A knock sounded at the door to the room, interrupting Kira’s perusal.
Finn and Kira looked at each other.
He set a napkin on the table, rising from his chair. “I’ll get it.”
The tantalizing scents of the food washed away any objection Kira might have had as Finn disappeared through the balcony doors, crossing the floor of her room to the door leading to the hallway.
It appeared a week spent healing while in a coma had left her ravenous.
Nothing would keep her from her meal. Even unexpected visitors.
Kira paid no attention as Finn opened the door, a woman brushing past him.
“I see you haven’t managed to lose your ball and chain,” the woman called as she crossed Kira’s room to the balcony.
Kira paused in the act of spooning pieces of a blue fruit with flecks of green scattered through its flesh onto her plate to look up at the person standing over her. Short by human standards, the woman had delicate features that pointed to an Asian ancestry.
“Blue,” Kira said with a measure of surprise as she looked past her to Finn’s irritated face.
The woman’s real name was Yuki, but they’d always called her Blue on account of the way she dyed the tips of her hair blue.
Not terribly original but the name had stuck.
Once an orphan Kira rescued, she was now a part of the new Curs.
“I’m a little surprised you remember my name.” Blue propped one hand on her hip as she attempted to look down at Kira from her less than impressive height. “What with you disappearing without a word—again. Did you forget I existed?”
Kira put the spoon she still held in her mouth, wondering how she should answer that question.
The truth was she had kind of forgotten Blue had remained behind in Roake while she and Raider were at the quorum.
Blue’s eyes widened in disbelief as she read the answer on Kira’s face.
“I expected something like this out of you. You have a history. Raider, however, is an entirely different story.”
Underneath Blue’s annoyance, Kira thought she caught a glimpse of hurt.
Blue wasn’t some random person who’d joined the Curs because they were considered an elite unit. She’d done so as an homage to those who’d died. They’d been her family too, once. The only one she’d had after her planet was invaded and her family killed by the Tsavitee.
Blue flopped into the chair across from Kira. “I can’t believe you left me behind—again.”
The put-out expression on her face faded to one of bewilderment as Finn loomed over her.
“That’s my seat,” he informed her.
Blue looked around in confusion, taking in the two empty chairs to either side of her.
“Move,” he said again more slowly this time.
Blue sent him a grimace as she leveraged herself out of his seat before sprawling in the one right next to it. “Fine. Happy now?”
Finn lowered himself into the chair she’d vacated. “Ecstatic.”
Blue eyed the oshota. “I didn’t think you lot were capable of having a personality—or sarcasm.”
Finn preoccupied himself with filling his plate with food from several of the dishes in front of him.
“Then you haven’t been paying attention while you were here,” he told Blue, placing the plate before him.
