurt the cities. If he had, I wouldhave made sure he was safe. I would have protected your little brother. That has to count for something, doesn’t it?”
Coldis huffed out a breath. “It does. It actually does.” He took a candy, crunching down on it. “Loquin?”
