Her hands stilled and fell to her sides. The wind moaned its final notes through the ice, and the music died.
Aria, of all people, knew what it was to be bound. To have one's will and self-ownership taken away. Her own life had been derailed by her enslavement... she had lost the only love she'd ever known to it. She could only imagine what kind of power could contain a being as powerful as he, and shuddered at the thought. Kennet was not a careless man.
How unfair.
She was not sorry she knew. In fact, she felt she had done very little in prodding the issue, but she supposed Kennet simply knew her well enough to see the end game. She was sorry for him, truly and irrevocably, and this empathy was mixed in equal measure with a quiet rage that settled there behind her eyes.
When she spoke again her voice was quiet, barely a whisper in the dull silence left behind by her song. "You didn't have to tell me." The wind in the room shifted; he would feel it, a soft, reassuring carress against his face. She was not naive enough to offer to help free him, as she knew if there was a way out he would have found it by now. Silence lingered between them, charged with the revelation of secrets shared.
Drawing a deep breath, she forced another grin, though sadness seeped at its corners. "I've selfishly kept you to myself for some time. Not at all in keeping with your inspections, I'm sure." She swept into a shallow curtsey, and when she rose she once again took his hand, pressing it between her palms as she added, in a far more serious tone, "I am with you, old friend." She was satisfied that he would know exactly what she meant. When or if the time came, no matter the reason, she would be of assistance to him. No questions asked.