issued from the depths of Finn's hood as Kira continued walking, stepping out of the tunnel, and squinting at the bright light that greeted her.
A small expanse of dirt stretched in front of her, ending at the feet of the audience stands.
At one end was the starting line, racers congregating as they waited for the officials. Their postures were relaxed as they threw taunts back and forth.
That wasn't what caused Kira's abrupt halt. "Why are they here?"
A sea of synth armor took up the stands. Roake's midnight blue intermixed with Luatha's forest greens. Their colors dominated the stands.
Even more concerning was the small clump of people located in the front center wearing synth armor so deep a black it seemed to eat the light.
Worst of all was the man sitting in their midst, an arrogant expression on his face as he surveyed the proceedings.
Graydon.
And right beside him was Raider.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
They weren’t supposed to be here. She’d thought if anything they’d attend one of the more popular events. The ones that involved swords or fighting.
They couldn’t know about her, right? She’d been so careful.
Then again, Jace had found her. Who was to say Graydon hadn’t also?
Coincidences made her itchy inside. None more so than when a certain Emperor’s Face turned up somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be.
Thank every god that ever existed she'd had the foresight to procure a mask. If he didn’t already know she was here, then the mask might allow her to slip away unnoticed.
Jin cackled, the sound strange as it issued from the depths of Finn's hood, not fitting his mysterious aura at all.
"It’s like fate is drawing you two together,” Jin teased.
Kira's fingers tingled with the urge to take a swipe at him. If not for their audience, she would have done exactly that.
"They can't know about us yet, right?" she asked Finn.
Finn's head lifted as he considered those in the stands. "It's hard to say what the Emperor's Face is capable of."
Kira debated the likelihood that Graydon had tailed her from the station. Jace had managed to find her. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that Graydon had done the same.
Granted, Jace and Himoto had years of familiarity with Kira's habits, but she wasn't about to put anything past Graydon. The man had managed to surprise her in the past.
Even if Graydon hadn't known where to look for her, Raider would, and he was likely angry enough at Kira to help the Tuann beside him.
"It's possible he's here for Devon," Finn said after some thought.
“And Luatha?”
Finn shook his head. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
The temptation to withdraw from the competition was strong. Too bad doing so would ruin her plans.
Kira frowned as she caught sight of Joule, Ziva, and Rheya seated beside Raider as they watched the race preparations with interested faces. They looked up as Devon joined them seconds later.
"Raider is competing," Jin said abruptly. "His status as a Cur and previous wins allow him to skip the quals and appear in the final races."
That explained his presence at least. Raider was the careful sort. She could see him gathering information on his potential opponents before the main event.
It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that Roake and Graydon’s oshota had attended to see Raider and Devon race.
If that was the case, they weren’t here because they knew of her presence.
It was all a massive coincidence—or so she tried to tell herself.
"Stick to the plan, and we should be fine—probably."
It was that probably that gave Kira concern.
A hand waving from the pit drew their attention. Odin aimed a roguish smile at them. "There are things to do and races to win. This is no time to stand around with your mouths hanging open."
The side of Finn's hood bulged in a suspicious manner.
Kira slapped at the bump. "Now, now, let's not go being stupid."
If Jin jeopardized their cover because of his problem with Odin, she would eviscerate him. She'd like to see how he managed if she disabled his optics and antigravs.
Jin grumbled but didn't do anything further as she led Finn over to Odin.
"I don't think this is where you're supposed to be," Kira said.
"There was an issue making contact," Odin explained, untroubled by the threat underlying Kira's words.
"What kind of issue?"
"The kind that will need your involvement to settle. In the meantime, I took the liberty of setting up our station." Odin gestured to the array of equipment in front of her. She pulled out a comm set complete