Jin sputtered. “That’s not what I meant.”
Baran’s voice interrupted. “Who are you talking to?”
Kira and Jin went quiet as she looked over her shoulder. Baran’s narrowed eyes darted around the space as if he were trying to find the other person.
“Myself,” Kira said after a tense moment.
“Really?”
She nodded. “You don’t see anyone else, do you?”
Had he been Finn or any of Graydon’s other oshota, he would never have fallen for her lie.
But this was Baran.
He didn’t know her like they did nor was he familiar with Jin’s tendency of using his mini spawn as avatars. It left Kira a little wiggle room for half-truths.
Not much, mind you, but enough.
His eyes narrowed further.
“Shall we continue?” Kira asked, hoping to distract him from the suspicion she could see growing. “Or are you planning to put that en-blade to use?”
Baran looked down as if just realizing his hand was on the hilt of the blade.
He moved it away. “That won’t be necessary.”
Kira didn’t say anything about the fact he’d been fondling his blade, knowing the gesture was just as much about seeking comfort in the familiar as it was a potential first move toward violence.
Who hadn’t done something similar?
Kira practically lived with one hand on her weapon when she was a salvager. As long as that blade stayed in its sheath, she’d have no problems with him.
It was only if he drew it that she’d be forced to reconsider.
Kira turned back to the path. “I take it I passed the test.”
By now, Kira had crossed the bridge over the brook and was making her way toward the large stone structure built into the side of the rockface.
“You succeeded as soon as you took your second step into this room,” Baran informed her.
“Then why are you still following me?”
Baran gave her a flat look. “Observation.”
His answer made her realize that every oshota tasked with shadowing the initiates had worn the emperor’s colors.
There wasn’t a single exception.
“A neutral party is required to ensure Houses don’t try to assassinate the young of their rival’s,” Baran continued.
“What’s to stop the emperor from doing the same to those who might one day grow to oppose him?” Kira asked.
“No one is forcing them into the adva ka,“ Baran pointed out.
Kira scoffed. Some future that would be.
To never be considered a full adult. Kira couldn’t think of anything worse.
