Instead of the soothing effect she expected, her words angered him more. He spun on her with a snarl, pushing her back against the wall, his light eyes raging with emotions she couldn't decipher. Kiara gulped in fear, her whole body shaking.
"Do you really think I couldn't tear someone into pieces?" he ground out in rage. "I was trained to tear men apart so fast that they had the opportunity to see whatever organ I ripped out of them before they hit the floor dead!" His arms, braced on either side of her, tensed. "Have you ever held a beating heart in your hand? Felt the warm, sticky blood slide between your fingers while it pulsed."
Tears rolled down Kiara's cheeks. He had to have a soul, she had seen him do too many things that contradicted such brutality. "I asked you once if you enjoyed killing." She took a deep breath. "Do you?" He looked away from her.
For a moment, she didn't think he would answer, then he shook his head. "I hated it," he whispered, pushing himself away from her. "Every damned minute of it."
A glimm er of hope shot through her. "You haven't assassinated anyone since you left the League, have you?" He rubbed his right biceps, his hand hesitating over the League tattoo. "No."
Satisfaction tore through her and left her trembling. Kiara hesitated, remembering the news reports. "Then where has your reputation come from?" He looked at her, a tiny smile on his lips. "Jayne." A ripple of shock jolted through Kiara. "Jayne?" she repeated.
He nodded. "An ex-Hyshian assassin. She does the killing and I take the blame. It keeps her safe. The only crime she's wanted for is smuggling and espionage."
A knot form ed in Kiara's throat as she considered his words. "So she's free to kill, and if you're caught, they'll execute you for something you're not guilty of."
He shook his head. "Not hardly. I've committed enough assassinations while working for the League to warrant all the death contracts signed on my life."
"But those were legal assassinations."
He scoffed. "Legal, but far more corrupt and immoral than anything Jayne has done."
Kiara digested his words, her heart pounding for him.
He leaned against the wall, watching her with hooded eyes. "I don't care if you turn me in, but I want you to swear to me you'll never betray Hauk, Rachol, Darling, or Jayne."
Kiara sniffed back her tears. "I would never betray any of you."
Nykyrian nodded. He started to push him self away from the wall, but Kiara caught him with her hand. There were so many other missing pieces in his puzzle she had to know the answers to. "Why does Aksel hate you so much?"
Nykyrian took her hand from his chest and played with her fingers, sending a chill up her arm. It surprised her when he bothered to answer her plea. "He was angry at the Commander for adopting me. Since he couldn't take it out on the Commander, he turned his malice on me."
"Didn't Huwin ever try to stop it?"
Nykyrian shook his head. "He didn't want a son, he already had Aksel and Arast. What he wanted was a legend to stand out in the League's archives. He wanted his surname to inspire terror into anyone who heard it."
"Is that why Aksel changed his last nam e?"
Pain flashed behind his eyes for a brief moment, then was gone. "No, Aksel did that so no one would think he was related to a hybrid giakon. "
Kiara ran her hand over the scar along his collarbone. "So much pain," she whispered, watching the chill bumps spring up beneath her fingers.
He looked down at her with agony-filled eyes that brought an ache to her chest.
Nykyrian took her hands and turned them upward. "In your palms, I have placed my life, my secrets," he whispered, his breath falling against her cheek, tingling her skin. "I give you freedom to leave me at any time. I'm not easy to love, I know. All I ask is that you always keep your silence, if not for me, then for the families of the others you'd destroy."
Tears fell uncontrollably down her cheeks, dripping from her chin. "I could never hurt you," she said, cupping his face in her hands.
His lips covered hers. The taste of her salty tears burned her lips as he kissed her passionately. Kiara welcomed the feel of his warm mouth, the hunger of his need for her. She clutched him to her, needing the feel of his body.
Kiara ran her hands over the hard, muscled flesh of his ribs. To her shock, Nykyrian laughed. She stilled her hands and looked up at his face. "Was that a laugh?" she gasped.
A smile curved his lips. "I think I'm ticklish," he said in amazement.
Devilishly, Kiara ran her hands back over his ribs. His rich, throaty laughter filled her ears with its melody and her heart with happiness. She kept tickling him, delighting in the way he squirmed.
"Mercy," he cried at last.
"Okay," she said and kissed his cheek.
He pulled her to him, his eyes serious. "Don't ever leave me," he said in a ragged voice that tore through her.
"I will never leave you," she promised with all the love coursing through her body.
In one deft movement, he pulled her dress from her body and lowered her to the floor.
Kiara welcomed the feel of his skin against hers. She caressed the hard tendons of his back, wanting to keep him with her forever.