Jace moved closer to the screen, his gaze on the approaching ships. The corners of his lips started to tilt up.
"They're not Tsavitee." Velasquez turned to look at them. "They're Tuann."
That's his girl. Always with the last minute surprises.
This was the real reason Jace hadn't wanted to abandon the fight even when things looked lost. Kira always had something up her sleeve.
He'd suspected when those Tuann broke onto his base that they might have a secondary force waiting somewhere nearby. A daughter of Roake would never be sent out without someone to watch her back.
"We're being hailed," Velasquez announced.
Jace moved forward. "Put it through."
On the screen a man with the same blood red hair as Kira appeared.
"Kira's uncle I presume," Jace drawled, not really needing the confirmation. The resemblance was unmistakable.
The Overlord of House Roake inclined his head.
"I didn't think you'd be the one to come. Does Kira know?"
The man's lips quirked in a micro smile that barely touched his eyes. "She's unaware."
Jace watched a chunk of the Overlord's forces break toward the planet.
The Overlord didn’t look away from Jace, studying him with a penetrating gaze that was all too similar to that of his niece’s. "What say you we forget about our people's conflicts for the moment and work together for the next little while."
"I thought you'd never ask."
Kira
Everything around Kira felt distant and muffled, her senses overwhelmed as ringing filled her ears.
Kira wobbled to her hands and knees. She pressed a palm to her head as her gaze landed on the drone in the Osiri's hands. "Jin?"
"I'm here." There was a groan. "Why does it feel like I just did ten rounds with a battleship?"
An apt description for their present states.
Kira's body hurt in a way she hadn't known it could. The last time she’d felt like this was in the aftermath of using a burst. When every cell of her being felt like it might fall apart. Only worse. Because it wasn’t just her physical self that was in agony. But her mind and spiritual one as well. The area surrounding her connection with Jin one massive wound. The nerve endings so badly damaged that all she could sense from either him or her was pain.
The Osiri knelt just out of her reach. "It's fascinating—your bond flows both ways."
Kira squinted at the Osiri’s face, wishing she could get her hands on his throat. She’d rip it right out. If only her limbs didn't feel like overcooked noodles.
"I'm assuming the bio feedback resulting from such a connection is why the soul bound is stable. It’s a pity."
"What is?" Kira ground out, part of her registering movement from Pallas’s body.
The Osiri had straightened to his full height. "We have no need for a soul bound who cannot maintain his own soul."
The Osiri squeezed. The sphere cracked, a spider web of lines running over the exterior as Jin started to scream. At the same time, it felt like a hand had reached into Kira's center to crush the well of ki that anchored her being.
The Osiri's grip eased, his inhuman gaze resting on her with a hint of intrigue. "Perhaps I was hasty in my assumption. His use may lie in another direction."
He meant as a means to control Kira.
"Kira, I don't know about you, but I don't plan to go out like this," Jin rasped.
"Right there with you, buddy."
She wouldn’t let their bond be tainted that way.
Jin's anti gravs roared into full reverse. At the same time, he unloaded every bit of his firepower into the Osiri’s face.
The Osiri's hand clenched, dagger like claws erupting from the tips of his fingers and spearing Jin's casing before he flung the drone across the room. It hit one of the cryopods, denting it enough for liquid to start leaking out before dropping to the ground.
Finn dropped from the ceiling, his blade already flashing.
The Osiri caught it an inch from his neck. "Is that all you've got?"
There was the sensation of something cold and awful piercing Kira’s insides. But when she looked down, there was no wound she could see. Just unblemished armor.
Raider fired his pulse rifle from the opposite side of the platform, taking the Osiri in the back. "Nope. It’s not."
Kira was up and across the platform, barreling toward Elena and Thea.
There was delight in Thea’s face at Kira's approach.
The briar's lashes sprang from beneath the walkway. Kira didn't have time to dodge as they wrapped around her leg, the thorns in them biting deep.