"To anyone outside a two-foot radius of this device, it will seem like we're talking about the city sights. Just keep your face pointed away so he can't read your lips, and we'll be fine." Irritation colored Odin's voice.
"You're taking a dangerous risk," Kira said.
Odin shrugged. "It's my risk to take."
Not when Kira was the one who would pay the price. The Tuann didn't trust her. They might want her there. The yearning in their gazes when they looked at her was clear, but they were keeping their distance.
Her time in the camps had marked her. Sometimes she wondered if the Tuann smelled the wrongness that clung to her like a miasma that wouldn't go away.
"Not when it puts my mission at stake," Kira said in a hard voice.
Odin was pivotal to their plan. She had to decode the information Kira salvaged from the Tsavitee wreckage. Without Odin, finding the Tsavitee home worlds would be nearly impossible. Kira would be reduced to throwing a dart at a star map and hoping she landed on the right solar system.
Odin reached for Kira's arm, her fingers lightly brushing over the dermapatch there. Odin plucked the patch off Kira's skin, attaching it to her own in a casual movement Kira knew even the sharpest of observers would have trouble seeing through. The patch mimicked her coloring, becoming undetectable.
Odin folded her arms before her on the table. "Happy now?"
Kira fixed Odin with a flat stare. "Thrilled."
Odin’s smile was brief as she stared out at the Tuann. "Fascinating, aren't they?"
Kira didn't answer.
Odin kicked her feet under the table as she set her chin on her folded arms. "I've found it interesting how similar the Tuann primus form is to a general. They're nearly identical, wouldn't you say?"
Kira grunted. "Except for the whole glowing symbols thing."
Runes and lines didn't appear on a general's skin during battle, and they didn't have a second form like Kira.
"True." Odin's attention shifted to Kira, her stare piercing. "Your blue-haired friend sees a connection too."
Kira stiffened, her blood turning to ice. "What do you know of Blue?"
She couldn't help the dangerous rumble in her voice.
Odin's lips quirked up playfully. "Only that she's sticking her nose in places people don't want her to. If she's not careful, someone might cut it off."
Kira was quiet as she considered Odin's warning mixed with a subtle threat—though whether it was Odin doing the threatening was the question.
Odin liked nuance. She rarely said everything she meant or meant everything she said. She might be warning Kira that Blue's curiosity was bringing her to the attention of some very dangerous people rather than saying Blue was stepping on Odin's toes.
Odin straightened, taking a moment to stretch. "You've landed in a very good place. I hope you decide to stay."
Kira's gaze was sharp. "What does that mean?"
Odin’s eyes were wiser than they had any right to be since she didn't appear much older than a human in their very early twenties. "More than any of the others, you've always searched for a place to belong. For a while, you thought that place was with humans."
"And you think I've found that place here?" Kira didn't bother to hide her skepticism.
"I think, if you let yourself, you would find happiness." Odin's lips curved. "Maybe even allies for your more ambitious endeavors."
Kira narrowed her eyes. "Is that what this is really about?"
Odin looked away, thoughts moving across her face. Her head sagged, and she withdrew a mini viewer from another cloak pocket. She clicked the side, and a screen popped up. On it, the photo of a woman caught in profile appeared.
Kira sucked in a breath, reaching for the viewer and pulling it closer. "When was this taken?"
Kira's gaze lingered on the woman's features—ones as familiar to her as her own.
