Page 10 of With Wing And Claw

‘Not at all! I just—’

‘That you werecountingon me to come back, then?’

‘There was a pattern,’ Thysandra snapped, her wings whooshing against the air as she whipped around and strode into her bedroom to snatch a hairbrush off her dressing table. Tears sprang into her eyes as she yanked it through her tangled black locks – but at least that simple, physical pain was a much,muchbetter reason to cry than the manipulative games of a female who could by her very nature not be trusted to ever care about anyone else. ‘And you didn’t break the habit until I’d served my purpose, at which point you dropped me like a hot coal – so excuse me for assuming—’

An unexpected giggle followed her from the living room. ‘You’re angry, aren’t you?’

‘Don’t know how you fucking noticed it!’ she bit back, clenching her brush even more tightly. It didn’t stop her hand from trembling. ‘One would almost think you could magically sense emotions, with those subtle clues you’re picking up.’

There was a suspicious undertone of amusement in Naxi’s hum. ‘If you’re angry I didn’t come back, that suggests youdidwant me to come back, doesn’t it?’

‘It suggests I’m sick of being manipulated and lied to!’ Thysandra burst out, striding back into the living room and only barely suppressing the urge to fling her hairbrush at the infuriatingly dainty face waiting for her on the couch. ‘Weren’t you the one who told me the Mother didn’t deserve my loyalty? Who told me I might as well abandon her since she had abandoned me first? So how are thing different when it’syourvile little games we’re talking about, exactly? How are we suddenlytechnicallyformer enemies when all you’ve ever done is exploit my feelings and weaknesses for your own bloody benefit?’

A resounding silence fell.

Only thendid she realise she had once again nudged dangerously close to the point of shouting; an uncharitable listener might even argue she had already arrived there. The distance between herself and the couch had somehow shrunk to a mere few steps. Even worse, the target of her ire hadn’t moved at all – as if this was nothing but a cosy chat between friends, a matter of routine among old acquaintances.

Of course, they technicallywereold acquaintances. If one didn’t mind that they hadn’t exchanged so much as a word for most of that time, ithadbeen a hundred and thirty years since their meeting at the Last Battle – since the day Thysandra had cut her own wings to shreds to fight that torturous demon magic, the day they ought to have been killing each other but instead had—

A most unwelcome flare of heat ran through her.

Naxi giggled again. ‘I’m pretty sure I did some other things to you, too, Sashka. You seem to remember.’

For fuck’s sake.

‘Get out,’ she said through clenched teeth. ‘I don’t have the patience for this nonsense.’

‘That’s a shame,’ Naxi cheerfully admitted, tilting her head in an unnecessarily inviting manner as she nestled her lithe body more comfortably between the velvet cushions. ‘I was just getting started. And honestly, if you did not actually want me to leave the last time you yelled at me, then why should I trust you to actually mean it this time? For all I know you’ll scold me in two days for—’

‘I just want some time tosleep,’Thysandra hissed, realising her mistake only when she saw the radiant grin beaming back at her in response.

‘Alone?’

‘Yes, alone!’ The heated twist of her heart really did not help. ‘I don’t have time for these bloody games, alright? They just named me High Lady of this gods-damned court, and the first rivals will probably be knocking at my door the moment the Alliance leaves – so theleastI needbefore then is a few hours of—’

‘Ah, yes,’ Naxi interrupted, lashes fluttering innocently against her soft, rosy cheeks. ‘Rivals. Intrigue. Backstabbing courtiers. You could probably use someone you can trust on your side, then, couldn’t you?’

It took an inhuman effort not to scoff or to throw that hairbrush after all. ‘And I’m supposed to believe that I would be able to trust you?’

‘Why not?’ Again that pout, plump and petulant and so pointedly innocent it was almost aggressive in its harmlessness. ‘Have I ever done anything to hurt you?’

‘You’re ademon!’ Thysandra sputtered, which was perhaps not as persuasive a point asremember that time you almost strangled me during the Last Battle?orhow about when you crushed my every goal and motivation in life by showing me a single short letter?but seemed more than sufficient all the same. ‘You’re incapable of feeling empathy! Which means you’re incapable of love and loyalty, too! If you haven’t harmed me yet, it’s because I haven’t been in your way enough, and the moment Idoend up between you and some greater goal …’

Naxi shrugged. ‘What if you are my greater goal?’

Oh,fuck.

It was infuriating, the way that simple question – wide-eyed and light-hearted – still managed to make her heart skip a beat. As if she hadn’t spent almost a century and a half attempting to squash this reckless, senseless longing. As if she didn’t know damn well that a demon’s infatuation never reached any further than one’s use to them, that as soon as the novelty wore off, she’d be cast aside all over …

Again.

Something inside her shrivelled, a feeling so dark it hurt to even glimpse it.

‘You’re being utterly ridiculous.’ Her voice cracked. ‘Just because we fucked once doesn’t mean you know anything about me, let alone that I mean anything to you – so for the very last time,get out of—’

‘Do you need me to prove it?’ Naxi suggested, pulling up her knees so that her flowery skirt fell around her hips, revealing far, far too much of her pale, silky thighs. It had to be deliberate, that guileless gleam in her blue eyes – as if her demon senses had gone conveniently blind at thisworst possible moment. ‘That I really won’t betray you to any aspirant High Lords or Ladies if you decide to trust me?’

‘I need you to fucking leave! How many more times do I—'