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‘Whatever they’re plotting, they just made things a hella lot more interesting.’

27

Aetheric Truths

ISSA

The palace quarters were quiet. Their divine splendor dimmed under the hush of the celestial night.

The silk curtains billowed, responding to an unseen breeze.

On the marble terrace of their Sivanian suite, night hung heavy over the heavens.

The silence was interrupted only by the slow shimmer of the cosmos beyond the crystalline rail.

Issa sat curled in one of the divans, nursing a hot herbal tea.

Her thoughts were scattered and fractured, her heart aching for her father.

She hadn’t spoken to her family since arriving in Sivania.

There was no way she’d chance a holo link in case the Saatifa guards caught onto it.

Ki’Remi reclined nearby, one arm behind his head, gaze fixed on the void above, his other hand on her thigh in reassurance.

His heated grasp tethered her, and she breathed, welcoming the silent support.

Being imprisoned and for an indefinite time sucked, Issa thought.

Still, they had to play this gambit out and hope that when Sulfiqar summoned them, she’d have enough leverage to get them out of their present circumstance.

Then came a sound.

A subtle shuffle, a furtive scuff, and a slide of boots on the floor.

A shift of awareness that didn’t belong.

In an instant, Ki’Remi was on his feet, his meta-charged energy flaring.

His wrist comm transformed, the noids within forming into a lethal photon firearm in his palm as a cloaked figure stepped onto the terrace from the shadows.

The stranger’s steps were fluid, rapid, rushing toward them.

Ki’Remi spotted a curved sword strapped to their back, another gleaming at their hip.

He slashed his hand, and his piece unleashed a laser blade.

The Rider lunged.

The shrouded intruder drew fast, steel clashing with metanoid potency, the collision of their weapons sending sparks arcing into the sky.

They moved like twin storms.

Ki’Remi was all brute strength and coiled power, and the stranger was slippery, quick, and precise.

The Rider tensed and unleashed the dagger on his weapon, preparing to release the full fury of his metanoids.

Issa’s voice cut through the fray as his energy spiraled into a tempest of charged force.