Kira continued to sign. "Ten. Bee."
Thea lifted her weapon. "Kira!"
Three.
Kira's eyes never left Thea's as Elena rose, Elise on her back.
Two.
Thea switched her target to Elena. "I said stop!"
One.
Kira lunged. Elena broke right, over the central platform toward the opposite side.
Thea didn't have time to get off more than one shot before Kira was on her. She brought the rifle up using it to stop Kira's akieri from cleaving her in two from forehead to pelvis.
Kira bore down with her full strength. "I never liked you."
Thea had always been something of a coward, always willing to let others take the brunt of any punishment. Never stepping up when it counted.
Maybe Kira could have accepted that if not for the other's habit of being so damn smug and superior all the time. As if Thea had the right to judge Selene for being weak when she was the one always at the back, using the others as shields.
Thea's arms shook under Kira’s pressure. "That's fine. Because I always hated you."
Kira’s sudden grin was a little insane. "That's settled then."
Before Thea could disengage, Kira grabbed her arm, jerking the other woman closer. She slammed her forehead into Thea's face.
Cartilage crunched. Blood poured from Thea's nose.
"That's for what you did to Pallas," Kira informed her.
Kira might want to kill her brother for the part he played on Rothchild, but this traitor wasn't allowed to touch a hair on his head.
Unfortunately, a broken nose wasn't quite enough for someone like Thea. Although Kira considered the other woman weak when compared to the rest of the forty three, she'd still undergone the same training.
That made her a threat. Coward or not.
Thea hammered a kick into Kira's thigh. Directly over her knee.
Kira turned into the blow, deflecting some of the force to prevent the bone from snapping.
Pain shot through the muscle. Kira's leg threatened to collapse, barely holding her weight as she sliced the akieri across Thea's stomach.
The other woman dodged, stumbling back.
"What are you doing?" Thea screamed, Elena's voice coming out of her mouth as she held out a placating hand with a terrified expression. "Auntie, it's me.”
Rage clouded Kira's mind. How dare she think to use Elena against her? Who did she think she was?
"You've forgotten Thea. Your tricks don't work on me."
They never had.
Kira swung her sword, following up that blow with another. And then another. Her attack merciless as she drove Thea to the edge of the platform.
Did she really think Kira wouldn't be able to tell the difference between her and Elena?
