Return of the Ascendant (The Ascendant Series) by Raine Thomas Page B

only be a few feet away…”
    She trailed off when he just stared at her. It was like reasoning with a brick wall.
    “Can I get you anything, Dem-Shyr TaeDane? Ma’jah Kyr?” the flight attendant asked, stopping beside Ty.
    Kyra noticed that she held her hands clasped tightly together. Was she nervous? Hopeful?
    Just as Kyra started to ask for a Diet Coke, Ty said, “Nothing for us. Please tell the pilot we are ready for takeoff.”
    At least he said please , Kyra thought dryly.
    “You know, Ty,” she said as the flight attendant bowed and headed for the cockpit, “I’m thirsty. We’re going to be on this plane for a couple hours, or so you said. Why can’t I have a Diet Coke?”
    His gaze remained on the cockpit door. “You will refrain from eating or drinking anything on this plane.”
    “What kind of explanation is that?” she asked in exasperation. “Do you think they’ve poisoned everything, for God’s sake?”
    He didn’t reply. She started to laugh in disbelief. Then her face fell.
    “Wait a minute. You really think that, don’t you?”
    Once again, his lack of response was her answer. Her palms dampened as the pilot gave an announcement that they should remain seated for takeoff. She didn’t see the flight attendant, but imagined she was seated near the front by the cockpit. She couldn’t help but be paranoid.
    “It’s not like they knew I was coming,” she said. “Right?”
    Silence.
    She wanted to think he was ridiculous. Talk about over the top! But then she considered the fact that Avana could see the future. If she could, that probably meant other Alametrians could, too. The idea that someone would have poisoned everything on the plane in an attempt to harm her made her want to leap up and run for home.
    Glancing at Ty, she said, “Were you trained to think this way?”
    He caught her gaze. “Yes.”
    “Am I the only one you protect?”
    “Yes.”
    “How did you earn that duty?” she asked, envisioning some mass competition. Maybe there were many people vying for the honor of serving as her Mynder. That held a certain appeal.
    He once again looked forward. “It was fated.”
    What did that mean? “Fated?” she prompted when he didn’t continue.
    He took his time responding, but eventually said, “We were born on the same date at the same time under the same star.”
    “We were? Huh.”
    She realized that she and Ty were the exact same age. That surprised her. It wasn’t so much that he looked older than her, but he certainly carried himself in a way befitting a much older guy.
    “So…that means you were fated to be my Mynder?” she summed up.
    “Yes.”
    That all sounded rather mystical and woo-woo to her. It also sounded like Ty hadn’t been given any choice in the matter.
    “What if you decided you didn’t want to be my Mynder?” she asked.
    He didn’t reply. She supposed the question didn’t justify a response in his mind.
    For some reason, she felt dejected. From the sound of things, Ty had been raised with the knowledge that he would be her Mynder and nothing else. It hadn’t occurred to her until that moment that she was nothing more than an obligation to him. He was essentially required to lay his life on the line every day to protect her.
    Hell, she was more than an obligation. She was a burden.
    “You should try and sleep,” Ty instructed her.
    She wasn’t feeling tired, but she nodded and closed her eyes anyway. He didn’t need to see how upset he’d made her with his revelations.
    He didn’t need to know how much she wished he was with her out of more than a sense of duty.

Chapter 11
     
     
    Ten minutes later, Kyr was asleep. Her head tilted until it rested against Ty’s arm. He didn’t try and move it.
    His mind worked through the conversation they’d had before she fell asleep. He’d felt her reaction to the knowledge that he’d been fated to be her Mynder. It had troubled her, but he wasn’t sure why. Did she want the choice to have been