by T. A. White
Both looked seconds from challenging Kira, a fact the humans seemed to be aware of as they stepped up to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.
A pinched look settled on Rheya's face as the odds tilted out of her favor. She visibly swallowed her anger, her stance easing.
Devon didn't show the same inclination, aggression in his posture as he took a threatening step forward.
Kira stiffened, her eyes flattening as she stared him down. "If I were you, I would rethink whatever is in your mind right now."
The words barely made Devon pause, a formal challenge forming on his lips.
Graydon prowled closer, danger rolling off him. That was enough of that. The boy showed promise, but if he challenged anyone in full view of the seon’yers and oshota, he would find his tenure in Roake cut short.
While those past the adva ka rarely interfered in the challenges of their juniors, there was a time and place for such things. In full view of two pods of oshota while in the midst of training was not it.
That the boy didn't understand that fact said he still had a long way to go—no matter how developed his skills.
"Trouble, Kira?"
His words seemed to have the effect of an electrical whip on Kira as she stiffened, invisible hackles rising as her gaze swung toward his.
Ah, there was his little aksa. Her resemblance to a fist-sized animal of this world whose stubbornness and bloodthirsty viciousness were in direct disproportion to their smaller size was unmistakable.
Kira held in her instinctive remark. Pity. He would have been interested in her unfiltered response.
Instead, Kira arranged her face in what she no doubt thought was a pleasant expression but didn't manage to hide a speck of her irritation.
His oshota struggled to keep straight faces as Kira stared at him balefully. "Nothing that concerns you, commander. Just a friendly challenge among friends."
Lazy interest curled through Graydon as he moved his eyes over the others. "I confess I wouldn't mind seeing that."
It would be a diverting entertainment seeing her handle herself among those who should be her peers. Almost as diverting as another bout between them. Something that had been on Graydon's agenda since the moment Amila brought the first recording of Kira battling drones.
Devon and Rheya both straightened, coming to partial attention at the hint of threat in Graydon's tone.
Kira batted his words away. "As much as I live to amuse you, I have better things to do with my time today."
Graydon's head tilted. "Oh? Do share."
Devon shifted, his impatience at Graydon's interference obvious.
Graydon's gaze speared his, the façade of lazy entertainment dropping as the full force of his personality overwhelmed the younger Tuann. "Careful, zala. I won't be as merciful as she was."
Kira's intelligent gaze moved between them. "What does zala mean?"
"Infant," Joule said into the quiet.
Graydon ignored them, the predator inside staring down the two initiates who'd already embarrassed themselves enough for one day.
"Knowing when it is time to retreat and regroup is as important for a warrior as knowing when to stand and fight," Wren said into the strained silence.
Devon relented. "Rheya, Aeron, let's go. We'll never reach the top standing here." He paused, his gaze lingering on the humans. "You too, if you think you have something helpful to add."
He didn't wait for their response, aiming a curt nod at Graydon and Wren before striding toward the monolith.
Rheya's expression was outraged as she stomped after him.
Kira blew out a puff air. "Look at that. He can learn if he tries."
Raider shoved her shoulder with his as he followed in Devon's wake. "I forgot how brutal your teaching methods are."
Kira made a dismissive sound at the humans' backs, watching as Devon organized the initiates into teams before the group started up the rockface, their teamwork shoddy but existent.
Kira started as if suddenly realizing she was now surrounded by oshota and the seon’yer.
"On that note, I'll return to my own task," she said, backing away.
Finn peeled away from the tree line, following as she broke into a slow jog that held the distinct air of one beating a hasty retreat.
Graydon didn't think so. Any boredom or pent up aggression was now gone, washed away in the wake of a new prey, one that held every bit of his attention.
His chuckle was deep as he loped after Kira, his powerful stride eating up the ground between them.
*
It occurred to Kira after she'd been running for several minutes that Jin had been conspicuously absent during the confrontation with the initiates. No sarcastic quips. No distracting sideline conversations.
Kira stopped abruptly as she considered the ramifications of his atypical behavior. For the past few weeks, he'd been a constant, irritating companion. She'd taken it as a sign he was obeying the rules.
She should have known better.
"Jin. You there?" she said in a low voice as she made her way through the forest.
Silence echoed.
"Answer me, Tin Man," Kira cajoled. When a response never came, she continued, "What? No rejoinder about Tuann flirting habits?"
If anything got his attention, that would.
Kira waited.
Nothing.
Kira mentally cursed as she kicked the nearest tree. Damn his short attention span and propensity for boredom. She'd hoped the excitement of what they'd done would distract him. No such luck.
Kira started for the archway and the gate that would lead to Roake's fortress. Her tussle with the younger initiates would have to suffice as a workout for the day. She had a drone to corral.
"You'd better not have put one electrode out of that room, buddy, or I'm going to turn you into a pile of scrap metal," Kira threatened.
A hint of a presence tugged at her senses, and Kira went still, suddenly aware Finn wasn’t her only companion in the forest.
Graydon glided out of the trees with a dangerous prowl.
Adrenaline flooded Kira as she calculated the chances he'd heard her. Graydon was the last person she wanted overhearing her. If so, any hope of keeping Jin's presence a secret was up. Graydon wasn't the type to write off the unexplained. He'd ferret out the information with a bloodhound's obsession until he knew every last detail.
Kira considered and discarded several responses before settling on, "I could have handled the puppy."
Graydon didn't even pause as he approached. "Of that, I had no doubt. Your way of solving the challenges your friends have been fending off was a creative one."
Kira grunted, unsurprised he'd guessed her motivations.
"Walk with me," he invited.
Kira reluctantly complied, despite the sense of urgency pressing her to find her wayward friend and anchor him to her room.
She shot a look over her shoulder, trying to find Finn. Maybe he could do what she no longer could. The effort was in vain. Catching his eye proved impossible.
The only bright spot in this was that the direction Graydon had chosen led them directly to the gate.
"Fine group of sharks, you've landed me among," she told him.
He paused. "That is a large water predator, is it not?"
She hummed an agreement.
Graydon's expression was considering. "That is a surprisingly apt description. We've always been a predatory race. Jockeying for position and status is as natural as breathing to us. There is always a drive to achieve more."
They reached the gate, and Graydon stepped up to it. The pathway opened, and he walked through, Kira following. His oshota and Finn kept a respectful distance, allowing them the illusion of privacy.
"That's one thing I can't get used to," Kira said, watching them. "You're never alone."
"Not always," Graydon aimed a roguish smile at Kira.
She rolled her eyes at his innuendo. Nice try, but she wasn't falling for it.
&nb
sp; The difference in power between them was too stark. Trying to hold onto Graydon would be like grasping a balloon while standing outside in a category five hurricane—an exercise in futility that would only end in disappointment and heartbreak. Yet, it didn't stop her from wondering about what was beneath his synth armor, how his skin would feel against hers, his limbs tangled with hers during passion.
Kira pushed the thoughts away. She had no business thinking about that right now.
Instead, she focused on their surroundings. He'd brought her to a section of the fortress she hadn't explored yet. By her estimation, they were several stories below the surface, but it didn't feel like they were underground. Long narrow windows looked out on more walls. Light reflected from above.
The room was a cavernous chamber, the floor rough-hewn and uneven. Like the rest of Roake, the walls were black.
Along one side of the room, life-sized statues of Tuann clad in synth armor holding various types of weapons stood sentinel. Kira noted a lance and mace among them, along with several weapons that had a more futuristic look.
"We recognize there is strength in numbers," Graydon explained as they moved through the length of the room. "Even the strongest warrior can fall when faced with a big enough force. My oshota have my best interests at heart, and they will always come to my defense should I need it. Their loyalty is assured; they won’t divulge anything they learn in my company, not even to the emperor. To do so would be to betray one of the founding tenets of our society."
"Even if they thought you had lost your way?" Kira asked.
Many would have pushed her question to the side, saying such an event would never occur. Not Graydon. He gave it the serious contemplation it deserved.
"That is one of the rare instances where they might break my trust. Our history is riddled with such occurrences. None take that step lightly because those who do are often treated as pariahs afterward. It’s not unheard of for those who have broken faith to commit suicide shortly after." Graydon's eyes met Kira's. "It's why an oath of that magnitude isn’t undertaken lightly. They tie their fates to mine, and we rise or fall together."
It was a pretty concept, deceptively seductive. To have people who were so loyal to you that you knew they would always be in your corner.
The only flaw was reality. Sometimes people weren't who you thought. Sometimes, they changed and evolved.
“Can they leave your service?” Kira asked.
Graydon paused. “Yes, but usually only under certain circumstances. It is rare.”
“Even if they find the fit isn’t right?” Kira asked.
Graydon inclined his head.
Kira grimaced. “Life is too short to waste in service to someone you deem unworthy.”
Graydon's big shoulders shrugged. "I agree with you. Our people are incredibly long-lived and can be exceptionally stubborn. We don't change our loyalties or views easily—even when it’s warranted and in our best interests."
"Where have you brought me?" Kira asked, looking around.
Besides the statues, there was a smooth wall with circular lines carved into it, many intersecting in different places until it resembled a model of a foreign star system.
The rings it was made up of each had smaller circles attached to them, representing planets. Only instead of a sun at the middle was the carving of a coiled lu-ong, its crest flared and fangs bared.
Graydon gestured to the room. "This is Roake's Hall of Ancestors.”
Graydon stopped in front of the last statue. This one was newer than the rest, the stone lacking the patina of age.
"These are the previous Overlords," he said.
Kira stiffened as she realized why he'd chosen to linger in front of this particular statue. Almost as if drawn by a magnet her eyes shifted until they were resting on the statue's face. Her father's face.
Echoes of her features had their origins in his. The line of her nose, the shape of her lips.
He seemed almost amused, as if on the verge of laughter.
Graydon moved away, stopping in front of the wall. He touched one carved line reverently, the deep blue of Roake's colors spreading from the spot he touched, marching around and around until the solar system stood in stark relief.
"You're determined to pass your adva ka as soon as possible." Graydon's hand fell, and the wall vanished, revealing the beginnings of a carved passageway. Despair and grief wafted out of it. "This will be your first challenge. Before you can be deemed ready to advance to the next stage, you must pass the Trial of the Broken.”
The wall snapped back into existence.
Kira stared at it, tucking her shaking hands against her sides. Whatever that place had been wasn't natural. It had felt like every one of her deepest, darkest fears waited within its depths.
"What is that?" Kira whispered.
Graydon walked toward another set of statues. At first glance, it would be easy to assume they were of Tuann. That assumption would be wrong. Upon closer examination, Kira found the limbs a hair too long. Their eyes bigger than any human’s or Tuann's.
Their beauty was unearthly and alien. Cruelty and amusement were stamped on their faces as they looked out at the world.
Their armor wasn’t synth armor, which was Kira’s biggest clue.
Graydon paced along the statues. Every other statue was of a monster, no two alike. Some crouched and snarling, others upright on two legs.
"Not all of the Mea’Ave can be considered welcoming. It has its darkness like all things. What you just felt is a small sample of that. Roake uses it to determine a person's inner strength, how well they will stand against temptation and self-doubt. Admittedly, it can be rather brutal, and Roake is one of the few who still use the Trial of the Broken on its young. Passing the uhva na will mean your integrity is virtually unassailable," he told her.
"Why go to such lengths?" she asked.
He nodded at the statues in front of them. "The enemy of old. The ones who bred our race to fight their endless wars. I suspect ancient Tuann were much like your humans. Fragile and only half aware of the deeper secrets of the universe. The enemy of old forced us to evolve. Our stories tell us unspeakable wrongs were committed against us in the attempt."
"What happened to them?"
"They're extinct now." Graydon's expression darkened, cruelty stamped on his features. "The Tuann may have played a large role in their fate."
Kira’s gaze lingered on a statue’s features. They were disturbingly familiar. They starred in her oldest nightmares from a time when pain and fear were her daily companions.
Graydon’s enemy of old was the same one who used to visit the camp where Kira and Jin had spent their youngest years.
Realization rocketed through her. She was staring at the Tsavitee's masters. More surprising was the knowledge that the Tuann had once been their servants.
"Why are you telling me this?" Kira asked, still distracted by her discovery and its implications.
No wonder the Tsavitee had turned their attention to the Tuann. Their masters weren't the type to let their toys escape their control.
Kira had intimate knowledge of the extent they'd go to return a wayward toy to their care. Could the reason for everything be so simple? Her parents' deaths, her childhood in the camp, the war against humans?
One thought stopped her. Why would the Tsavitee’s masters make their move now? From what Graydon had said, the Tuann had escaped thousands of years ago.
What had changed?
"If I expect information, I should be willing to share in return." Graydon's focus was searing, startling her out of her contemplation. "Would you like to share why your ship has left O'Riley?"
Shock made Kira slow. Her expression went blank in the next second. She hoped Graydon hadn’t caught her surprise.
"My ship has built-in security systems. If we don't access it in a certain time frame, it will disengage from whatever station and use autopilot to fly itself to a remote part of space where it will remain un
til I activate my beacon," Kira heard herself saying as if from a distance.
There was no hint Graydon had caught her slip as he regarded her steadily. "I can see many ways such a feature could come in handy."
A strangled sound of agreement was all Kira could manage.
While plausible—and worth making a mental note so Jin could rig the ship to do exactly that in the future—it was also a bald-faced lie.
"As interesting as this lesson has been, I have more training today," she said, making an excuse to escape.
The corners of his lips tilted up, the smile not quite reaching his watchful eyes. "I wouldn't want to stand in your way."
Kira's nod was jerky as she took her leave.
If the Wanderer wasn't at O'Riley, it meant someone had stolen it. There were only a few people who had the capabilities to bypass the ship's defenses.
Of those, only one Kira could think of who would devote the time and effort to such an undertaking. It was not a person she wanted flying her ship.
*
Graydon watched Kira's hasty retreat, pondering what the conversation had revealed. Next to him, the shadows parted as Solal stepped away from the line of statues.
He joined Graydon. "She doesn't know who took the ship."
A “hmm” was Graydon's only response.
No, she didn't. Her moment of unguarded reaction had been brief. There and gone in an instant. Had he not spent time observing her and her mannerisms, he might have missed it. Because of that, she couldn't hide her surprise at the news of her ship's disappearance.
"What do you think it means?" Solal asked with a hint of a frown.
Graydon shook his head. "I don't know, but I think we need to find out."
ELEVEN
Kira approached her room at a quick clip. Jin had better be there. If he wasn’t, there were going to consequences—extreme ones.
She threw open her door and stepped inside, her mouth already opening on his name when she came to an abrupt stop.
The room was occupied—but not by the person she’d been hoping to find.
A woman in a long green dress straightened from where she was fiddling with Kira’s closet. Her half-done braid slipped over her shoulder.
