One side of Kira’s mouth quirked up as she looked back at her friends.
Raider, who appeared as if he suspected what she was about to do. Joule, who was mostly concerned. Devon, whose confusion said he didn’t understand her hesitation.
“Don’t—“ Raider started.
Kira sidestepped as wind whistled past her head from an attack. The person responsible stumbled forward.
Kira planted a foot on their back and shoved.
The initiate hit the wall of the circle, sticking to it like a fly on sticky paper for a moment before slowly pressing forward.
Raider’s expression turned severe, his stare going from the stranger to Kira. “Why did you do that?”
He spoke with carefully controlled precision. As if doing otherwise might result in a tantrum of epic proportions.
“Not going to lie, I’m with the meat sack on this one. This wasn’t part of the plan,” Jin said.
Kira stepped back, giving Raider a pained smile. “I know but everything in me is saying it would be a mistake to enter this circle.”
She’d ignored her instincts once to a devastating cost. She couldn’t force herself to do so again.
“This isn’t my path.”
The words felt like a release.
She’d gotten Joule and Devon where they needed to be, but their path wasn’t hers. It never had been.
Even Raider had a different fate than her.
Though sometimes their paths might converge, each person had to determine the route they’d take.
For now, hers would diverge.
She could feel it. In her bones. And her soul.
Kira wasn’t a spiritual person. She didn’t believe in fate or any of that nonsense. Choice was what decided your future. The ones you made—the ones you didn’t.
Right now, instinct and the Mea’Ave’s will had tangled together, telling her one thing.
Her enemies expected her to be in this circle. They had planned around that scenario.
It’s why they focused on Joule. Why the ambushers had seemed to drive them along this path—even as they tried to obstruct them.
They wanted her distracted.
What would happen if she flipped the board? Acted out of character?
Kira didn’t know, but she really wanted to find out.
twenty-three
Before she could second guess herself, Kira spun and raced toward the one circle nearby that was guaranteed to have a slot remaining.
The circle she chose contained a solitary figure. The wanderer. A person who might very well be her enemy.
Electricity built in the air. Along with the knowledge that if she wasn’t somewhere safe when it burst, she would be in for a world of pain.
Maybe that was why those Tuann who’d been intent on attacking their fellow initiates were now scrambling for the remaining slots in the circles.
