“I could stay.” They were the only words he could say that would offer a brief respite from the pressure that had been building in his chest.
“What?” She straightened, her arms sliding off the railing. One hand rested on it as Arianna turned to face him.
The look she gave him almost made the feeling worse. Did she realize how her eyes pleaded? Was she aware of the softness in the slope of her shoulders, or the way her hand had crept closer to his on the railing? Cvareh instinctively responded in kind, his body language unfurling to meet hers, to face her chest to chest as they had so many times.
“For a little, I’m sure I could stay, or I could leave and come back quickly.” His words were making no sense. His mind was making no sense. Nothing about them had ever made any sense and yet…he thrived off her. Her blood, the way she pushed those around her, her sharp mind and sharper blades.
“Why would you do that?” Fear penetrated her stare. She was nervous of his answer, which made it all the clearer that she was becoming aware of what was happening—what had been happening—at the same time he was.
This woman had become something more to him. He didn’t know what quite yet. But he wanted to find out.
“Because I have work I can do with the rebels at the Alchemists’ Guild. I can help them,” he lied, mostly. Her lips pressed into a small frown; she knew it, too. Before she could press him on it, however, he changed the direction of the wind that blew between them. “What will you do after you have your boon? What do you even want your boon to be?”
Arianna fought a war against his words. She struggled to such a degree that the pain from the battle made it onto her face. Why did she fight so hard to keep him out?
“All my life, well, almost… I wanted the Dragon King dead,” Arianna breathed. “But I know your boon won’t be strong enough for that. I know asking for that would solve nothing. Overthrowing one tyrant only makes room for another. So, if I am selfish, I would ask for something simple: the death of a Dragon.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“Why, then?” He didn’t want to let go of the connection they had found between them. Not when he was finally seeing the true colors of the gray woman who had enchanted him.
“Because the Dragon betrayed us all. He was responsible for the death of the last rebellion. The deaths of my teacher, my friends, and the woman I loved.”
The woman she loved. He knew Fenthri didn’t share the Dragons’ concept of family. He knew they had structured breeding before the Dragon King took over and reorganized their guilds and society. He knew that, despite the fact they could not reproduce and therefore the union could bear no true meaning, the Fenthri would couple with the same sex if it suited them to do so.
He knew that. But now it stood before him and he suddenly had to pass an opinion on it. And the only emotion he found was disappointment. Heartbreaking disappointment.
He scolded himself internally. Even if she had been the slightest bit sweet on him, what did he think could come of any type of relationship with a Fenthri—a Chimera? There was almost no point in exploring it.
“I have told you of my heart.” Arianna leaned against the railing, folding her arms over her chest as if to guard the remaining details she hadn’t shared. “Tell me of yours. What makes you so convicted to reach the Alchemists?”
Cvareh sighed softly, other matters still clouding his mind. It wouldn’t hurt to share the schematics with her. She might know what it was, but that could only prove his sincerity for her cause at this point.
Unfastening the folio on his hip, Cvareh pulled back the top flap and selected one of the smaller pieces of schematic. He didn’t know what it detailed, some inner working likely. He passed it over to her and she stilled instantly, taking it.
“They’re schematics for the Philosopher’s Box. With this—”
“Where did you get this?” she uttered, deathly quiet. Arianna remained focused on the paper in her hands. Her fingers tensed, crumpling the edges. “Where did you get this?”
“I was told that—”
“You were told?” Her jaw thrust forward as her eyes rose to scrutinize him. He could practically hear the grit of her teeth. “Told what? Told by who?”
“I was told this was what the rebellion had been working on after the One Year War. That the Dragon King thwarted the possibility of creating a perfect Chimera army. We knew if I had it, I could earn the trust of the Rebels and we could continue work.”
“You could earn their trust,” she repeated mockingly. “No, now I see what this really is.” Arianna crumpled the paper in her fist.
“You can’t do that!”
She prodded him in the chest. “I will never take you to the Alchemists. I will never let you close. If you get off this airship and even think about heading to the Guild, I will cut you down where you stand. Crawl back to Nova, Dragon scum.”