TrustingFinntoreportthe intruder and their subsequent encounter with the palace oshota to Isla and her companion, Kira and Raider entered the room.
“What set you off?”Kira asked.
She’d always been curious what an angry Jin would look like.The answer was disarmingly adorable.His childlike size contrasted with the out-sized emotions written all over his face.
“You were going to tuck tail and run, weren’t you?”Jin jeered.
“Me?”Kira pointed at her chest, pretending surprise.“Absolutely not.”
Liar.She absolutely was.
Kira let her gaze linger on his features.Somehow, she’d almost forgotten what Jin looked like when they were young.The distance of time blunting her memories of the boy he’d once been.
Maybe because of that, this version of Jin seemed different than she remembered.
In her dreams, he’d been older.His hair shorter.His body less breakable and not as thin as it was now.
But his eyes—those were exactly as she remembered.
Kira turned her attention to the rest of the room, finding quite the crowd lying in wait.A trio of oshota, all of them wearing the matte black synth armor that designated them as the emperor’s, stood rigidly at attention in front of Jin.Beside and slightly behind them were a pair of inquisitors whose presence had Kira immediately bristling.
“Here I was thinking we’d seen the last of you,” Kira drawled as Finn rejoined them.
She swept a disdainful glance down the length of the silver eyed male inquisitor, almost sneering at the high collared, knee length jackets he and his companion wore.A brooch marking them as members of a special order tasked with eliminating all soul bound glinted at their throats.Its design a flower with horns jutting out of the top.
“What do you want, Jarek?”Kira demanded impatiently.“You have no authority over Jin.His soul no longer resides in the machine.”
If he even thought about harming her friend, there would be no one to stop her from eviscerating him this time.
The entity that resided within pressed against her skin as its thirst for blood swamped her for a second before she shoved it back down into its cage.
Kira’s alternate form, the primus, was a coldly pragmatic and utterly merciless killing machine.Created for battle, it was stronger and faster than her.It also lacked those pesky emotions like remorse or empathy, making it a danger to everyone around it.
Strangely enough, it was considered an asset to a House.Their military strength often hinged on how many they had in their ranks.
Of course, a primus was a double-edged sword since they were as likely to cause collateral damage to their own side as they were to the enemy’s.
Right now, her primus would have loved nothing more than to rip Jarek’s head from his body and use his entrails as necklaces.
Tempting—but not helpful.
“Heir of Roake, how I’ve missed these conversations of ours,” Jarek drawled.
Kira’s lip curled.“That’s not an answer.I’ll ask again.Why are you here?”
Last time they’d met, he tried to execute Jin for the simple fact that he existed.She held grudges for things like that.
Stupid man—he should have steered well clear.
She’d managed to talk herself out of assassinating him until now, knowing that she would be the first person looked at as the killer.But maybe she needed to revisit that plan.
Zealots like him didn’t change.
Better to eliminate the threat now.
Jarek considered Kira from beneath lowered eyelids, his impassive expression giving nothing away.
Their stare down was broken as his companion stepped forward to give Kira a pompous smile.“You’re interrupting important matters.If you’d step outside, we’ll finish up here shortly.”
