Astrid did, urging the Beast off his quarry like a falconer with a mantling hawk. He licked blood off his teeth. Astrid inspected Verne’s remains from a wary distance, as if the daeyari might still reach out and snatch her.
“It’s done?” Astrid said. “She’d dead? You daeyari can reallydie?”
Verne looked as dead as anything Fi had ever seen. And Antal, the stillest she’d ever seen, no flick to his tail, not evena blink as he stared at Verne’s limp form. Fi wasn’t convinced he was breathing.
Dead. Verne was actually dead.
Antal snapped back to focus. Crimson eyes sharpened on Astrid, fierce enough to make her retreat against the Beast. Belatedly, it occurred to Fi that Antal might not appreciate Astrid putting a dagger to her throat, even with good intentions.
“You had the chance to walk away from this, Arbiter.” He stalked toward her, tail a predatory swish. “A gracious offer. Yet you’ve returned—”
Fi grabbed his wrist. At his growl, she stepped in front of him, cupping a hand to his cheek to remind him what soft was. That this was the person he could choose to be.
“That’s enough,” she said lowly. No less of an order.
Enough blood on the floor. This victory came thanks to Astrid and her Beast staying out of the fight. Antal had the nerve to bare his fangs at her, but the sense to concede, settling with a huff and a soft tap of his nose to her cheek.
When Boden had realized Fi’s entanglement with the daeyari, he’d reacted with shock. Kashvi, with ridicule. Astrid was the first to look impressed, a wide stare of ruby eyes.
“Void alive, Fi,” she breathed. “It’s true, then? You’re braver than I gave you credit for.”
Both of them, braver than they’d started ten years ago. No matter how ashen Astrid looked as she studied Verne, still bracing for the corpse to move, she’d found the courage to finally strike against her mistress. Now, they could both be free.
As for this Beast…
Fi wasn’t afraid of daeyari. Not anymore. Nothing but spitting cats, snarling and baring fangs as an intimidation tactic. This was how she reassured herself as she approached the creature, steps slow and unthreatening. Still, he growled. Astrid laid herhand on the Beast’s head. He leaned into her touch, too gentle for his monstrous form.
Behind Fi, Antal followed with a whisper of claws on marble.
So many times, she’d mused what separated him from his monstrous kin. The mangled shape. The hunger. The hollow red eyes. But how could Navek be a monster, when he’d chosen to protect Astrid? Less monstrous than Verne, who’d only ever acted for herself.
Fi laid a hand on his snout. His skin was cool. He huffed her scent.
“Fionamara,” Antal said. “He can’t stay here.”
“He can’t,” she agreed.
They both looked to Astrid.
“I’ll take him away,” she said. “Back to the Contested Planes. You’ll never see him again.” Her fingers traced his antlers. “It’s… probably good that I don’t stay, either.”
The best option for both of them. Astrid had done what she had to survive, enough to deserve a new start, not enough to clear her culpability as Verne’s right hand. Not for Fi, with Boden’s loss aching her ribs. Not for the rest of the humans in Verne’s territory.
The best option, and Fi hated it. Saying goodbye was harder a second time.
Astrid laughed, a harsh and breathy sound. For the first time in a decade, Fi recognized the cadence, that show of bravado masking trepidation. “Traveling is common for daeyari, isn’t it? Maybe it’s time I follow my roots.”
Fi noticed her nails biting into her palm, only because Antal squeezed her hand, a brush of his thumb against her fingers. The way his voice softened could only be for her.
“Do you know of the Starfall Plane?” he asked Astrid.
Wary, she nodded. “That’s still daeyari controlled. Not far enough.”
“No. But the closest gateway to the Contested Planes. Take care, Arbiter. You may have found common ground with this derived daeyari, but others of his kind won’t be as docile.” Antal hardened. “And there are more dangerous creatures in the far Planes, immortals who don’t take kindly to anyone with antlers.”
Astrid’s lips thinned. “I’ve heard.”
What in all the Shattered Planes was this cryptic nonsense—
