“Is that chai?” Jin asked as if unaware of the tension in those around them—or the fact that Boden and Edris had drawn their en-blades.
Kira ignored his question as she sent a glare at the Kashori oshota threatening her friend. “Put those away.”
Before I feed them to you, she finished silently.
The back-to-back challenges to Joule had already put her in a foul mood. Pointing a weapon at Jin in this moment would be a good way to send her over the edge.
“I would listen to her if I were you,” Selene advised.
Kira’s body was a coiled spring as she regarded the oshota, wanting nothing more than to throw herself at those in front of her to work off some of this rage.
Finn dropped down from the roof, landing lightly behind the oshota. His en-blade already drawn and pointed at the duo as he rose to his full height.
Edris whirled to face him, putting his back to Boden.
Finn’s gaze flicked past the pair to Kira, full of irritation and blame as if to say he’d anticipated this scenario upon his arrival and was disappointed to find he was right.
“Impressive,” Selene observed. “There was at least ten more minutes in my construct.”
Kira ignored both Selene and Finn as she stared down Kashori’s oshota. “Did you not hear me the first time? Put. Your. Blade. Away.”
The Tuann’s constant hostility toward Jin was growing wearisome. She’d lost count of the number of times his mere presence had sparked a similar reaction.
Boden’s nice guy act shredded. “Or what?”
For a moment, Kira didn’t move. She sat there staring at him, motionless. Then she smiled.
It was a peaceful smile. Beatific really.
Kira exploded forward, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. She stopped just outside his reach, happy when he tensed.
“Or I feed it to you.”
Kira gave him another deranged smile, liking that confused look in his eye. It suited his brutish features as did his troubled frown that showed he didn’t know what to do with her.
That was okay. He didn’t need to. Kira would be happy to educate him.
Finn’s shoulders rose and then fell as he heaved a sigh. “Kira, that’s enough.”
“I don’t think it is.”
People kept forcing her to teach the same lesson over and over again. How hard was it to understand that the drone wasn’t to be touched?
“You don’t need to get involved in this,” Finn said. “I’ll be the one to challenge him.”
Selene’s hand landed on Kira’s wrist. “He’s right. There are a lot of people watching. It’s better to let him take the attention away from you.”
A look of caution entered Boden’s face as his grip tightened on his en-blade.
Kira found it mildly insulting that Boden regarded Finn as more of a threat than her.
She’d worked hard to earn a reputation as a terror. How disappointing that years of effort meant nothing in Tuann society.
Perhaps it was time she start again—this time among the Tuann.
Kira’s gaze was cold as she smiled at Boden. “I dislike playing by other people’s rules—so I think it’s time I stopped.”
Tension crackled.
