Chapter 31

Kiera gently pulled her lips an inch from Pidge's and pressed their foreheads together. Pidge wrapped her arms around Kiera's neck.

"I love you Pigeon." Kiera whispered.

Pidge's face turned pink "I-I think I love you too." A pause "You should go find your brother. Tell him what you told me."

"I guess I should." Kiera sighed "I don't want him to be hurt because of something that wasn't real."

She pressed her lips to Pidge's again and mumbled against her lips "But I don't want to leave."

Pidge pushed Kiera's face up and said "But you have to. Your brother is your top priority. Go talk to him."

"Okay, I will." She placed her lips on Pidge's one more time and said "I'll take one of the pods. If you want to come with me, then the others will have one less person to cram into the other pods."

Pidge nodded. They walked back into the ballroom side by side and found the other Paladins. Kiera explained to Shiro and the others about the kiss and how she loved someone else. Lance pretended to pout. Then they explained that Kiera had to talk to Keith.

They didn't talk about their kisses.

The two girls left the ballroom. As soon as they passed through the doors and were down the stairs and mostly out of sight, Kiera felt a hand slip into hers. She smiled shyly down at Pidge who returned it with one of her own.

They walked quietly through the city, watching colourful lights flicker and dance inside the lanterns. Stars shone above them. Kiera was reminded of how beautiful space really was. They made it back to the pods and climbed into one. Kiera in the drivers seat and Pidge in the passenger seat.

When Kiera sat down, she felt Pidge press her lips to Kiera's cheek. Her face erupted pink and she put her face in her hands to hide it.

Pidge burst out laughing.

Kiera lifted her head and focused on the air in front of her, trying desperately to clear her face of its bright red colour.

The castle came into view and Kiera gasped. She'd forgotten how beautiful it was. White metal exoskeleton and bright blue engines. They flew into the pod hangar and the pod set down gently on the floor. Kiera and Pidge hopped out once the door had opened.

"I need to get out of this dress." Pidge said "I'm going to go change."

Kiera nodded "I need to change too. These sparkles are kind of heavy." Pidge snorted.

They went off to their separate rooms and Kiera quickly undid her dress, letting the fabric slide off her body. It crumpled to the ground and she let it. She stepped out and picked up her catsuit. She slowly pulled it on. Her body felt more energized.

She flipped her cloak over her shoulders and strapped her knives to her wrists. She smiled. She hadn't realized how much she missed them. Finally, she strapped her sword to her back, under the cloak.

Stepping into the bathroom, Kiera yanked on her braids, letting her hair fall around her face. She didn't want to tie it up again. Her head was sore.

After changing, she left her room. She checked Keith's room. Empty.

She smacked her head. Of course he was training! That was how she took out her anger and it made sense that her twin did the same.

She ran to the training room. What she saw wasn't what she'd expected.

Her brother was fighting a training robot, but he wasn't trying. It was pushing him around the room, landing hard kicks on her brothers body. One particularly fast kick sent her brother sprawling to the side. He didn't bother standing up.

Kiera unstrapped one of her knives and dashed into the room. These knives weren't made for throwing, but she couldn't let her brother get himself seriously injured.

So, she threw the dagger and it impaled itself into the robots head. The robot disappeared, her knife clattered to the ground.

She quickly ran to pick it up and strap it back onto her wrist.

Keith was sitting on the floor, legs crossed with his back to her. His bayard was off to the side and he made no effort to get it.

She ran forward and slid on her knees until she was behind her brother. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his shoulder.

"Guess who." She whispered.

"The sister that betrayed me." Keith mumbled.

Kiera sighed sadly "I can explain."

"You don't have to." Keith said, still not moving "I'm happy for you. You love him."

"What I mean is, I need to explain." Kiera said "I don't love him."

"Really." Keith scoffed and pushed her arms off him and scooted away, still not looking at her "Why did you kiss him? When you knew I liked him?"

Kiera breathed out another sigh "The crowd thought we were in love. I sensed it. So, to remove suspicion, I told him to kiss me." Her voice cracked "I'm sorry Keith. It meant nothing to me. Or him for that matter."

"Yeah, right." Keith hugged his arms.

Kiera scooted forward and put a hand on his shoulder "Want proof?" He didn't reply so she said "I love someone else. I have a crush. You want leverage over me? I have a crush now. And it's not Lance." Keith shook off her hand and finally turned around. The two siblings sat cross legged in front of the other.

"Who is it then?" Keith asked "Prove to me that it's not Lance."

"It's Pidge." Kiera said, face turning a little pink.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Keith's face "Really?"

Kiera nodded, looking at the floor. Her face was getting redder by the second.

Keith let out a small laugh "Okay, proof accepted."

"Thank you." Kiera said "Do you forgive me for kissing your crush?"

"I do." Keith said and pulled her into a hug "I forgive you."

Kiera smiled and put her face into the crook of his neck "Good."

"Wait, Keith, you l-like me?" Lance's voice came from behind Kiera. Keith pulled away from the hug and stood up, face bright red. Kiera followed suit, without the bright red face, and smirked. She hadn't realized how long it had been since she had left.

Lance looked at her, face turning pink "Did you... did you tell him?"

"No." She shook her head "The secret is yours to tell."

"What secret?" Keith asked.

Lance turned red "That I... Th-that I... um." He was choking on his words.

"Lance, sorry to interrupt. Scratch that about it being yours to tell, but he likes you Keith." Kiera burst out and immediately clapped her hands to her mouth.

Both boys whipped their heads to look at her. Lance looked slightly angry but also slightly relieved. Her brother looked half horrified half relieved.

Keith got over his shock and walked up to Lance with a confident smirk on his face "You like me?"

Lance was even redder now and stuttered "Y-y-yes?"

"Is that a yes or a no?" Keith asked, his voice lower. He walked right up to Lance put a hand on Lance's chin.

Kiera didn't know where this confident and seductive Keith had come from, but she sure enjoyed watching Lance's reaction. Lance had a bead of sweat running down his forehead. He tried to back up a little but Kieth slipped an arm around the taller boy's waist, pulling their bodies close together.

"Well," Keith said "I like you too."

Lance broke out in a huge grin and he squeaked "Really?"

Keith smirked and nodded.

Kiera couldn't take it anymore and pushed her brothers face up to the taller boy's, effectively pressing his lips to Lance's. Keith kind of went with it. Kiera brought her hand down and just kinda stood to the side, awkwardly.

Keith pulled away from the kiss and whispered in a sultry tone "I love you."

Lance squeaked a little, his face redder than before.

"Well, congratulations, blah blah blah." Kiera said "You love each other. Hooray! Now, I'm leaving. Don't do anything too horrible while you're unsupervised mkay?"

Keith's confident attitude broke and he spluttered at her. She laughed and said "I'm kidding. Or am I?" Then she left the two boys to fall apart in each other's eyes.