Slowly, reluctantly, Antal released her. “I’ll be ready.”
“But, you know,” Fi added in a nervous pitch, “if it looks like it’s going bad, you don’t have to wait for the dramatic entrance. I can handle myself. Sure I can. But if it’s a choice between mystupid pride or getting my ass eaten, I trust your judgment to—”
Her breath hitched as Antal pulled her into a kiss. The heat of his mouth snared her, an ache in her chest that lulled away panic, if only for an exhale. With a parting brush of fangs against her lip, he rested his forehead to hers.
“And you call yourself a coward?” he said. “Your teeth are as sharp as any daeyari.”
So he claimed. Time to test it. For the second time that day, Fi pulled away from arms she didn’t want to leave.
She backtracked, quiet steps and a circuitous route to not betray Antal’s position, boots heavy with a too-familiar weight. Here came the same spike of fear as when she’d marched to Verne’s shrine. The same numbing dread as when she’d been dragged to Antal. Once again, she set her path toward a daeyari. This time, hopefully, not as prey.
The square opened ahead. Fi kept her steps even, pulling on her cloak of barbs to keep her spine straight. She drew courage from muffled footsteps beyond the street, Nyskya quietly rousing. She imagined Boden and Kashvi, hurrying through back alleys after they’d parted ways at the training field, warning villagers of the threat on their doorsteps. She imagined Antal, watching from the shadows.
This time, she wouldn’t run. This time, she wasn’t alone.
Her silviamesh bodysuit would have been nice. She’d passed on armor that morning, not anticipating she’d need it. Snowy boots and a frayed fur coat made for a less intimidating ensemble than she’d have liked.
The Beast noticed her first.
Fi had no sooner stepped beyond the shadow of a building than pupil-less red eyes latched onto her, the swivel of a skeletal maw with too-tight skin and too many teeth, a long and lashingtail. Claws dug into frozen soil. The Beast growled low enough to tremble permafrost.
But it was the snap of Astrid’s ruby-cut gaze that shuddered down Fi’s spine. She held out a hand, silencing the Beast at her side.
“Well,” Astrid said. “It’s about time.”
“Astrid,” Fi greeted.
“Fi,” came the venom-laced return.
Astrid. A wild creature, Fi’s father had called her. Always the first to shoot when the elk hunt came into season. Always the first to dare a kiss with wine-sweet lips. Always the first to laugh as if the Void itself couldn’t swallow her swagger.
Always the first to bury her doubts so deep, no one could see them.
Was that girl Fi used to know still there beneath the ice? That friend who’d held her hand when the nights dragged endless, only the stars to keep their secrets? Fi took the largest breath of her life and planted her feet, unflinching beneath two red glares.
“You wanted to see me?” She spread her arms, all smiles and false bravado. “Here I am.”
Astrid looked her up and down, a twist on her lips, crossbow propped on her shoulder. “I’m surprised.”
“That you found me?”
“That you’re brave enough to show yourself. Well done on finally growing a spine, Fi. Only took you ten years.”
Always a honed blade, the edge cut perfectly to the curve of Fi’s heart.
A few houses away, a door slammed. A dog barked, swiftly silenced.
“This doesn’t have to happen here,” Fi said. “You’ve found me.Bravo. I’ll listen to you gloat all you like—outsideof Nyskya. Where no one else has to get involved.”
Astrid didn’t budge. The Beast paced behind her, claws like sickles sowing snow.
“You’re the one who brought us here, Fi. And after my last visit? Verne told me to disregard this place, that you couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to stay here.” Astrid smiled too wide, no fangs like her daeyari ancestors, but just as vicious. “I guess I know you better.”
Fi’s hands curled into fists, frost-chilled tips and palms burning with energy. She’d left Astrid behind ten years ago, a coward’s betrayal she could never take back.
But Astrid had betrayed her trust in Thomaskweld. Attacked her at Verne’s chateau. Brought a Beast here to threaten dozens of innocent lives.
“No,” Fi said. “I don’t think we know each other very well anymore.”
