There.Done.
The Tsavitee convulsed, not quite dead, but getting there, as she walked away, careful to brush any powder residue off her hands.Wouldn’t want to accidentally kill Anandra or Caius when she found them.This stuff was quite toxic.
“I guess I no longer have to worry about Kira making it to the party in time,” Gus murmured, leaving the cell behind.
Sixteen
Duringthecourseofher journey, Gus came across several more Tsavitee in the process of thawing.Luckily, after the first, she arrived in time to restart the hibernation protocol, saving her the trouble of having to kill each one.
No longer having the luxury of time, she picked up the pace.
Did this idiot really think a few piddly Tsavitee, just out of hibernation, were enough to take out someone of Kira’s caliber?To say nothing of the oshota her sister was bound to have at her back.
That was the thing about Gus’s youngest sister that most enemies didn’t realize.Kira collected talented individuals the way other’s hoarded wealth.People who were every bit as dangerous as her sister.With their own stories to tell.Possessing the same kind of determination and ruthless stubbornness.
Gus may have had no way of knowing who’d tagged along with Kira, but whoever they were, they would be able to hold their own.She doubted even a Tsavitee war drone would do much more than irritate Kira and her companions.
Gus, on the other hand—she was one poorly-timed arrival away from getting to experience the pleasures of being ripped apart and feasted on while she was still alive.
A confused frown took over Gus’s face as she sensed a sudden shift in the seeds’ location.They’d changed direction again.
Down, this time.
Cursing internally, Gus jogged forward, arriving at the next chamber just in time to see the opening in the wall across from the entrance resealing, leaving behind a seamless surface.
“A hidden entrance.”Gus said, slowly approaching.“How unexpectedly Titan of them.”
She was beginning to feel right at home.
If, you know, a psychopathic monster wasn’t slumbering just a few feet away,Gus thought, glancing at the Tsavitee locked in stasis, its hibernation protocol untouched.
The Tuann must have not wanted to risk Kira’s group backtracking and finding his secret stairs by mistake.
Gus went back to her study of the wall.There had to be some kind of mechanism.One easy enough for an idiot like the one she was tailing to find.
Inspecting the surface closely, Gus found it wasn’t as smooth as it appeared from a distance.There were ripples radiating from a single point of origin that formed a rather pretty—if needlessly complex—design.Who wanted to bet that was it?
Gus reached for it but stopped short.Let’s think this through.
Haste makes waste as the saying went.There was a risk that if she didn’t play this right, she could get swept into the madness that followed Kira around like an over eager puppy.Instead of gardening, she’d have to fend off assassins and arrogant Tuann with a bone to pick.No more spade and pruning shears.She’d have to trade them in for a sword and rifle.
Kira’s world was dangerous.Anyone who stood too close had to be okay with the potential fallout.
Gus wasn’t.She’d never been.Her future lay in the direction of peace and quiet.Not warzones and madness.
For this to work, Kira had to do the heavy lifting.Otherwise, Gus risked being brought to the attention of the very unsavory characters she’d spent decades avoiding.
No, thank you.
This entrance hadn’t been easy to find.Gus wasn’t sure that without someone to follow she could have located it as easily.She couldn’t trust Kira and her companions to find their way here.Not in as timely a fashion as she needed.
It was possible Kira would find another entrance on this level.Or, much more likely, that she’d create her own.Likely in the loudest, most likely to draw attention, way possible.
Unless Gus changed that.
“I should give her some help, shouldn’t I?”
It was the sisterly thing to do.
