Page 21 of Forgotten Promise

Benjamin turned from speaking with the flight attendant. Besides the attendant, there was a pilot and copilot to fly the Challenger 300 aircraft.

He’d been braced for Kailani to say something about what a waste this flight was—there were eight seats and only three passengers, plus most of the small cargo area was empty. He wasn’t a complete asshole, so normally, given enough lead time, his head of travel would have arranged to lease empty space in the cargo hold to shipping companies or freight services, and the empty seats would either be sold to people who otherwise might have chartered their own jet or used for charity. He’d spent plenty of flights sitting in the back row with his headphones on while a Make a Wish child and their family used the front set of four seats.

John was sitting in the second row, a forward-facing seat. Benjamin hadn’t missed his raised brows and slightly shocked expression as they breezed through security and were driven out onto the tarmac in order to board the jet.

Kailani had taken the first-row seat, which was rear-facing and put her directly across from John, leaving Benjamin to sit alone on the other side of the narrow aisle. He chose the forward-facing seat so he could see Kailani’s face.

Since walking into that hotel room, things had been moving at a sprint. Now they had five hours of enforced downtime, and he intended to use those to get some answers. Benjamin looked at John and internally acknowledged that if anyone was going to get answers out of her, it would be the detective.

They sat silent but attentive during the safety briefing. Benjamin could have given the safety demonstration he’d heard it so many times, but he politely paid attention. John was leaning forward, nodding as if he was memorizing the instructions. Given that they’d spend all but thirty minutes off this six-hour flight over open ocean, with no land in sight, the reality was if the plane went down, even if they didn’t die on impact, they were dead. Benjamin chose not to say that. See, he wasn’t a complete asshole, no matter what Kailani said.

Forty-five minutes later, they’d reached their cruising altitude and each had a drink in hand. The attendant retreated to the small galley space at the front, slipping on a headset once they were seated. The headset allowed the attendant to speak to the pilot and copilot and provided passengers with the kind of privacy anyone who flew in a plane like this expected.

Benjamin looked at John. Their gazes met, and Benjamin inclined his head, yielding the lead to the detective.

John undid his seat belt and sat forward, elbows on his knees. “Kailani, why don’t you tell us what’s happening.”

Kailani seemed to wilt for a moment, and Benjamin tensed. She shouldn’t, couldn’t, look tired or vulnerable or soft. He could deal with assertive, pissed, even passionate but poised Kailani.

Kailani who looked like she needed help or protecting?

Benjamin swallowed hard, then took a too-big sip of the sparkling wine the attendant had served, the bubbles burning the back of his throat.

“John, don’t treat me like a suspect.” Again, she sounded tired instead of regally dismissive the way he was used to.

“I’m not. And I’m sorry about that.”

Benjamin felt John’s gaze on him and gave a small grimace of apology. He shouldn’t have pointed out what the other man was doing.

“I wasn’t treating you like a suspect, but I was questioning you. Most people, unless they’re highly skilled romance authors, tell stories and give information in a fractured way that makes sense only to them. Some people start and stop, some have a circular conversational pattern. Either way, it means it can take three and four times as long to get all the relevant information, and I didn’t think we had time.”

“That’s the thing. There shouldn’t be a ‘we.’ No one should know about the keyholders.”

“If we’d gotten married?”

“Then you’d know, yes. Because one of our children, if we decided to have them, would take over as keyholder.”

Benjamin surged to his feet, pacing to the back of the plane. The movement helped burn off some of the anger and helped keep him from saying the things he wanted to say. Things like: “You mean yours and John’s child, because you made it very clear I’d never be your husband, let alone in your bed.”

“Let me ask this, then.” John sat back, turning in his seat so he could see both of them. “How often are trinities dissolved after the binding ceremony and before the wedding?”

Benjamin returned to his seat as he realized where John was going with this.

“I…I don’t think that it’s ever happened,” Kailani said softly.

“The only reason that Devon agreed to mention this to the Grand Master is, I’m guessing, because you’re legacies.”

“And because he knows some of our…history,” Benjamin said.

“But if the Grand Master chose to dissolve it, it would be totally out of the ordinary, correct?”

Benjamin nodded, but Kailani was looking out the window.

“Kailani, does your keyholder status give you some special pull?” John pushed.

“No.” She sighed. “No, it doesn’t, and if I had tried to use the fact that I’m a keyholder to get special treatment…I think that might have put my whole family in danger.”

“So realistically the three of us are…were…getting married. We went through the binding ceremony.”

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