Page 164 of Sunsplitter

Instead, he caught Qirza’s eye.

The old daeyari had a petrifying gaze. She’d always looked atAntal with intention. Intrigue. Now, her eyes narrowed, flitting between him and Ixli as they attempted to flee early.

Her grin was a subtle thing. Equally subtle, the toast of her glass.

She looked the other way, permission granted.

Antal and Ixli vanished, leaving the revelers to their celebration.

Fi picked a gravel path and set off walking, into the gardens that filled the dusk-lit cavern. Yme truly had a talent, beds overflowing with plants that Fi had never seen, spindly blue ferns and spicy smelling bark and giant blooms that glistened silver at the tips, all thriving beneath strategically placed growing lights.

She wanted to scream at every leaf.

Shedidn’t. Only because that would feel uncharitable to the humans stuck here with her. After the daeyari left, Geslam had busied himself in the study. A groundskeeper raked leaves a couple beds away, watching Fi as if she might trample something by accident. Or on purpose. She kept walking, pushing deeper into the garden.

Right now, Antal and Ixli were getting Sunsplitter bands put on their antlers. One of the greatest honors a daeyari could earn.

And she wasn’t even allowed to watch.

It wasn’t just Avroz this time. The entire Daey Celva stood against her,mortals not permittedin their chambers. What pricks. Fi had spoken to Antal of not being bound by old worlds, of seeking their own path.

But what was she supposed to do against walls this ingrained? Ignore them? Beat against the mortar until her fists turned raw?

She couldn’t let it get to her. She had to keep calm.

She couldn’t let Avroz win.

“It’s uncanny, really,” Syvr said behind her. “The way you both slink off to hide when you’re upset.”

Fi spun in a tornado of Void-and-crimson hair. Syvr stood in the path, a mildfancy meeting you herelean to their posture. She blinked. They grinned. How?When?

“Who says I’mupset?” Fi snapped.

“Well,” they drawled. “The way you saidthat, specifically. The thing your face is doing, more generally. The sound of you dragging your feet like a flustered aurorabeast—”

“You’re back,” she said. “Does that mean… it can’t be over already?”

She scanned the path for Antal. Her heart sank when she didn’t spot familiar crimson eyes. Just her and Syvr.

“Oh, that nonsense?” They batted a clawed hand. “The antler carving goes fast enough. The socializing will drag out all day.”

Fi’s heart sank deeper. Ridiculous.

“Then why are you here?” she accused.

Syvr grinned. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Why would I be?”

“Hurtful. So you don’t have to sulk alone, of course. Unless you’d rather—”

“You should be there for Antal!” Fi snarled. “If I can’t be!”

The bristles were instinctive. They slipped on before Fi realized she was shouting, before she regretted saying something so sharp. So honest. That all she wanted was to know that Antal had the support he deserved, and it killed her that she couldn’t be there herself.

She braced for Syvr’s taunting. The daeyari appraised herwith head tilted. Their eyes narrowed to azalea slivers.

Fi had never seen them so serious.