Graydon looked as incensed and on the brink of bloodshed as Pallas.
“I suggest you tread carefully,” Graydon threatened.
“It’s not me who has forgotten their place,” Sariah retorted.“The emperor may be your master, but for how much longer when your loyalties clearly lie elsewhere?”
Graydon’s jaw flexed as he ground his teeth so hard that Kira was surprised when they didn’t crack.
“We don’t have time for this,” Kira snapped, grabbing the inhibitor and slapping it on her wrist.A barrier slammed down between her and her soul’s breath.It felt like being cut off from one of her senses.
She was forced to take a moment to stabilize herself as a chasm yawned in front of her at the loss.
Just a tiny one though, since there were still things to do.
“There.Happy now?”Kira asked.“You got what you wanted.”
“I wanted you locked away where no one would ever hear your name again, but this is a start,” Sariah admitted.
Kira shook her head.“You’re such a stupid woman.”
Sariah’s smug smile dropped from her lips.
Before she could respond, Kira grabbed her wrist, yanking the inquisitor into her side so she could speak directly into her ear.
“Enjoy your power trip while it lasts.As the man next to you can attest, the fall that is coming is steep and long.”
Six
Kira
Kirapretendednottosee as Sariah blanched at the look on her face.
The poor woman probably didn’t realize how pointless her actions were.
An inhibitor was nothing to Kira.She and her siblings had spent their childhood overcoming similar devices.It could barely be considered an obstacle.
For instance, she could just as easily slit Sariah’s throat with the inhibitor impeding her movements as she could without.
Satisfied that she’d sufficiently intimidated the other woman, Kira aimed the same smug, superior smirk that Sariah had given her earlier at the other woman.“This has been a good chat.But I think I’ll be on my way now.You know how it is.Places to go.People to kill.”
Pallas’s low snicker showed he, at least, appreciated her joke.
Kira released Sariah, not looking at Graydon or the others as she strode out the front door of the Inquisitor’s Hold with her head held high.
If her back felt slightly itchy from the target her actions had just placed on it, no one but her would know.
A gray, overcast sky threatening rain greeted Kira as she strode toward the outer walls of the Hold where two men were waiting for her.
Finn’s expression was the severest Kira had ever seen.His stance rigid and tense.She got the feeling he would have stood there until the end of time if that’s what it would have taken.
By contrast, the man at his side seemed almost lackadaisical in comparison.
Talon slouched against the wall, the sharp planes of his face showing boredom as he scanned the courtyard with a lazy expression that Kira suspected had fooled many.
Talon was like a lion at rest.But you knew the moment he spotted the gazelle, he’d leap forward, claws extended.
In the weeks since he’d blackmailed his way into her service, Kira had come to know the other Tuann a little better.
Imagine her surprise when she’d discovered that rather than the humble bar owner she’d thought she was getting, he turned out to be a master spy.With a whole network of contacts and informants that allowed him to keep tabs on Roake’s enemies.
