Chapter 9
Nine
Kira
“How did you get here anyway?” Kira asked.
It was hard to imagine Luatha allowing a child to roam free in the aftermath of the attack.
Ziva’s guilty expression made Kira’s stomach sink. “They don’t know you’re gone, do they?”
The girl’s silence was all the answer Kira needed.
“That’s gonna be a problem.”
With Kira’s luck, Luatha was going to assume she’d kidnapped the girl. There would be consequences. Great, terrible consequences.
As if Roake wasn’t in enough trouble already.
“Let’s go,” Kira ordered.
Ziva started. “What? Why?”
“Why do you think? To return you to Luatha.”
Finn was going to kill her. Round trip, it would take an hour or more to deliver Ziva to Luatha’s stronghold. That wasn’t accounting for any possible delays. Like Luatha forcing Kira to wait around as a power play. Or a Tuann deciding to pick a fight as part of some big plan for vengeance.
Ziva stepped back, avoiding Kira’s reach. “No! I want to stay with you. In Roake.”
“And exactly how do you think that’s going to work?” Kira nodded at the barrier behind Ziva. “It’ll take time to get you the clearance necessary to pass through Roake’s defenses. Until then you’re safer with Luatha.”
Kira knew what kind of trouble Ziva could find without even trying. There was no way she was leaving the girl loose to wander the city alone.
She wasn’t like Luatha. There were boundaries she expected Ziva to obey.
Safety, always.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Kira asked, not liking the entirely too mischievous look on Ziva’s face. Or the way she was edging backwards as if she didn’t think Kira would notice. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, nothing,” Ziva responded with an innocent shrug that didn’t work on Kira any better than Elena or Jin’s did.
Kira’s tone lowered in warning. “Ziva.”
“You worry too much, seon’yer. Since we’ve entered into this sacred union, it’s my duty as your yer’se to anticipate any needs or requirements that you might have.”
Kira scoffed. “Sacred union? What is this, a marriage? You’re far too young for that. Also, you’ve been my yer’se for exactly two seconds.”
Not nearly enough time to understand or anticipate anything.
Ziva continued as if Kira hadn’t spoken. “As such, I went ahead and petitioned the Overlord.”
“You did what?”
Ziva hopped backwards, the barrier swallowing her before Kira could do anything. She popped out the other side none the worse for wear.
“I joined Roake,” Ziva exclaimed proudly.
“How the hel—” Kira checked herself before she finished that curse. Ziva might not understand, but as her seon’yer Kira should probably be setting a good example. “How did you manage that? You weren’t my yer’se until just now.”
“Like me, the Overlord understood the inevitability of our relationship.”
“You lied to him, didn’t you?”
“Nooo. He simply realized what you didn’t.” Ziva smiled prettily. “We’re fated.”
Kira stared at the girl. “Unbelievable.”
Anybody else and she wouldn’t have hesitated to crush that optimism of hers.
“I was right though.” Ziva pointed at Kira. “Seon’yer.” Ziva turned her finger on herself. “Yer’se.”
Kira was at a loss for words.
Truly, just what went on in this child’s head?
Already regretting the impulse that had led her down this path, Kira followed Ziva through the barrier. “Come on.”
Ziva complied happily. “Does this mean I can stay?”
“For now.”
Just until Kira could contact Luatha to find out how her cousin wanted this situation handled.
“Don’t think you’ll always get your way so easily,” Kira warned.
She was nice this time, but that wouldn’t always be the case.
Ziva gave her a snappy salute as they entered the fortress via the massive set of arched doors. “Roger that, seon’yer.”
“I see you’ve been talking to someone,” Kira observed dryly.
That was a decidedly human phrase. Mostly used by those in the military.
“I didn’t need to. When I realized you would be my seon’yer someday, I decided to brush up on my understanding of human culture,” Ziva informed Kira happily as they bypassed the stairs that would take them to the upper level of the fortress where the wing designated for the Overlord’s family resided.
Instead, they traversed long hallways until they reached the inner fortress before descending several levels until there was a slight chill in the air.
“And just how did you manage that?” Kira asked uneasily.
“I reviewed hundreds of hours of common human media.”
“Wait—you mean you binge watched holovids.”
“Not just holovids. There’s this thing called holotoons. They’re amazing stories told with pictures and words. The most intricate create entire worlds you can step into. A full 360 degree experience. It’s like actually being there.”
Oh, dear lord.
It sounded like the child had gone down a rabbit hole. Not just becoming obsessed with holovids and series but the alter realities as well.
This was the same thing that had happened with Jin.
What was it about human entertainment that made it so engrossing? It was like they were dealers giving an addict a fix.
“I’m surprised you were able to access so many,” Kira said.
The Tuann had made no secret of the fact that they thought humans were inferior to them in pretty much every way. She would have thought that extended to their entertainment media as well.
“It’s true that Luatha’s library was rather lacking,” Ziva admitted.
“The few they had were really bad and not an actual depiction of human imagination. House Maxiim’s library was better.
My parents used to watch the shows with me.
It was our ritual. Since we were so close to the border, they hacked the feeds from the nearest space station so we could get the latest broadcast. I still have most of them stored in my memory stone. ”
Kira’s expression gentled as she studied Ziva’s profile.
This was the first time Ziva had really talked about her parents. The memory obviously a positive and happy one.
The girl was healing. Slowly but surely.
“What shows did you and your parents like best?” Kira asked.
“I forget its name but it was one with a doctor who traveled all over time.”
“Jin loved that one too.”
Ziva’s grin showed her delight at sharing something in common with Jin and Kira.
She chattered nonstop after that, telling Kira all about the shows she and her parents liked as they made their way below the bedrock upon which the fortress stood.
There was one about a robot who liberated himself from the program controlling him, but rather than go on a rampage, he spent all his time watching holovids.
Another about a human astronaut who gets sucked through a wormhole and then had to survive on a ship filled with dangerous alien prisoners.
Eventually, Ziva wound down as they found themselves in a very old part of the fortress.
“Where are we?” Ziva asked, looking around.
“A House as old as Roake has its secrets.”
This particular one existed in a forgotten section of the Fortress that only Harlow and his most trusted knew about.
When they’d needed temporary housing for the Tuann/hybrid children they’d rescued, it had been the obvious choice. Somewhere close but still separate.
The children required intensive care. Both physical and mental.
What had been done to them had left them heavily traumatized.
They’d almost definitely suffered some form of brainwashing, the extent of which was impossible to know without study.
Until then, they were walking time bombs just in need of the right trigger.
Still, there had never been any question of abandoning them.
Whatever the circumstances behind their birth, they were Elise’s. That made them Kira’s and Raider’s too. And by extension, Roake’s.
Kira led Ziva toward the oshota guarding the children’s chambers.
Of the two, Kira knew Zoella better. Tavas was a quiet man who rarely spoke, making his existence easy to overlook. He often faded into the background, gathering intelligence for later use.
“Your seon’yer will be glad of your return,” Zoella said, offering Kira a sweet smile.
“He’s okay then?”
Zoella’s features softened. “He is.”
The weight Kira had been carrying since witnessing the explosion drifted away as Zoella’s gaze shifted to Ziva.
“And who is this young one?”
Ziva puffed out her chest. “I’m Kira’s yer’se.”
Zoella looked at Kira askance. “Is that so?”
Kira ignored her look and frowned at Ziva. “Do you have to tell everyone we come across?”
Ziva blinked her pretty blue eyes. “It’s best to cut down on any confusion.”
Patience, Kira silently told herself.
“Can you get hold of Luatha’s Overlord?” Kira asked the oshota.
Zoella nodded. “It might take a while though.”
“That’s fine. Ziva’s not going anywhere. Unfortunately.”
As if proud of that fact, Ziva preened.
“I also need you to watch out for her while I’m in there,” Kira continued.
That wiped the smirk from Ziva’s face. “Seon’yer—”
“Don’t argue. Consider this your first task as my yer’se. While I take care of matters, I want you to wait out here.”
Ziva’s natural desire to argue warred with the knowledge that as her seon’yer, Kira had every right to expect her orders to be obeyed.
Reluctantly, Ziva nodded.
Knowing the restraint that took, Kira touched her shoulder. “Just a reminder—and this is very important, maybe the most important instruction I will ever give you—nothing you see or hear while in my company is to ever be repeated elsewhere. Not to Joule. Not to anyone. There are lives at stake.”
Ziva’s nod this time was a little less reluctant, her face as serious as Kira had ever seen it. “Understood, seon’yer.”
“Good.”
Maybe this whole seon’yer/yer’se thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.
The door behind the oshota creaked open and Elena peeked her head around the corner. “I thought I heard voices out here.”