Harlow placed a hand over Caius’s, stopping him. “We don’t know that yet.”
Caius paused before dropping his arm, the message unsent. “As I said before—foolishly loyal.”
thirty
Kira kept her gaze fastened on her uncle’s as she made her way down the hall, a part of her still surprised she’d decided to come. She’d spent hours last night in her parents’ bedroom. It wasn’t until dawn stole across the horizon that she’d arrived at a decision.
To stay and take her chances.
It was a risky move that threw both her and Jin’s fates into question. The thing was neither she nor Jin had ever backed down from a fight and this was one of the biggest they’d ever faced.
They owed it to themselves to see it all the way through. No matter the ending.
Only then could they move forward.
Not to say she wouldn’t fight if they tried to destroy Jin. She’d tear this planet apart if she had to in defense of him.
But she wanted that chance to prove not all soul bound were what the Tuann thought. It was a decision she thought Jin would approve of.
Finn joined her, appearing from behind her like a wraith.
“Did you take care of what you needed to?” Kira asked.
“It turns out my preparations weren’t necessary.” He inclined his chin. “At least not yet.”
Kira sent him a look, reading the promise there that left her with the sense she hadn’t been the only one preparing for a departure.
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him if he’d really considered going with her when she left. A question she refrained from voicing in case she’d misread him.
This wasn’t the right venue for such questions anyway. The hall far too crowded to allow for a private conversation.
More gazes turned toward Kira as the Tuann milling in the hallway caught sight of her arrival. A murmur started before several began moving toward the audience chamber as it became clear the trial would soon start now that the guest of honor had arrived.
Blue darted in Kira’s direction, her shorter stature making it easy for her to go unnoticed among the much taller Tuann. Her expression was furious as she caught up to Kira.
“Nixxy, what the hell is going on?” Blue snapped, blocking Kira’s path. She turned to follow as Kira side stepped her and kept going. “You’ve been AWOL for days and now I have to hear that Jin’s under arrest and might possibly be put down? What the fuck?”
“I can’t explain right now,” Kira told her, wrestling with a sense of impatience.
Blue didn’t deserve her irritation. Especially since her anger was justifiable. In her place, Kira would have been angry too at being left so far out of the loop.
Underneath Blue’s annoyance was also a thread of fear for Jin, reminding Kira that the two had once been close. Blue had always considered him family. They shared a love for all things technological that had bonded them.
Blue had started to speak when she fell silent again, her gaze moving beyond Kira. Her shock palpable.
“She’s alive?” A fragile hope bloomed on Blue’s face. “What about the rest of the Curs? Does this mean they’re alive too?”
Kira started to shake her head and then stopped. She hadn’t fully considered that.
No bodies had ever been recovered, the debris field of the half-destroyed moon making them impossible to find.
Their graves were still empty.
Elise had survived. Why not the other two?
Though after how much Elise had changed, Kira didn’t know whether to hope for their survival or the preservation of their memory that their deaths would ensure.
Kira shook her head as Raider and Elena arrived.
