Finn took the lead and soon they were leaving the fortress behind.The brisk air tossed Kira’s hair over her eyes.Stuck somewhere between curly and wavy, Kira’s hair was always unruly but never more so than when it had a bit of length, and it had gotten longer in the months since arriving on Ta Sa’Riel.It now reached past her shoulder blades.
The red that was one shade off burgundy was something she and her uncle had in common.A family trait.
Her eyes came from her mother’s people.House Luatha.A gray purple that leaned one way or the other depending on the light and Kira’s mood.Today they matched the overcast sky.The clouds pregnant with a precipitation Kira hoped would hold off until they reached shelter.
Thankfully, there was nowhere to hide on the straight stretch of elevated road that ended at the palace.No cover or obstructions that might conceal a person’s presence.
Finn nodded at a distant figure.“There.”
The three of them broke into another jog.This one faster than before.
Before too long, the aptly named Shining Palace at the city’s heart loomed in front of them.It shimmered even under gray skies.A rocky coastline framed the city to her left even as a wild, untamed forest protected the rest of its borders.
Kira was barely breathing hard as they reached the palace’s entrance.
“Where are the guards?”Raider called as they slowed to a walk.“You don’t think they were taken out like Roake’s oshota, do you?”
“I hope not,” Kira muttered.
There were no signs of struggle.Then again, that didn’t mean much since there hadn’t been any in the Nexus either.
Finn scanned the entrance.“I don’t sense any oshota nearby.”
“Let’s continue then,” Kira suggested uneasily.
Technically, Roake’s authority stopped at this entrance.Anything past this point was the emperor’s responsibility.Everything she did from here on out would be scrutinized later.Any mistake she made would be leveraged against not just her but Roake as well.
A smart person would have turned back.They would have found a way to hand the problem off to the emperor’s people and then wiped their hands of the whole affair.
Kira couldn’t do that.It was Roake’s oshota who had died.Their Nexus that had been breached.
Her uncle wanted the perpetrator brought before him.She planned to follow that order.
Finn and Raider flanked her as they proceeded into the palace with caution.Empty, echoing halls greeted their passage.Several minutes ticked by before they finally encountered the oshota they’d been expecting outside.
Three of them.Just standing in the middle of the hallway as if Kira and the other two were expected.
“What are you doing here?This wing is restricted,” the oshota that looked to be in charge asked.
Finn’s response was a lot more polite than Kira’s would have been.“Our apologies for the intrusion.We think someone we were tracking came this way.”
The oshota looked them over, making no attempt to disguise his skepticism.“An intruder?”
“We believe so,” Finn admitted.
You’d think being told there was a possible intruder in the palace that the oshota would launch into action.But, no.They seemed to take the news with an alarming lack of concern.
There was something about their presence that kept poking at Kira.Something beyond their disregard for a potential threat.She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Well, he didn’t come through here,” the oshota declared.
“That doesn’t mean he’s not in the palace somewhere.He could have taken a different route,” Raider offered.
One of the oshota’s companions curled her lip at her friend.“Someone would have noticed.”
“Would they?”Kira shot back.“Because you’re the first oshota we’ve come across.”
Something she found suspicious in light of everything that had happened.
