Page 83 of Sunsplitter

“Stop it,” Antal said. “Both of you.”

“You care about her?” Syvr taunted.

“Hedoes not,” Ixli said, indignant.

How had Antal ever missed either of these insufferable daeyari? Their probing eyes were too much—their flinches palpable, when he bared his fangs.

Syvr was too observant. They’d weasel out the truth, no stopping that.

But Ixli. Was this really what she thought of him? That he’d left her, just to shirk responsibility and rut with humans for the next century?

“I don’t takeplaythings.” Antal spoke low, serrated, just for her. “You of all people should know that.”

She knew the soft edges of his heart. She knew he’d been the one to ask her to become Void bonded. Sheknewthe things he’d whispered to her in the night, dreams and fears shared like precious gems.

She knew how it had carved him hollow, when those whispers reached his father.

I never meant to hurt you, she’d argued back. She’d thought Avroz already knew, didn’t realize she was handing him that leash to tighten on Antal’s throat.

She hadn’t meant it. The crack was still too deep to mend.

Yet she dared lay this at Antal’s feet? Act like she didn’t know the deepest shape of him? What he used to be, at least, that frail creature who’d walked his father’s house a century ago.

Now, like then, Ixli’s sneer crumbled. In that long moment she stared at him, Antal couldn’t tell if her eyes widened in disgust. Or shock. He wasn’t sure which hurt more.

Across the room, Jazst and Avroz drew their conversation to a close.

“Only the one report,” Jazst explained. “I’ll let you know if anything else turns up, but for now, that’s all I have.”

Avroz flicked his tail. It sounded like a dead end.

Antal kept his mouth shut through the closing pleasantries. Then they were free, released into the sunlit atrium, blinding after the dim of Jazst’s meeting room. Avroz led the way with a stiff gait. He hadn’t gotten as much as he wanted.

“We could keep checking older trails,” Syvr offered. “Look for something we missed?”

Avroz spoke through tight fangs. “The scent will be gone.”

“We wait for a new one, then?”

“Wait?” Ixli said. “And let this aedari do whatever it wants until then?”

At the back of the group, Antal paused. He scanned the atrium, its bright hallways and tile-lined alcoves.

Fionamara was gone.

“Antal?” Syvr called back.

Antal swiveled on the human porter stationed beside the door.

“Where is she?” Antal demanded in seasonspeak.

The man’s eyes widened. He pointed past the courtyard, toward the city.

Every time he left her alone…

“Antal,” his father chastised. “We don’t have time—”

Antal ignored him, already heading outside.