CVII

Kieran stated plainly, "You will tell me every detail of this plot you've thought to carry out against me."

She shook her head, scowling slightly. "What plot? You know what I want."

"You are lying, little one. You think you have been cunning in the war you wage. But I have decades of experience and have outmaneuvered your every move. There will be no negotiation. Either you give me what I want, or I tell you nothing."

Lyla did not even hesitate to lay out exactly what she desired. "I want you to fail in Nyoka, Kieran. That is not a secret. Even pair bonded to you, even carrying your child, I would stand against you in this matter for as long as I could. I also won't pretend I don't partially understand your motivation, that what I saw out there didn't sicken me. But a cause that uses the suffering of many, innocent or not, to make your point, is something I could never condone. I have to believe in redemption or all I have done has been for nothing."