29. Arianna
“Now listen—” The Dragon held up his hands, pleading for something she wasn’t about to give him.
“What did you do to her?” she repeated, her voice rising. She didn’t care if the world heard her, if they all watched as she tore the man limb from limb.
“I didn’t—”
“He didn’t do anything I didn’t expressly ask for.” Florence was on her feet. Arianna watched her fingertips track along the bench, keeping her steady. The girl looked frail. Her steps were small, her ankles threatening to revoke their support at any moment.
“Flor… You…” She didn’t have words. The world had fallen away, crumbling into a vortex of emotions. The anger, confusion, rage, and panic she’d felt for days not knowing if she’d ever find her Florence again vanished. Pure relief flooded the vacant hollow in the center of her chest. Ari scooped her up, holding her, stabilizing her. “I’m so relieved.”
“I am too.” Flor’s arms snaked around her waist, holding her in kind. Arianna sighed softly into her hair, content to know the most precious person in her world was safe once more. Both their hands pressed into the other’s left shoulders for a long moment.
But there was a smell that interrupted her bliss, that tainted and changed it. Ari finally pulled away, bracing herself to handle the truth that was already apparent. “You reek of him.”
“Arianna,” Florence spoke firmly and evenly. “There was no other way. If we hadn’t made the effort, I would’ve died. There was an accident after the Wretches—we’re lucky to be alive at all.”
Ari chewed over her tongue to keep it from spitting venom. She had never wanted Florence to endure the pain and danger of becoming a Chimera. She had never wanted the girl to feel the draw of magic, the lust of possibility for one more organ, one more scrap of stolen power.
“I had been thinking about it for the past year.” Florence squeezed her forearms. “As a Chimera I can do more; I can make my own weapons better than with your help. Not that your help isn’t marvelous, but it’s that—”
“I know, Flor.” Arianna smiled tiredly and squeezed the girl’s arms in reply. She wasn’t sure if Florence was trying to convince her, or herself. But what was done was done.
If she could smell Cvareh on her, the girl had already ingested quite a bit of his blood. Florence’s body would go into full rejection if they didn’t complete the transfusion sooner rather than later. There was no going back.
“But this does change things.” Arianna thought aloud, looking between Florence and Cvareh. “I’ve been here for five days now, no sign of the Riders, so I’ll trust we lost them in the Underground. Cvareh, did they know where you were headed?”
He shook his head. “Most would reason I’m headed to the Rivets, I would think.” He patted the folio strapped around his waist.
The Rivets? What exactly does he have? Ari regarded him skeptically for a long moment.
“Then I think we should risk an airship, instead of traveling on foot across Ter.0,” she decided aloud.
“Are you sure that’s wise? We’ll be easier to find in the air.”
“We will be.” There was no point denying or disagreeing. “But if the Riders have headed down to the Rivets in Ter.3, they won’t be anywhere close enough to smell you.”
“Still…”
“You’re sure they don’t know where you’re headed?” she pushed at his indecision.
“They shouldn’t know.”
It wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but it would have to be enough. Florence wouldn’t—couldn’t—make the trip on foot. She needed a transfusion within the week, and an airship would guarantee their arrival well before then.
“Don’t do this on my behalf,” Florence interjected quickly. The girl was too smart. Of course she put together the reason for their change in plans. “After all we’ve been through to get this far, if we’re caught now because we take a risk just for me, I would never forgive myself.”
“And if we let you die what was the point of making the effort to save you at all?” The Dragon clad in grubby Fenthri clothing crossed over to Florence. Ari watched as he patted her pupil on the shoulder in admiration.
Despite his face being almost entirely covered, Ari knew clearly what his expression was. She could almost feel it. She didn’t want to allow the fractures shaped like his face upon her heart. She didn’t want this Dragon to cut down the measuring stick she used to keep the world at length with his tenderness toward Florence.
“You made your decision, and it seems we have as well.” She never thought there was a space for her and the Dragon between the two letters of the word “we”. “We’ll get on an airship tonight. Most of the vessels here seem to be headed for Faroe, but we should be able to find at least one to Keel.”