throw away the gains he'd recently achieved to be Graydon's eyes and ears.
"Did you really expect anything else?" Graydon asked, interrupting her thoughts.
Not really. No. In his place, she'd have done the same to a known flight risk.
She and Jin would have to be more careful. Right now, she fully intended to work with Graydon on the subject of Elise, but there were still secrets she didn't feel comfortable revealing.
The need to have an escape route was as embedded in her DNA as the color of her hair.
Graydon and Kira descended the stairs to the first floor.
"I see Joule wasn't lying. You really are back," Devon said, leaning against a doorway as they approached. Spotting Graydon by her side, Devon gave him a serious nod. "Seon'yer."
Kira gave Graydon a considering glance. "Really?"
His appointment as Devon's seon'yer made perfect sense, considering what she suspected about Devon’s lineage.
"You must be pleased," Kira told Devon.
He nodded once. "It was an unexpected reward."
Graydon brushed Kira's shoulder as he focused on his yer’se. "How did your preliminary race today go?"
Pride registered on Devon's face as he came to attention. "I qualified for the next round."
Kira was impressed. While the early rounds of the preliminaries weren't exactly impossible, especially for those of her level, they weren't easy either. You needed skill to reach the next stage.
"What position?" Graydon asked.
"Second."
Not bad. It would allow him to advance, but because he was second, he wouldn't draw too much notice from the other competitors.
If Kira hadn't been forced to extraordinary lengths by her awful start, that's the rank she would have targeted as well.
"There was a racer in the round after me that was very impressive. She used the same maneuver on the tower as the racer from yesterday."
Kira didn't move for several seconds, knowing she was the racer from yesterday that he was talking about. "Is that right?"
Devon's brow furrowed before he gave a hesitant nod.
"Did you get the name?" Kira asked.
He shook his head. "They went by the call sign Moonbeam."
Kira's gaze turned distant. Only a few people she knew of could have performed the dead man’s plunge without crash landing and killing themselves.
Raider was one. Jace another.
Beyond the two of them, she could count on one hand the rest, and none were currently on the planet.
It was more likely this was a message to her. An act of challenge designed to draw her attention. But from who?
If Elise wanted her attention, why wouldn't she use one of the dozen drop boxes they’d set up for exactly this chain of events?
"Something wrong?" Graydon asked.
Kira shook her head, pushing the questions and half fleshed out theories out of her mind. This would have to wait until she had more information. Until then, any conclusions she drew would be speculation.
Devon's frown had grown more and more pronounced while Kira was lost in her thoughts. "Those allowed on planet are all required to compete in a quorum event.”
"You don't know, do you?" Graydon teased.
Devon looked between the two of them in confusion. "Know what?"
Graydon tilted his head toward Kira. "Meet Sparrow."
Devon examined Kira in disbelief. "That's you?"
Kira lifted a shoulder. "The last time I checked."
"Winner of the Dragon Circuit? Two-time champion of the Osiris Belt?"
Kira studied him. Most people knew about the first but not the second. Only die-hard race fans ever remembered that one.
The Osiris Belt was considered boring among most fans. There weren't as many opportunities to showcase fancy skills. Couple that with its location on one of the most remote and unremarkable planets of the Consortium and few had heard of it.
It meant Devon had gone beyond the level of a general fan. His knowledge placed him in the realm of a super fan of the sport. Not something she’d anticipate of someone in his position.
Graydon considered her with interest. “That’s quite the reputation you have there.”
Footsteps from the hallway forestalled Kira’s response.
She looked up to find Joule heading toward her.
He lifted a hand at Devon. "I saw the race. Nicely done."
Devon acknowledged the praise with a nod as Kira watched closely. The two seemed to have grown closer in her absence.
"Are you heading out for your event?" Devon asked.
Joule paused in the middle of peeking at Kira and nodded. "Yes."
"What event did you decide on?" Kira asked.
She'd never gotten the chance to hear when they were on the dropship.
Joule's smile was shy. "Castles."
The quorum ran a gamut of possibilities. From races like the one Kira and Devon had chosen to join, to events featuring various forms