A daeyari, once. Intelligent, once.
“Antal?” Fi begged, hoping for some answer to this insanity.
He stood uncomfortably quiet beside her. Antal watched the Beast with that usual horror, that low flick of his tail, as if he saw fragments of himself in taut limbs and gnarled antlers. As if its mere, wretched existence deserved pity.
“This far gone,” Antal said, “it…hewouldn’t have the same sense of a first-form daeyari. More instinct than intention.”
“I didn’t know about Boden,” Astrid said. “I’m sorry, Fi. I know that can’t mean much anymore, but I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I ever brought Navek to Nyskya, but he doesn’tunderstand. He’s as afraid of Verne as everyone else.”
Fi didn’t know. She came here to fight, to wield her grief as a sword—not forgiveness.
“Astrid. I—”
Static pricked Fi’s tongue.
Disappointingly, Antal hadn’t moved.
“Look at this,” came Verne’s velvet cadence. “A reunion, and no one invited me?”
Antal snapped taut, a spark of fury in his eyes. Terror, in Astrid’s. A creak of mortal crossbows raised in unison.
Verne stood at the edge of the clearing. She wore a black shirt tucked into slim trousers, silky fabric with iridescent stars, cut deep for a show of ash-gray chest. Delicate silver chains draped her antlers. Her coat was black velvet embroidered with white quartz, the regalia of a queen come to greet her commoners.
True to form, Kashvi fired first.
Without hesitation, she aimed and loosed, sending a crimson bolt flying at Verne’s head. The daeyari was a heartbeat faster. Verne vanished, leaving the projectile to zip across the clearing and crackle through hemlock branches.
Verne reappeared with scarlet lacing her fingers. Her Shaping came more elegant than Antal’s, harnessing the energy at her immortal core into a long whip of red. She slashed, striking Kashvi’s crossbow into two pieces, slicing up the woman’s arm. Kashvi shouted and dropped to her knees.
Panic followed. Mal and Yvette fired their silver bolts. Mal’s missed. Yvette’s grazed Verne’s ashen cheek as the daeyari dodged. Her searing whip caught Yvette by the ankle, pulling them off their feet then dragging them across the ground.
Antal teleported between mortal and immortal. He slashed with crimson coated claws, severing Verne’s whip in a crack of rival currents, freeing Yvette to back away.
Verne tipped her chin up, red energy at her fingertips, but no move to attack.
“Antal,” she greeted haughtily. “You look upsettingly well.”
While the daeyari glared at each other, Fi rushed to Kashvi’s side. The woman cradled her arm, skin seared with silver veins and the long red welt of an energy burn.
“I’m fine,” Kashvi hissed. “Fuck, that bitch is fast.”
Her crossbow lay ruined in the snow. Yvette and Mal raisedtheirs with fresh bolts, hesitating when Antal held out a hand to stop them.
Fi didn’t know why she bothered making plans anymore. They were supposed to face Verne alone, surprised and powerless. Instead, the daeyari came to them, the BeastandAstrid back on the playing field.
Antal stood between them, a shield of claws and teeth. He slipped into his mask: face chiseled, tail still. Commendable. Fi would have cussed her out.
“Verne,” Antal returned. “You needn’t inconvenience yourself. We’d have come to you.”
“Why wait, when you’ve made such atrocious noise so early in the morning? You and your impressive rebellion.” Verne’s scarlet eyes slid unimpressed over the mustered forces. “You’ve been slinking behind my back for weeks, and this is the best you could gather?”
“More than I see at your side.”
She laughed. “You should have run home, Antal. You think your human pets change the odds?” Her fanged grin fell on Fi, sharp enough to spike a throb through the healing bite in her shoulder. “So this one made it back to you, after all. I thought humans willing to suck daeyari cock were a rarity, yet you have a talent for finding them.”
Oh, Fi was going tokillher.
“Help me understand,” Verne taunted. “What is it you enjoy about fucking your food? You get off on having them soft? Defenseless?”
