into the suite, moving toward an intricately carved wooden door. She opened it and ventured inside to a bedroom out if a dream. A large wooden sleigh bed dominated one end of the room, framed on either side by tall rectangular windows. The bathroom was easily half the size of the bedroom with a large tub that could have fit ten people.
She'd certainly say this for her cousin's people—they sure knew how to live comfortably.
If this was how they treated unwanted guests, what must their normal quarters be like?
"Nice room," Jace said from the archway.
Kira glanced at him but didn't respond beyond a nod.
"If you ever told me I'd be standing in a place like this back then, I would have checked you for drugs," Jace said, glancing around. "It's unbelievable. Hard to believe first contact ever mistook them for unadvanced."
Kira hummed in agreement.
"I'm sure you want to get settled. I'll send someone by in a bit to check on you," he said, moving toward the door.
Kira fought to keep her silence, but in the end, she couldn’t let him leave without a warning.
"Jace, be careful,” she called. Her face was grave as he looked at her in question. “This place is beautiful, but I have the feeling its also deceptive."
Jace arched an eyebrow at her. "You know something?"
"Not for sure," she said. "But if I was you, I'd watch what you discuss with your squad."
Awareness filled his eyes as he caught onto her meaning. He glanced around, suspicion creasing his forehead. "Did Jin pick something up?"
"Nothing definitive, but their technology is way more advanced than ours," Jin said. "Just because I can't find it doesn't mean it isn't there."
Jace studied the two of them with a somber face. "You don't think you're being a bit paranoid?"
"If the situation were reversed and our people thought they could get away with it, they'd have this place wired from one end to the other. You know they would."
Jace grimaced. He couldn't argue with that. Kira would be surprised if Himoto or he hadn't put something in the common areas the Tuann frequented while on the station. She knew from conversations with Amila and Baran the Tuann had elected to sleep on their ship during their visit.
He nodded and pushed off the doorway.
"Jace, whatever you're up to, make sure you're smart about it," Kira said.
He gave her a wry smile. "I could say the same about you. I'm not the one chaos follows."
Fair enough.
He left without a backward glance, leaving Kira to get acquainted with her new surroundings.
*
Kira jolted awake from a restless sleep. The cobwebs of her nightmare still clinging to her—madness and death all around, the dying screams of her closest friends ringing in her ears.
For several moments, Kira stared up at the ceiling, disoriented. This wasn't her bunk on the Wanderer. The bed was too comfortable and there was no soft gleam of the emergency lights.
Memories from over a decade ago filled her head. The dreams disjointed and illogical, as they recounted events out of order and gave her glimpses of scenes she'd never actually witnessed.
Failure tasted like ash on her tongue. The feeling in her chest tightened until it was an almost physical ache.
Kira lay still, letting her heart rate slow and her breathing steady.
It'd been a while since those dreams haunted her. She hadn’t missed them or the havoc they played on her mind. She blinked up at the ceiling, struggling not to feel crushed under the mountain of guilt she didn't know how to let go of.
Jace had a reason for his anger as did Raider. She couldn't even blame them for the harsh words. She'd abandoned them before the war even ended, disappeared without a word unable to live with all the things she'd done. For her own good—and theirs—she'd needed space and time to heal the wounds both inside and out.
Of the original Curs, the three of them were the last. Sad, that they felt more apart than ever.
She'd finish this mission, get them an “in” with the Tuann and make sure her departure didn't affect their treaty. Then she was gone. This time she would make sure she stayed gone.
Feeling calmer, she lifted her head and looked around the shadowy bedroom, the moon's silvery light turning it dreamlike.
She wasn't surprised when she saw no sign of Jin. He was probably off getting the layout of the place and sticking his metal in places the Luatha would dismantle him for, if they caught him.
Kira sat