"I'd prefer it, yes."
"Fine," Kira bit out. "Graydon, how would you feel about risking life and limb on a potential suicide mission? I promise it will be chock full of death defying thrills and if we're very unlucky we'll come face-to-face with the monsters of Tuann legend."
"You always give me the sweetest of gifts, coli. It would be my honor to battle at your side in this most deadly of courtships. I wouldn't miss it for anything."
Three hours later Kira stood in the quarters Jace had assigned her on the CSS Reliance, his flagship, her gaze trained on the rogue planet as it retreated in the distance.
A chiming sound came from the J1N.
"There is an incoming call," the drone announced.
Kira leaned her wrist against the window. "Right on time."
"Shall I answer it?"
An angry exhale came from Kira. "Yes."
Pallas's silky tone flooded the room. "Dearest sister, methinks someone isn't where they promised to be."
"Is that so?" Kira asked as Graydon's reflection appeared in the window next to her.
"I thought we had an agreement."
"We did. No more."
"Oh?" Pallas purred.
"Yes."
Graydon's arms came around her, tugging her back into his chest as he held her.
"Don't be foolish, little sister. You know there's nowhere you can go that I won't find you."
"Maybe," Kira agreed. "But I wouldn't recommend you trying. The next time I see you I plan to kill you."
Leaving this way was the last bit of mercy she had to offer her brother. So, she hoped he took her warning seriously.
Because the next time they met, one of them would die.
"You've disabled my ship," Pallas announced a moment later with a mixture of admiration and frustration. "And you're using a Tuann disrupter field like the ones used in their prisons to prevent me from using alternate means of travel. Well done, little sister."
Kira didn't say anything as he seethed.
"This won't keep me forever," he spat.
"No, it won't."
There was a loud crash from Pallas's side. "Why are you doing this?"
"I know you were on Rothchild's moon before the blast."
A defeated sigh came over the line. "Kira."
Kira glared at her reflection, hating the gleam of wet on her cheeks. "Did you kill my friends?"
There was another sigh. "It's not that simple, heasa."
"It is, actually. Very simple."
