Page 17 of With Wing And Claw

‘I told you.’ Naxi shrugged. ‘You.’

Her heart stuttered.

Damn her body for betraying her so easily – for being so stupidly susceptible to the sound of that single treacherous word. Sheknewit was a lie. At least, that it could not possibly be the full story, and yet the eagerness of her own flesh and bones was making it far too hard to remember the lesson life had painstakingly taught her again and again, the lesson that should have been second nature to her by now—

That no one wantedher.

They wanted her magic, yes. Her loyalty. Her secrets and her skills. The Mother had been the one exception, until she hadn’t – and if even that had been a lie, then how could she ever think a gods-damneddemonwould be any different?

‘And what part of me do you need, this time?’ she choked out, hating the way the words shook on her lips, the way her hands clenched and unclenched no matter how hard she tried to keep them still. ‘My information? My helpful surrender in battle? Or perhaps—’

‘I could name some parts, if you like?’ Naxi humbly suggested.

‘Fuckoff.’ And damn the flare of warmth sizzling down her stomach, her burning anger tangling up with some twisted, nauseating feeling she refused to name. ‘I thought you might have something to say, but if we’re not getting anything but coy innuendo …’

‘Oh, as you wish.’ Naxi rolled her eyes as she swung up her legs and turned away from the hole in the floor, then crossed her ankles and planted her willowy elbows onto her knees. Her eyes were suddenly so blue they almost seemed to glow. ‘I want to get to know you better. I want you to stop pretending you’re not smitten with me. And most of all, I want to pull you out of this hellhole and make you come live with me on some nymph isle far away from here, but I’m willing to negotiateon—’

There was no helping the shrill laugh that burst from her lips. ‘Oh, it’s notmeyou need to negotiate with. Your fucking friends are the ones who just chained me to this island, in case you forgot.’

‘They did,’ Naxi slowly admitted, flicking the tip of her tongue across her upper lip. ‘And I’ll confess I was thoroughly unhappy with them when they first told me. But then Emelin said you’d be free to leave once you’d restored order here – so now my plan is to help you restore order first andthenconvince you to come to some superior island with me.’

Wait.

Free to leave?

There was an end date to her obligation here? A caveat to the threats Agenor’s daughter had made, and no one had eventoldher?

‘But …’ Her thoughts were reeling. ‘Look, what if I don’twantto go anywhere with you? Have you considered—’

‘Oh, yes, yes, of course you’d say that.’ The point was discarded with a quick, flitting gesture, as if it was nothing but a stubborn fly to be chased away. ‘We’ll work on that. Just let me help you for now, alright? As I was trying to tell you yesterday, you can clearly trust me, given that itisin my own interests to help you succeed as soon as possible.’

‘Have you considered that I may notwantto work with you?’ What little remained of the marble floor stayed unmoving beneath her feet, and yet she felt as though the ground was shifting beneath her, crumbling towards her at an alarming speed. ‘I could just say no. I could just refuse to tell you anything, and you—’

‘Hmm,’ Naxi interrupted, thoughtfully pursing her lips. ‘You could. I could also kill a few more people, of course.’

Thysandra gaped at her.

Her small, blood-stained opponent sent a smile dripping with honey up at her, eyes gleaming guilelessly, fingertip tapping a gentle rhythm against a plump bottom lip. As if she hadn’t just uttered that ice-cold threat. As if she didn’tmeanit, this creature without a heart or a conscience – as if she wouldn’t truly commit twelve more grisly massacres, and do it cheerfully, for nothing but access to the inner workings of the Crimson Court.

Tonight’s corpses were still lying in their beds and rooms outside this hall, screaming in eternal soundless agony.

‘Yes,’ Naxi murmured, such impossiblesympathyin her unblinking gaze. ‘That would be rather unpleasant, wouldn’t it? All the more so because we both know you don’t even want me to stay away in the first place. Wouldn’t it be a shame, if all those lives were to go to waste just because you didn’t get over your own denial in a timely manner?’

Fuck.

Did she …didshe want this?

The rational answer was clear – the answer given by the part of her mind that knew the rules of the game and played it to perfection, that wouldn’t let her take so much as a nap without a lock on the door and three knives beneath her pillow. The part of her mind, most of all, that had suffered the sting of betrayal before, and knew that a fickle ally could do much more damage than even the most vicious of enemies.

And yet …

Andyet.

Gods, how could anyonenotbe tempted by promises of such loyalty – by the unimaginable luxury of even a single person one could safely fall asleep around?

‘Does it matter what I want if I’m unable to trust you?’ she rasped, barely hearing her own numb voice.

Naxi scoffed. ‘Why wouldn’t you trust me? I hate this place and everyone in it. Do you really think I’m sticking around at a court itching to kill me for the sole purpose of betraying you to people I don’t care about?’