Fi didn’t expect that. She didn’t understand how his words came so soft. Such a challenge ought to snap like fangs, not the whisper-quiet thing that passed his lips.
“I already said, I’m not afraid of you.”
“Youwereafraid of me. When we met. But now…”
Fi watched every flick of crimson irises, scouring her raw. Asif she, too, were a difficult box to pry open, all rusted latches and hidden seams.
Maybe this flutter in her pulse was curiosity. Fi had spent so many years cowering, of course she’d find allure in something forbidden, something dangerous. As tempting as that energy capsule and its kiss of soul-searing power.
But why had Antal fallen so still? Why was his palm still cradling her head above the snow, claws tightening in her hair? Some strategy to disarm her. Or a wicked game to play with his prey. He was more than a box. A puzzle.
Fi wanted to tear him apart and understand what made him tick. She wanted to—
Antal’s head snapped up. His nostrils flared, scenting the air. Wordless, he released her, vanishing the moment they no longer touched.
Fi sat alone in the snow, blinking. Heart like thunder in her ears.
She pushed to her feet. A moment passed before she recalled how tobreathe, another before she gathered the sense to scan the trees. The daeyari was nowhere in sight, but she soon detected what he had: the crack of a branch, a crunch of snow. Heading closer. Who in their right mind would trek all the way up here…
“Fi-Fi?” Boden called out.
Fuck.
20
Awkward introductions
Fi didn’t have much time.
Hooves tromped through the forest, snapping branches and crunching ice, approaching fast. She scrambled to straighten her curls, bat the snow off her coat, sweeping away all signs she’d been tussling with a daeyari who she’ddefinitely nottold Boden about. When had she had the chance?
Ok, maybe she’d had several chances to fess up, but she’d never expected Antal to hang around this long. Still made her the Plane’s worst sister. As usual.
Boden burst into the clearing, perched in the saddle of a boreal horse. The beast’s black hooves sliced snow, winter-thick coat sable as night, an aurora fade of green and blue striping its legs and bristled mane. Fi had tried convincing her bland older brother to get a Void horse, but her argument received a firm, “What the fuck would I use it for?” Her rebuttal of “but it would lookcool” met with equal dismissal.
Should have talked him into a mechanized snow sled. Anything to give advance notice of an impromptu visit. But no, Boden had a soft spot for hooves and reins and breathing things, so distant from the metal their father had worked.
As Boden dropped from his saddle, Fi adopted a casual stance, brow quirked at his haggard gait and ice-crusted beard.
“Fi! Are you all right?”
“I’m splendid. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Boden hunched in his aurorabeast coat, gloved hands bracing his thighs, breaths hard. His hair had probably started the morning in a tidy bun, now devolved to frizz.
Behind him, Aisinay greeted the boreal horse with a snort. The striped beast stomped its hooves, dislodging snow clumped to the fur.
“I heard anexplosion,” Boden said. “On my way up here. I hurried as fast as I could.”
Antal was right. Fi held back a curse. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You… didn’t hear an explosion?”
“I think I’d know if something exploded in my front yard, Bodie.”
“So I was imagining things?”
“Maybe you heard a tree falling? Snow came in thick the other night, too much weight on the…OW!”
