Page 215 of Voidwalker
Antal’s head tilted as he caught the edge to her tone. Lidded eyes swept over Fi’s crossed arms, her bristled stance, appraising her with a hunter’s wariness. His tail flicked.
“Are you not coming with me?” he said lowly.
“Am I?”
She’d never asked.
They’d entered this ring as a pair of panthers with hackles raised, teeth bared. How swiftly fangs turned to fondness. Antal had stood at Fi’s side while she’d conquered her demons. He’d bowed to her forgiving Astrid. Had helped Fi forgive herself. He’d opened himself raw, gifting her more power than she’d ever thought to wield, enticing her to tumble into his arms.
But she’d neveraskedwhat came after. They’d been forced partners for this dance, had learned the steps and each other’s tells. Now the song ended. They could part ways, leave these past weeks as a fond melody.
Or a new song could start.
Antal circled Fi on phantom footfalls. She recognized those cautious steps they’d spun at the beginning, now a honed routine. They better knew the length of each other’s teeth. Theyknew the soft and vulnerable places. But this didn’t taste of their game of bluffs.
This was a negotiation.
“I won’t force you to come,” Antal said. “But I extend an invitation. Come back with me to Thomaskweld.”
“To what end?”
“To help me make this transition. There’s much work to be done.” His tail brushed her leg. “And I’m overdue for an Arbiter.”
Fi’s inhale hissed against her teeth. Her back went steel straight.
“No,” she said.
Antal scowled. “No?”
He paused too close, ozone rich in her nose and tail hooked behind her knee, proximity wielded as a weapon. Fi ceded no ground.
“I won’t be your Arbiter. I’m no servant of a daeyari, no tool to be wielded.”
Antal’s fiercest weapons weren’t his claws. Not his teeth. It was that spark in his eyes when Fi breathed fire at him. That devious twist of lips from scowl to smirk. He closed the distance between them, his next barter the brush of a knuckle along her jaw. His words, a purr.
“Will you return with me as Fionamara, then?”
A better offer. Fi was still dealing with an immortal, one who knew how to flutter her pulse. She weighed her terms.
“To what end?” she asked again.
He tipped her chin, finger nestling in the hollow beneath. “To help recover my territory. Help me make the decisions we agreed to.” He leaned closer, breath warm on her cheek. “To share my bed, if you will it.”
His mouth dangled close, a lure, inviting Fi to take what she wanted. She leaned into him. That firm chest. Those leanmuscles fit to pin her down and make her shout ridiculous things into the night. She clutched the remnants of his shirt, pulling him close enough for lips to brush.
But when Antal tilted to claim her, she hovered out of reach.
“My bed is more comfortable,” she challenged.
He huffed his fluster, hot against her mouth. His veiled eyes were a study in indifference, but Fi wound tight enough against him, she felt the tension in his posture.
“You’ve only been in my bed once,” he said. “I can’t help but feel you weren’t properly acquainted.”
“You’ve only been inmybed once,” she countered.
“Perhaps we can alternate. A compromise.”
A daeyari willing to compromise? There was a fine start. But not enough.
