The person, their face and hair hidden by the hood of the cloak they wore, dropped back, waiting on the threshold as Kira advanced toward Graydon.
Her footsteps echoed in the large room, the sounds bouncing off the empty surfaces of the walls and floor.
As irritated as she’d been at being told she had to return to Ta Sa’Riel via a Tuann ship, she had to hand it to the Tuann. Their ships were works of art.
Better than the human rust buckets she was used to. Every bit as beautiful as a Haldeel cruiser.
She didn’t know if it was because she was Tuann but she found a part of her preferring this ship to the Haldeel’s.
Every room and communal area were as perfect as they were functional.
Of the areas of the ship she’d seen, she’d have to say this room was her favorite. Something about it called to her. The place was simple. The walls, floor, and ceiling a dark black that transitioned nicely into the transparent floor-to-ceiling wall that offered a view of space.
The sound of Kira’s footsteps changed as she stepped onto glass. She paused, noting the stars streaming beneath her feet before examining her surroundings a little more closely.
What she’d previously thought of as a simple wall was actually more of a bubble, allowing viewers to step onto the glass. It gave the illusion of the person being in space. Without an EV suit, armor, or any other barrier separating her from the great universe beyond.
Graydon stood in the middle of it, his back to her as he observed the stars.
Waiting.
“I love it out here,” Kira said, joining him.
There was a quiet peace to being surrounded by the cold beauty of the void. Stars streaming by as the ship made its return voyage to Ta Sa’Riel, the emperor’s home planet and the center of the Tuann empire.
Space had always been the place she felt most at home.
It didn’t matter if sometimes the air was stale from too many times through the Wanderer’s scrubbers or if she was stuck eating nasty MREs when her fresh produce ran out.
She didn’t care that it was inhospitable in the extreme, a single misstep carrying the possibility of death. You had to be on guard at all times. Prepared for that instant when things went wrong—especially when that danger came from an unexpected quarter.
Kira had gotten so used to that heightened sense of alertness that it felt unnatural when it was no longer required.
Awareness spread through Kira as Graydon’s gaze swept over her.
He had always seen too much. Even from the very beginning. His storm gray eyes penetrating her thickest defenses.
With as many secrets as she had, the feeling was disconcerting.
In her more paranoid moments, she thought it would have been better to maintain her distance. Something she recognized as impossible even then.
There was a raw, magnetic pull between them that she’d long given up resisting. Graydon wouldn’t have allowed it anyway.
As the youngest Face of the Tuann emperor, he was used to getting his way. Even when he didn’t, he was capable of turning any situation to his advantage.
There was an almost cruel beauty to the line of his features as he turned to face her more fully.
“I can see the draw. It would seem like freedom out here,” he said.
That was exactly what it was.
Graydon looked past her to the person waiting on the threshold of the room. “Is the hood necessary?”
Kira’s grin was brief. “They have a slight obsession with seeming mysterious. You’ll get used to it.”
Graydon shook his head, not pushing the issue. “I hope you know what you’re doing, coli.”
Kira did too.
