Raider’s concerned face appeared over hers.“Kira?You back?”
Kira’s answer was a groan.“I feel like I’ve been hit by a space ship.”
She would know what she was talking about.She’d actually been hit with one before.
Raider took her arm to help her sit up.“You and Jin are testing my very last nerve.What the hell were you two thinking?”
“We weren’t.I think that’s the point.”
Kira reached over to set a hand on Jin’s arm, wincing as her muscles protested the movement.
To her relief, there were no further signs of seizure.It might be some time before he regained consciousness though.
“Easy,” Raider urged as Kira tried to push to her feet.
“There’s no time for that.”
Caius was a problem that wasn’t going away.She needed to figure out what was going on before people like Sariah decided to blame her for his crimes.
Aggravation showed on Raider’s face as he forced Kira back down.“I’m not telling my daughter that her favorite aunt and uncle got their brains scrambled just because you think you have to do everything.”
Grumbling, Kira relaxed then tensed as she focused on Isla.“You said something about them being impersonators earlier.How did you know?”
She’d probably already said but Kira hadn’t really been listening what with everything that was happening with Jin.
“Their armor was fake,” Isla answered.
“How could you tell?”Raider asked.
Isla frowned as she sorted through her thoughts.“The color wasn’t right.”
“The pattern of scales was also wrong,” her fellow oshota volunteered from the hallway.
Raider’s gaze met Kira’s.“The color of Caius’s armor seems off, doesn’t it?”
Kira nodded.“I was about to say the same thing.”
It was a minor detail but an important one.Oshota were known for their meticulousness.Lives depended on them.
“Roake’s armor is midnight blue,” Kira added softly.
The one Caius had worn was cobalt.
The shades weren’t very far off each other, but for a Tuann the difference was an ocean wide.
Sariah rolled her eyes as Isla hurried to examine the fallen body.“You’re grasping at straws and trying to redirect blame for this incident.Who cares what color his armor is?”
She should.Especially since Roake’s armor wasn’t the only thing these impersonators had faked.
“Would someone do this on purpose?”Kira asked, ignoring Sariah.“Wear the wrong synth armor?”
Dylan shook his head.“The color and design of your synth armor proclaims your allegiance.It can’t be changed once it’s set.The process is closely guarded by Houses to prevent enemies from replicating the armor to try and infiltrate other Houses.No oshota would ever make such a mistake.They’d quite literally be taking their life in their hands.”
Then why—
A loud harrumph interrupted Kira’s chain of thought as Isla yanked something free from the armor at Caius’s chest and held it up for them to see.“That’s why.This isn’t synth armor at all.”
The small patch of armor had been cut to look like alu-ongscale and painted to resemble Roake’s colors.And not very well either.
