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.