Finished, she patted Jin on his casing. "You have to stay hidden. Remember?"
Jin sputtered. "You can't—This is—Kira, I object to this treatment!"
Wails issued from the depths of Finn's hood as Kira continued walking, stepping out of the tunnel, and squinting at the bright light that greeted her.
A small expanse of dirt stretched in front of her, ending at the feet of the audience stands.
At one end was the starting line, racers congregating as they waited for the officials. Their postures were relaxed as they threw taunts back and forth.
That wasn't what caused Kira's abrupt halt. "Why are they here?"
A sea of synth armor took up the stands. Roake's midnight blue intermixed with Luatha's forest greens. Their colors dominated the stands.
Even more concerning was the small clump of people located in the front center wearing synth armor so deep a black it seemed to eat the light.
Worst of all was the man sitting in their midst, an arrogant expression on his face as he surveyed the proceedings.
Graydon.
And right beside him was Raider.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
They weren’t supposed to be here. She’d thought if anything they’d attend one of the more popular events. The ones that involved swords or fighting.
They couldn’t know about her, right? She’d been so careful.
Then again, Jace had found her. Who was to say Graydon hadn’t also?
Coincidences made her itchy inside. None more so than when a certain Emperor’s Face turned up somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be.
Thank every god that ever existed she'd had the foresight to procure a mask. If he didn’t already know she was here, then the mask might allow her to slip away unnoticed.
Jin cackled, the sound strange as it issued from the depths of Finn's hood, not fitting his mysterious aura at all.
"It’s like fate is drawing you two together,” Jin teased.
Kira's fingers tingled with the urge to take a swipe at him. If not for their audience, she would have done exactly that.
"They can't know about us yet, right?" she asked Finn.
Finn's head lifted as he considered those in the stands. "It's hard to say what the Emperor's Face is capable of."
Kira debated the likelihood that Graydon had tailed her from the station. Jace had managed to find her. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that Graydon had done the same.
Granted, Jace and Himoto had years of familiarity with Kira's habits, but she wasn't about to put anything past Graydon. The man had managed to surprise her in the past.
Even if Graydon hadn't known where to look for her, Raider would, and he was likely angry enough at Kira to help the Tuann beside him.
"It's possible he's here for Devon," Finn said after some thought.
“And Luatha?”
Finn shook his head. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
The temptation to withdraw from the competition was strong. Too bad doing so would ruin her plans.
Kira frowned as she caught sight of Joule, Ziva, and Rheya seated beside Raider as they watched the race preparations with interested faces. They looked up as Devon joined them seconds later.
