“Please. Help yourself,” Kira remarked in a dry voice.
Finished, Selene lowered the glass to give it an appreciative look. “This is a fine vintage.”
Kira hooked one arm over the back of her chair as she made herself more comfortable. “So glad you liked it.”
Further evidence that Selene, and likely the rest of the forty-three, had a familiarity with Tuann society that surpassed her own.
“Don’t look at me like that, dear sister.” Selene set the glass on the table in front of Kira. “I’ll think you’re angry with me.”
Kira tapped her finger against her thumb, telling herself that anger would get her nowhere with Selene or the others. It never had.
Still, Kira couldn’t resist a small jab. “I wonder what reason I would have for that.”
Maybe the fact they’d left her twisting in the wind when a simple warning the Tuann existed might have led her to make different choices.
But no, they’d kept that tidbit to themselves.
Rather than dwell, Kira chose to focus on something different as she nodded toward the two oshota, a man and a woman, waiting a short distance away from them.
Selene’s escort.
“You brought friends.”
There was a faint expression of discontent as Selene glanced at the two. “It was unavoidable.”
Kira considered Finn’s expression, more familiar with that sentiment than she’d like to admit. Her oshota looked like it was taking every ounce of his willpower to not spring across the room to save her from Selene and her escorts.
“As I’m sure you understand,” Selene added, seeing the same thing Kira did.
“I never warranted two oshota, though. Should I take the fact you did as an insult or be gratified that I escaped that level of scrutiny?”
“The Tuann likely learned their lesson from trying to deal with you.” Selene flashed Kira an impish smile. “Alexander and I are paying the price.”
Kira’s flat look said she didn’t find the other amusing.
A faint trace of laughter lingered in Selene’s expression as she tilted her head at the city outside. “Shall we take a walk?”
A transparent box formed around Finn and the other two oshota. One Kira knew from experience was virtually impenetrable until the ki sustaining it faded.
“Alone, if you would,” Selene added.
Fury showed on Finn’s face as he hammered a fist into what was essentially a ki shield like the one Joule used—only ten times stronger and more durable.
When that didn’t work, Finn unsheathed his en-blade, slicing at the box of pure ki.
Selene’s escorts were frozen in place, their faces showing an almost comical amount of surprise. As if they couldn’t fathom how the poor, untrained Selene had managed to trap them.
“Release them,” Kira ordered
“Are you sure about that?” Selene asked with a composed look. “I don’t think this conversation is one you want overheard.”
From that, Kira understood that Selene didn’t plan to budge. This was her way of laying out Kira’s choices—agree to go along with Selene or risk not having this conversation at all.
There was an apology in Kira’s eyes as she glanced at Finn. Disbelief showed on his face as he swore, most of the words not ones Kira had learned yet.
She stood and crossed to the bar where Talon waited. “If you could, take care of him for me when he finally manages to escape.”
It might take a little bit of time, but she had no doubt he would.
