with her mind to project her thoughts at him.
“Think of me and Harlow.” She sent him a pointed look.
Jin’s puzzlement flooded the link, suppressing Kira’s emotions.
This was the biggest reason they didn’t use this method of communicating often. It tore gaping holes in the boundary between their minds, making it hard to distinguish where one started and the other left off.
“You mean you think he’s my uncle?” Jin said, choosing to use the comms rather than their mental link.
“Close.”
Kira waited for the pin to drop. When several seconds passed and Jin seemed no closer to the answer, she shook her head.
“I’m not certain but I think he might be your father.”
Jin’s eye swung toward the two. “Kira, there’s at least an eighty percent chance that he and Devon are related, judging by the similarities in their features.”
Kira folded her arms. Now he got it.
“No.” He drew the word out.
“Yup.”
“Not possible.”
“Only it is,” Kira assured him.
“I can’t be related to that idiot.”
Kira gave him a flat stare, reverting to normal speech. “Make me say yes one more time. I dare you.”
Jin didn’t get another chance to deny it as Wren drew his en-blade, and Maksym erected a ki shield.
"Incoming," Amila barked.
NINETEEN
THREE DOTS APPEARED against the backdrop of the sky, details becoming clearer as they neared. More elegant and refined than Kira would expect from a rescue vessel, the trio held more in common with pleasure crafts.
Sails that looked like butterfly wings jutted from the main hull. Their design put Kira in mind of a vibrantly colored dorsal fin on one of the deadly fish the Haldeel stocked in their ponds.
Like those predators, the vessels cut through the air with an efficiency that was as reliable as it was deadly.
Jin retreated to Kira's side as the ships prepared to land. "Look who finally shows up when the fun is already over."
Kira allowed the change in subject, knowing he’d talk when he was ready. Truthfully, she was grateful the revelation went over as well as it had.
"Let's keep our thoughts to ourselves,” Kira told him. “We can't afford to offend the Haldeel."
While Kira's actions had been necessary to preserve Devon's life, they could also be seen as presumptuous. Kira didn't want to be made the scapegoat in the event the Haldeel needed to save face.
Jin grumbled but didn't say anything else as the first of the ships lowered in a gentle landing.
"Is that a royal cutter?" Kira asked, feeling slightly sick as she caught sight of Haldeel soldiers wearing the armor of the royal guard.
She took another look at the cutter, picking up on the details she had missed earlier. The sails were a pink so deep and vibrant it verged on crimson. Violet tinged its edges as black lines wound throughout.
Not just that. Though the material of the hull mimicked the look of wood, she caught a shimmer that suggested it was coated in a substance that would make it extremely resistant to long-distance projectile and energy weapons.
With a glance she noted areas on the hull which housed several weapons, including energy cannons of force distributers.
She gave Jin a sidelong look.
As always, he read her mind. "They’re armed to the teeth."
To say nothing of the way the other two were currently circling the area. Kira recognized the pattern. Those two ships had set up an overwatch.
Any enemy stupid enough to attack would easily be taken care of from there, leaving the grounded ship plenty of time to recover their people and get airborne.
Those weren't the actions of somebody sent to retrieve a pair of unlucky racers.
"Did something else happen? Are they expecting another attack?" Kira asked.
The attention of the oshota next to Devon moved to Kira. A thoughtful look settled on his face, even as he remained silent.
"The perpetrator was caught," Graydon said, distracting Kira.
She looked at him in surprise. The Tsavitee weren't normally so inept.
Kira didn't have time to ask any more questions as the Haldeel official who'd overseen the start of the race disembarked from the cutter.
He glided toward them, sinking into a deep curtsy by flattening his lower appendages against the ground. For a Haldeel, the act of ensuring one's head was below another's was considered one of the highest forms of respect.
Kira had only seen it once when a Haldeel was seeking an audience with a puzzle master.
It wasn't the type of action offered to someone outside their race who also had little to do with their empire.
By doing this, the Haldeel was making it clear they were