"Don't tell me. Is this him?" a woman declared excitedly, her voice seeming to come from everywhere.
Graydon dropped Kira's hand, his en-blade appearing in his palm as he went on the alert.
A woman appeared, crouched on thin air directly in front and above them. She balanced on her toes, seemingly on nothing. Her face was painted with heavy, theatrical makeup that obscured her features. Except for her eyes which were wide and fascinated as she focused on Graydon.
Kira caught Graydon's arm. "Don't react."
From the looks of things, the forty three had decided to test Graydon. Kira remembered it from her times in the camp. It's what they did on the rare occasion someone new entered the group.
They were learning his limits. What made him tick. What made him angry.
"They won't hurt me."
Though there was that one time they'd broken her arm. And her leg.
"I'm reasonably sure they won't," Kira added.
Graydon gave her a look as if to ask if she was kidding.
Kira shrugged. "They're unpredictable."
"Don't tease the poor man. The Tuann aren't known for their humor." The woman lay on her stomach in the air, her knees bent and her feet kicking lightly behind her. "Of course, we're not going to kill you. We went to a lot of trouble to invite you here."
The woman paused, her smile growing until she was grinning as wide as a jester. "At least we won't kill you today."
"Keep messing with him, Thea. I'll let him do what he wants," Kira threatened.
It was one thing for Kira to stay Graydon's hand. Another to listen to this woman taunt him.
"Don't play with strangers, Thea," someone called from the stands. "You don't want to be contaminated with their madness."
Thea pretended to be horrified, theatrically pressing her hands to her mouth and quailing away from them.
"No wonder you pretend they don't exist," Graydon said to Kira, not taking his eyes off the other woman. "I'd avoid them too."
Thea dropped all pretenses, revealing the cold blooded killer that was inside. "Careful, puppet. We won't kill her, but you're not so safe."
Graydon looked delighted at the threat. "Give me a reason to act. I beg you. Your head is currently only still attached to your body out of consideration for Kira."
The silky tone in his voice had alarm shooting through Kira. It seemed he’d done a very good job of hiding his rage. To the point where she’d thought he’d let slide what Pallas had done.
Instead, he’d been suppressing it. And now it was leaking through. Just itching for a target.
"Enough, Thea," a man rumbled from the shadows gathered at the base of one of five statues guarding the top of the wall. Haldeel warriors all of them. Their implacable expressions conveyed solemnity and expectation. As if they were waiting for those below to prove something to them.
Their presence answered part of the question of where they were. Haldeel territory. The oubliette they were standing in was evidence of that. It was a sacred proving ground that the Haldeel once used for combat and judgment. It had largely fallen out of fashion in the past thousand years or so, to be replaced by the quorum and games like the stratagem.
The oubliettes still existed though. Mostly on planets that had been in the empire for a long time.
Occasionally, challengers still appeared, but it was rare.
A hushed somberness pervaded the space. An almost holy feeling imbuing the atmosphere.
Kira scanned the statue, noting the Haldeel armor it wore. A more ancient version of what she was used to. The distinctive paneled skirt allowed for free range of movement for the eight prehensile appendages that made up the warrior's lower half. A spear-like weapon similar to the trident they used in current times was held in their hands.
As fascinating as the peek into Haldeel history was, it was the man standing at the statue's base that drew Kira's attention.
Her eldest brother. Her personal nemesis. And the man who while not officially recognized as the forty three's leader, certainly acted like he thought he was.
"Hello, Ryan," Kira said, focusing on the place where she knew he was standing. "I take it I have you to thank for involving Elena in my business."
Ten
The silence that answered her question dragged on for what felt like an eternity. The shadows Ryan was using to hide, deep pools of impenetrable black.
Kira waited, not taking her eyes off that spot. Her patience was rewarded when the shadows stirred. One separating from the rest as Ryan moved to their very edge. The low light allowed Kira to just barely distinguish the outline of his body while casting his features completely in darkness.
"You never told me they were so theatrical," Graydon said in a low voice.
"They've only gotten worse over the years. You get used to it. Eventually."
Sometimes she wondered if they'd spent the first few years after their escape watching every holovid humanity had ever created and taking notes on how to be unnecessarily mysterious.
Graydon raised his eyebrow at the stands. "I wonder where they picked that trait up. It's not Tuann."
Kira sent him a sidelong look. "Are you certain about that?"
Because she could think of several encounters that made her question that statement.
Graydon's lips quivered as he suppressed a smile, keeping his gaze trained on Ryan and the audience stands.
"Thank you for joining us, Kira," Ryan rumbled.
"Not like I had much of a choice."
And boy did she have a bone to pick with them about that. But first she'd see what they wanted.
Her retribution could come after.
Someone in the stands raised their hand. "Is anyone else curious as to why she has a companion? I thought this was invite only."
"Yes, Pallas. Do tell," a woman in the very back purred.
Kira looked over to where Pallas sat in the front row, his feet propped up on the railing as he cleaned the knife he'd withdrawn from his mismatched set of armor.
At the question, he looked up with a mad grin. "What can I say? I found the way he clung to Kira’s coattails simply adorable. It seemed rude to kill him after all his effort."
Bullshit. Pallas didn't go after Graydon because of Selene and Alexander.
Thea leaned over Pallas's shoulder from behind, hanging almost upside down. "When have manners ever stopped you from murder?"
Pallas's knife paused. His expression blanked. He flipped the knife in his hand, shifting his grip on the hilt. He jerked his hand up and across, slashing the blade across Thea's throat an instant later.
There was a shocked pause as everything in the room stopped.
A gurgle came from Thea, loud in the silence. The choked sound cut off, changing to a quiet giggle. Loud laughter replaced it, echoing from all over until it was difficult to know where the source originated.
Thea's body burst into hundreds of tiny, fluttering insects that looked like a cross between a dragonfly and a praying mantis. They reformed at the back of the stands.