But it was the only way she could escape her room. Cvareh had made Petra’s will clear the last time he’d delivered her back after her second escape; Arianna’s wandering would not be tolerated, given the secret nature of her presence. And, as much as she wanted to delight in putting the Dragons in their places, the truth was she had no ground to stand on for the matter. If Arianna fought, she would only make it so far before being violently subdued.
The foolishness of her impulsive decision to come to Nova weighed on her more with every passing hour, crushing her with each day. She had no route back to Loom. She knew little of the Dragon’s society and couldn’t even navigate without causing a fuss for no other reason than the shade of her skin. Escape on her own wasn’t enough; she wouldn’t leave after spending this long on Nova without some kind of success, and if she was to accomplish anything she needed to regain some of her sovereignty.
Arianna vowed to do just that nearly a month into her virtual imprisonment.
“Take me to Cvareh,” she demanded of Cain, awake with the dawn to greet him.
The man stared at her for a long moment, then continued his morning rituals as if she hadn’t woken at all. Arianna stood. She would not be ignored.
“I wish to speak to Cvareh.”
“And if the Ryu wished to speak to you, do you not think he would’ve come to do so himself?” Cain stared at her from the opposite side of the small table in the center of her room.
Arianna laughed. That Dragon rank and file nonsense wasn’t about to work on her. She was born of Loom, and she didn’t kneel before any man or woman simply because they wished her to.
“He doesn’t know I seek him.”
“Then I shall deliver your message.”
“I don’t trust you,” Arianna snapped back. For a retort that required such little thought, it stilled Cain by a satisfying margin.
“I am a Xin’Da, I would never—”
“That means nothing to me.” She rolled her eyes with a dramatic sigh, sitting heavily on the bed. “All that matters to me is action.”
“Action?” Cain tapped his fingertips on the table, claws sheathed. “And what have my actions done to earn your mistrust? I have gone out of my way for you. I have attended to you daily. Were it not for my magic, you would be trapped within this room in perpetuity.”
Arianna scowled viciously, as if to scare away the truth.
“Do you think I do it because I enjoy being around you?” he scoffed. “Quite the opposite, I assure you.”
She stared at his hands as they thrummed against the tabletop, her mind made up. “Very well, Cain. If you will not take me to him, bring Cvareh to me.”
He snorted, crossing over to her. The Dragon stared down his nose at her with his molten gold eyes. Arianna met them fearlessly. Cain cocked his head to the side.
“Why are you here, White Wraith?”
She rose to her feet, drawing her full height, but the crown of her head only came up to his mouth. Nevertheless, Arianna stood as though she was eye to eye with the Dragon. She would not be made to feel small. She would not be relegated to the space he deemed her worthy of.
“Does it bother you, not knowing why you’re ordered to attend to me day after day?” She could only assume he was under orders to oversee her. “The great Cain Xin’Da Bek, reduced to nannying a Chimera. To bringing her food and tending to her needs.”
Arianna knew just what places to prod. She knew enough of Dragon society to be offensive when it suited her. Cain narrowed his eyes.
“Now, bring me Cvareh.”
Cain moved and Arianna fell backward. His hand grasped for the empty air where her face had just been. She collapsed onto the bed, one hand on the hilt of her dagger. The pillow burst in an explosion of feathers as her dagger tore through it; they floated through the air between them as he landed atop her. One hand supported him above her, the other reached for her face again.
Her dagger rose against his palm, gold dripping onto her shoulder where it bit into his flesh. Arianna scowled. Cain snarled in reply.
“You think you can order me, Fen?”
“I do,” she sneered in kind at the slur for her people. “Because if you could kill me, you would’ve already.”
He pressed his hand forward, the dagger meeting bone. Arianna’s muscles strained against the force, keeping it at bay. Blood fell atop her like raindrops, smelling sharply of the fresh scent of wet earth.
“Why are you here?” he repeated. “Why have you ventured to my home? Why do you insult my Oji and still walk? How do you make demands of my Ryu as though he breathes for you alone?”
There was the root of it.
“Bring me Cvareh,” she demanded again, quietly. So quiet that his dripping blood against her shoulder was louder with each dull splat.
Cain snarled once more, then pushed away. Arianna pushed back, giving him purchase against her dagger and digging it deeper into his flesh. She laced the slash with magic, stinting his healing and slowing the knitting of his skin. The Dragon looked at it curiously.
“You act as though you are truly a Wraith—mighty and untouchable.” He clenched his fingers into a fist, blood oozing between them. “But I have seen your flesh.” The words stung, reminding her of the impropriety she’d endured before him. “I know under the armor of words and talons of sharpened gold, you are no more immortal than I.”
He left quickly, denying her the possibility of a retort. Arianna was set to pacing, her mind racing. It spun like clockwork assembled around every possibility, tooling for every outcome. At the core of the gearbox of her mind, Florence remained.
Arianna crossed over to the window, staring at the clouds below her. Not for the first time, she wondered how her apprentice fared. She’d sought redemption in Florence’s eyes, but in doing so had left the girl alone with the one woman whom Arianna had nothing but bitter feelings toward.
Lost in the labyrinth of her mind, Arianna was startled when she heard the door open once more. She half expected to be faced with Cain and some excuse of why she wasn’t good enough for his Ryu’s time. But the man she sought closed the stately portal behind him.
Cvareh regarded her warily. As he should, Arianna seethed quietly. They had not spoken since he last condemned her to the proverbial prison she had been trapped within for the past few weeks. He hadn’t so much as sought after her once as far as she knew.
But would she have wanted him to? She owed him nothing, and he owed her nothing but the yet unrequited boon. That was hardly anything significant to pull them together outside of a magical transaction. And yet, she couldn’t deny a hurt sort of yearning for it.
“It’s good to see you.” He startled her by speaking first.
“If that were truly the case, you would’ve looked in on me sooner.” Arianna rolled her eyes, dismissing the sentiment.