Chapter 1 #3
Kira’s gaze followed where he was pointing. The water glinted. Swirls of green and red playing peek-a-boo in its depths.
Once again Raider’s hand crept toward the water. Kira slapped it away. “I’ll do it. Just stay there.”
She swore he was worse than Elena sometimes.
Kneeling, Kira stuck her hand into the water. It was like dipping her hand into a pool of pure electricity. She gritted her teeth as the planet’s soul crashed into her mind. Tingling followed by numb burning climbed from the tips of her fingers, to her wrist, all the way up to her elbow.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
This hurt.
Hurriedly, Kira fished the two orbs out of the water, tossing them onto the floor next to her.
“Finally.” Kira yanked her hand out of the water, cradling it in her lap. “I never want to do that again.”
Like Raider’s, the skin was bright red and blistered.
“Should have used your non-dominant hand,” Raider mused.
Kira fixed him with a flat stare.
He shrugged and held up the hand he’d used to reach into the channel. It was his left. His non-dominant left. “I’m just saying.”
Kira shoved him away with her shoulder as Wren and Auralyn appeared between the waterfalls.
“What happened?” Wren demanded, spotting the oshota lying next to them.
“Someone attacked the guards and threw these into the Nexus’s water,” Kira explained, showing him the orbs. “Finn went after them alone.”
That knowledge sat like a stone in her stomach. It was obvious from the dead oshota’s presence and the fact no other oshota except Wren and Auralyn responded to her shout that something bad was going on.
Someone who could take out the oshota guarding Roake’s heart was dangerous. Not the type of person Finn should have gone after without backup.
And yes, Kira knew how hypocritical that sounded coming from her.
“Go,” Wren ordered. “We’ll handle things here.”
That was what Kira was hoping to hear.
She didn’t wait as Raider handed the three orbs they’d collected to Auralyn.
“We’re pretty sure there are others. You might want to get them out before they do anything,” Raider called as he hurried to catch up with Kira.
She was already halfway to the exit. Unlike Finn, she didn’t take the shortcut of plunging through the waterfalls, choosing to take the longer path instead.
Raider caught up to her just as she reached the hallway outside. “Do you know where they went?”
Kira paused before nodding to a hallway off to her right. “This way.”
If she was trying to evade an oshota’s pursuit, she’d choose the most direct path out of the Fortress of the Vigilant.
“I hope you’re right,” Raider murmured.
“I am.”
She hoped.
They moved quickly, not pausing to admire the simplistic beauty of the fortress’s design as she normally would.
Much like the people who called it home, the fortress was cold and standoffish at first glance, but there was a protective warmth and sense of safety layered beneath its austere surface.
In the time since she’d called it home, Kira had come to appreciate its unique charm.
Particularly those qualities involving offense and defense.
Before long, they caught a glimpse of Finn on the stairs below.
“Where’d they go?” Kira called.
Finn looked up, his chest working as he caught his breath. “I lost him.”
“Damn,” Kira whispered.
That was disappointing.
“The Overlord is messaging me,” Finn said.
He activated his comms so they could hear.
Harlow’s terse voice filled the air. “Wren has informed me of the situation. We have eyes on the perpetrator. He’s on the avenue and heading to the palace. Find him and bring him before me.”
Finn glanced up at Kira. “Acknowledged, Overlord.”
Harlow’s side cut out.
“We should hurry. He has quite the head start,” Kira said, jogging down the stairs with Raider at her side.
Finn took the lead and soon they were leaving the fortress behind.
The brisk air tossed Kira’s hair over her eyes.
Stuck somewhere between curly and wavy, Kira’s hair was always unruly but never more so than when it had a bit of length, and it had gotten longer in the months since arriving on Ta Sa’Riel.
It now reached past her shoulder blades.
The red that was one shade off burgundy was something she and her uncle had in common. A family trait.
Her eyes came from her mother’s people. House Luatha. A gray purple that leaned one way or the other depending on the light and Kira’s mood. Today they matched the overcast sky. The clouds pregnant with a precipitation Kira hoped would hold off until they reached shelter.
Thankfully, there was nowhere to hide on the straight stretch of elevated road that ended at the palace. No cover or obstructions that might conceal a person’s presence.
Finn nodded at a distant figure. “There.”
The three of them broke into another jog. This one faster than before.
Before too long, the aptly named Shining Palace at the city’s heart loomed in front of them. It shimmered even under gray skies. A rocky coastline framed the city to her left even as a wild, untamed forest protected the rest of its borders.
Kira was barely breathing hard as they reached the palace’s entrance.
“Where are the guards?” Raider called as they slowed to a walk. “You don’t think they were taken out like Roake’s oshota, do you?”
“I hope not,” Kira muttered.
There were no signs of struggle. Then again, that didn’t mean much since there hadn’t been any in the Nexus either.
Finn scanned the entrance. “I don’t sense any oshota nearby.”
“Let’s continue then,” Kira suggested uneasily.
Technically, Roake’s authority stopped at this entrance. Anything past this point was the emperor’s responsibility. Everything she did from here on out would be scrutinized later. Any mistake she made would be leveraged against not just her but Roake as well.
A smart person would have turned back. They would have found a way to hand the problem off to the emperor’s people and then wiped their hands of the whole affair.
Kira couldn’t do that. It was Roake’s oshota who had died. Their Nexus that had been breached.
Her uncle wanted the perpetrator brought before him. She planned to follow that order.
Finn and Raider flanked her as they proceeded into the palace with caution. Empty, echoing halls greeted their passage. Several minutes ticked by before they finally encountered the oshota they’d been expecting outside.
Three of them. Just standing in the middle of the hallway as if Kira and the other two were expected.
“What are you doing here? This wing is restricted,” the oshota that looked to be in charge asked.
Finn’s response was a lot more polite than Kira’s would have been. “Our apologies for the intrusion. We think someone we were tracking came this way.”
The oshota looked them over, making no attempt to disguise his skepticism. “An intruder?”
“We believe so,” Finn admitted.
You’d think being told there was a possible intruder in the palace that the oshota would launch into action. But, no. They seemed to take the news with an alarming lack of concern.
There was something about their presence that kept poking at Kira. Something beyond their disregard for a potential threat. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Well, he didn’t come through here,” the oshota declared.
“That doesn’t mean he’s not in the palace somewhere. He could have taken a different route,” Raider offered.
One of the oshota’s companions curled her lip at her friend. “Someone would have noticed.”
“Would they?” Kira shot back. “Because you’re the first oshota we’ve come across.”
Something she found suspicious in light of everything that had happened.
The oshota nudged each other, chuckling as they shot Kira covert looks that said “get a look at Roake’s paranoid heir”.
Noticing them, Finn’s jaw clenched, his gaze turning icy.
“Okay. Okay,” the leader said, quelling his subordinates with a glance before smiling at Kira and the others. “We understand. We’ll handle things from here.”
“I don’t think you understand how dangerous this person is,” Finn protested.
The oshota’s face turned hard. “I said—we’ll handle it.”
Finn’s nostrils flared, his mouth opening on a sharp statement.
Kira grabbed his shoulder before he could speak. “Okay. We understand. Come on, Finn. The man said he’d handle it. Let’s let him do that.”
Raider eyed Kira like she’d suddenly grown two heads. “That’s surprisingly understanding of you.”
Not really. She’d just thought of a better way to accomplish her mission.
“Jin’s waiting for us,” Kira said.
As much as she’d like to argue with the idiots in front of them, they didn’t have a leg to stand on.
This was the emperor’s territory, and the oshota served him.
Making a scene wouldn’t help their cause.
Instead, it could harm them. Better to head up to Jin’s room.
The oshota guarding him all knew Kira and were more likely to take her report seriously.
And if they didn’t, Jin would.
She trusted his way of handling things would have these three ruing the fact that they hadn’t listened. Honestly, she was kind of hoping Jin’s guards ignored her. The resulting fireworks were bound to be entertaining.
Reluctantly, Finn let Kira lead him away as they headed up to the wing of the palace that housed the emperor’s family.
“Someone sounds upset,” Raider muttered as Jin’s raised voice greeted them upon their approach.
Yes, someone did.
For half a second, Kira debated the merits of doing an about face and marching back to Roake.
But no. That would be cowardly.
Wouldn’t it?
Yes, it would. Not to mention she still had to report the intruder to the oshota standing guard.
Resigned, Kira marched toward the pair of oshota outside Jin’s door. “What’s going on?”
One of the guards was a stranger to her, but the other she recognized as belonging to Graydon, the emperor’s Face, and Kira’s lover. She wasn’t as familiar with Isla as she was with Amila, but they’d interacted enough for her to know how capable the other was.
The corner of Isla’s mouth quirked up at the sight of Kira. “What impeccable timing, Roake’s heir.”
Kira paid no mind to the quick look the oshota on Isla’s other side shot her, used to it by now. Most Tuann greeted her with either suspicion or curiosity. He seemed inclined toward the latter.
“Instead of asking her, why not just come inside and figure that out for yourself!” Jin shouted from the other side of the door.
“There goes your chance of escaping,” Raider snickered.
Kira gave him a one fingered salute as Isla opened the door for her.
“Best of luck, Roake’s heir,” Isla murmured as Kira trudged past.