The woman's gaze lingered on Alex and Mira for a mont longer, her expression as unreadable as stone.
Despite the calm on the surface, Alex felt an oppressive weight settle in the air, one that made even his formidable instincts flare with unease.
Mira's grip on Alex's mouth tightened, and her usually calm deanour cracked with barely concealed agitation.
She leaned in close, whispering harshly into his ear with a low and venomous voice.
"Not. Another. Word."
Alex nodded mutely with his eyes widened.
He could feel the simring hatred radiating from Mira like a furnace.
Whatever was going on between her and this woman, it was deep.
He had heard from his brief exchange with Mira about her family life a while back that things weren't good between her and her family at all. But they didn't really delve into any specifics so he was at a loss at the mont.
The officer in question finally broke her gaze, turning her attention to the group as a whole.
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Her voice, when she spoke, was sharp and commanding, slicing through the tension like a blade.
"Welco to the Jewel," she began, her tone leaving no room for interruptions. "My na is Commander Althea Mistborn, and I oversee all operations within this fortress. You are currently in a secured military zone, so I expect you all to act accordingly. Is that understood?"
A murmur of acknowledgnt passed through the crowd, though a few of the prodigies couldn't help but steal glances at her with a mix of awe and intimidation.
Althea's sharp eyes swept over the group, briefly locking onto Mira again.
Alex noticed a flicker of sothing in her gaze — recognition? Regret? It was gone before he could fully process it.
Mira, for her part, remained stone-faced, her hand dropping from Alex's mouth as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest.
Althea continued, seemingly unfazed. "For those of you here for leisure, you'll find designated areas within the central zones. Military personnel, you are expected to report to your assigned stations imdiately. Dismissed."
With that, she turned sharply on her heel, her posture straight and movents precise, and began walking away.
Alex hesitated for a mont before glancing at Mira.
"Uh… are you okay?" he asked tentatively, keeping his voice low.
Mira shot him a glare that could have frozen the vacuum of space.
"Mind your own business, Alex," she snapped, though her voice trembled ever so slightly.
"Fair enough," he muttered, raising his hands in surrender.
But he couldn't help but sneak another look at Althea's retreating form. The resemblance between the two won was undeniable now that he was paying attention.
As the group began to disperse, Alex found himself tagging along with Mira, who seed lost in her own thoughts.
"So…" he began carefully, trying to tread lightly.
"What's the story with you and—"
"Don't," Mira interrupted sharply, her voice cold and firm.
"I don't want to talk about it. Not now. Not ever."
Alex raised an eyebrow but didn't push further. He'd never seen Mira this shaken before, except perhaps when he died, and he knew better than to poke the hornet's nest.
Still, he couldn't help but feel like he'd stumbled into sothing much bigger than he'd bargained for.
As they walked through the labyrinthine halls of the Jewel, Alex's mind churned. If Althea Mistborn really was Mira's mother, why the animosity? And how had Mira, one of the Federation's top prodigies, managed to keep this connection under wraps for so long?
Alex had tried searching up Mira's last na on the web before, but was surprised to find no results show up at all.
To him, this was both a surprise and unsurprising.
It was unsurprising since anyone with enough power could pressure the large dia conglorates to keep specific information out of the public eye, but he was left surprised because he hadn't expected Mira to co from a prominent family.
However, after that he didn't bother looking further into it. Mira didn't act like those snot nosed, arrogant brats from the elite families, and she was clearly from the slums like him.
If anything, he just chalked it down to Mira being a bastard child or sothing like that.
One thing was clear: this wasn't just a family drama.
The tension between Mira and Althea felt like it ran deeper than that, touching sothing darker and more personal.
But right now was not the right ti to try and pry so information out of Mira.
In fact, Alex didn't want to try that at all. In all likelihood if he pushed her too far, he might be at risk of permanently damaging his relationship with her, which was the last thing he wanted right now.
Heck, it was likely the last thing Mira wanted as well.
If Mira wanted space, then he would give it to her.
However, she didn't ntion anything about stopping him from having a conversation with Althea herself…
And just as he was thinking of this, Mira spoke and offered him the perfect opportunity to do so.
"I want to be alone for a while…"
She didn't even give Alex the chance to say anything before she walked off in another direction, looking down at her communicator from ti to ti, likely following directions to wherever she had planned.
Alex watched her back slowly grow smaller in the distance until she could no longer be seen at all.
He felt a little reluctant to leave her, but since it was her own request, he respected it.
However, just as he was about to turn around and start exploring for a little bit himself, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
'Huh? I didn't detect anythi-'
He turned around, and he was taken aback.
The sa camo wearing woman from before stood right in front of him now, arms crossed, but with that sa, almost apathetic look on her face.
"You're Alex?" She asked.
Once again, Alex was surprised.
He didn't expect Mira's mother to recognise him, but then again, he was quite a celebrity in the Federation now.
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