Page 122 of The Last Syphon

The funny thing was that she didn’t regret what she’d done. No. Not for one fucking second. In her mind, one lost the right to mercy the second they tried to kill her. Should Inara have maybe done it in a less grotesque way, since she had an audience?

Probably. She could concede that.

However, she’d killed a lot of people using her magic, and so far, the arrowheads had been the most painful way she’d discovered. She wanted the assassin to suffer.

Did that make her evil?

Faces flashed in her mind. Horrified, trembling faces. One after the other after the other. Her mood plummeted.

Maybe she was evil.

Fraener whined. He sat on the ledge beside her in his miniature form, and at the sadness flowing down the soul-link, he leant forward, nuzzling into her side. He poured a tidal wave of emotions back down their bond, trying to make her feel better.

Warmth. Happiness. Strength.

She appreciated the support, but it didn’t help. The faces wouldn’t stop flickering behind her eyes. There were so many of them. So many petrified eyes. Trembling lips. Pale expressions. It was all she could see.

Fraener pushed an image into her head. It was a dragon’s eye view of the battle. His view. What he saw from above. Inara watched herself torture the assassin with her magic. It was surreal to see, and she wasn’t entirely sure what to think about it. And then, Fraener’s emotions at that time slammed into her.

Pure, unrelenting pride.

It was so powerful, so all-consuming, that she felt as if her chest was going to explode from the sheer force of it.

It wasn’t just the image or his emotions that he was showing her, though. It was also how he saw her.

Strong. Dependable. Magnificent. Someone worth protecting. Someone worth dying for, not someone worth killing.

Not a darkness, but a light.

Tears gathered in her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. Picking up his little body, Inara held Fraener close to her chest. He circled a few times in her arms and then curled up into a ball in her embrace. A content hum vibrated from him. It reminded her of a cat’s purring, but deeper. More soothing.

The door behind her opened. She glanced over her shoulder. Felix stood in the doorway, his expression soft and tender.

“Should have known you’d be on the roof. You have always loved to retreat to high places.”

She looked back out to the sky without saying a word.

He sat down beside her, blowing out a breath. “You okay?”

“Yep. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He lightly bumped his shoulder into hers. “Don’t do that,” he said softly.

“Do what?”

“Act like you’re okay when you’re not. Can’t bullshit a bullshitter.”

Ain’t that the fucking truth. A rush of cold wind hit her, and she shivered, clutching Fraener tighter. She lowered her head to nuzzle into his warm body.

“Did you see the way they looked at me?” Never in her life had Inara ever spoken with such meekness. Never felt so fucking small.

She hated it.

“Who the fuck cares how they looked at you?”

Her gaze slid to him. Earnestness blazed in deep brown eyes.

“You know what I saw down there? I saw a strong, powerful fucking woman. I saw someone willing to put their life on the line to protect others, something none of those people hiding behind that fucking shield wall were willing to do. I saw power. Strength. What you did down there was nothing short of amazing, and as your best friend, I refuse to let you believe anything fucking different.”