Page 169 of Voidwalker
Of course she spoke daeyari. Such a useful Arbiter, whatever her mistress needed.
“What did she say?” Fi asked.
Antal made a low growl.
“Antal.”
“She asked the Beast if it’s hungry.”
Fi gaped in horror. Astrid wouldn’t do such a thing.HerAstrid would never do such a heinous thing. Whatever their quarrel with each other, the people of Nyskya were innocent.
But no matter what move came next, innocent people were in danger. Fi watched their plans breaking apart, weeks of sneaking and plotting and cobbling weapons together. They were supposed to have more time than this. Nyskya wasn’t ready.
She sucked in a breath, cold against her teeth. They had to be ready. No other choice.
“I need to go out there,” she said.
“Those two didn’t come for a pleasant chat,” Antal warned. “The moment we show ourselves, there’ll be no going back.”
“Not both of us. Just me.”
He snapped her a bone-peeling look. When Fi didn’t back down, his lips flashed fangs.
“That isn’t funny, Fionamara.”
She sure as the endless Void didn’t think so. Panic climbed acrid up her throat. She swallowed it, willing herself to be level as ice. She knew how to negotiate. She knew how to stall a buyer out when the stakes turned dicey.
And she wasn’t running anymore.
“We need more time for Boden and Kashvi to warn everyone,” Fi said. They’d split up at the training field, her and Antal to track the Beast, Boden and Kashvi to alert the waking village. “Astrid knows we’re here. And believe me, she’s every bit as stubborn as I am. We can’t let her get desperate, or who knows what that Beast will do.” She smacked a hand to her chest. “If I go out there, I might be able to talk her out of the village. At the very least, I can stall her.”
“Alone?”
“If Astrid sees you, she’ll come out swinging! I’m less of athreat. And I was practically crafted by the Void to distract that woman.”
“Or you could be ripped open by a derived daeyari.”
Antal seized her cheeks in his hands, too quick a motion… his eyes too wide. Fear. The same as that moment on the train, that panicked gaze sweeping over her when he’d thought she might be hurt. Fi fought a lump in her throat. A Void-born immortal shouldn’t be capable of such terror-hollowed eyes.
Much less for her.
He was afraid. Afraid to send her out alone. That made sense, didn’t it? From a logical standpoint: they were partners, their fates hinging on each other’s survival. Yet logic didn’t fit the fierce crease of his brow. Desperation whispered in the brush of his thumb across her cheek.
Fi placed her hands over his, fingers soft against claws.
“Stop looking at me like that, daeyari.” She forced a grin. “I’ll think you’ve started caring what happens to me.”
Too long a pause. Too still, his breath. “Would that be such a terrible thing?”
No. And yes. For all the same reasons.
“You won’t let me get hurt,” she said. “I trust you. If anything goes wrong, you’ll be at my side in a blink.”
Antal’s tail formed a tense curl. “I can only move so fast.”
Not faster than a crossbow bolt. Maybe not faster than a Beast’s lunge.
“Astrid could have blazed in here full force,” Fi reasoned. “She didn’t. She wants me alive.” Fi hoped that was true with every strain of her shredded heart. “Stay here. I’ll buy us more time.”
