The Dragons of Nova (Loom Saga #2)(111)

Arianna stopped all movement, stunned.

“I want to see him die by your hands, Arianna.”

He placed his hands on either side of her face and crossed the line of safety into her reach. He pressed his mouth against hers. She stilled all movement for a long moment. He felt the warmth of her breath on his cheek, the heaving of her chest on him. It was life and everything good in the world. Finnyr would be a worthy sacrifice for this woman’s pleasure.

Her head twisted and she tore off his bottom lip with her blunt teeth.

Cvareh reeled backward, holding his bleeding face. Arianna spit his flesh at him. Anger still consumed every inch of her. But she was no longer raging.

Twenty gods above, this woman was the only creature he’d ever met for whom tearing off his flesh was a step in the right direction toward the return of stability and sanity.

“You think now is a good time to be kissing me? Bloody cogs, your incompetence is only rivaled by your idiocies.” Arianna shook her head at him, standing strong on her feet. “Now, free me so I can kill you properly after we escape.”

He should’ve left her there. Had anyone else spoken to him that way, they would’ve been promptly killed and forgotten, especially given her prone state. But Cvareh found himself inspecting the locks at her wrists.

“I don’t have the key.”

“You don’t have the key?” She sighed heavily. “You really are useless for this whole rescuing thing.”

“I didn’t—”

“I know, you didn’t think. Hardly a surprise.” She was a vicious sort at the moment. But he’d take verbal lashings over physical ones. It was its own kind of progress. “I need gold, untempered gold. They took my harness and tools.”

All the ornate trimmings of the Rok Estate came to mind instantly. “A moment.”

Cvareh sprinted out to one of the earlier rooms. For now, it seemed the bloodshed was far enough away from other Dragons that it had yet to attract attention, but he was certain their luck would run out. Lord Agendi only had so much good spirit for him, and he kept cashing in prayers daily.

Using his claws, he ripped out a chunk of the ornate gilding, bringing it back down to her. “Will this do?”

“Well enough,” she admitted, begrudgingly awarding praise. Arianna focused on the gold and her magic filled the air.

Cvareh watched as it lifted itself from the wood, isolating the strip of metal. She took a deep breath, and the sliver turned hot. Arianna didn’t even wince as she burned her fingers to blistering on the molten metal, shaping it into a fine and slightly curved point. Her fingers had healed by the time she tested the pick in the lock, only to be burned as she adjusted the shape a second time, and a third, until there was a soft click, and the shackles fell away one by one.

“Now we need to—”

She lunged for him. They fell to the floor and Arianna had him pinned in a mere breath. One hand was at his throat, claws pressing into his neck, drawing blood. The other hand was drawn back, ready to attack his chest.

Cvareh didn’t struggle. He submitted beneath her, gave her the control she so clearly craved. If she needed to physically see his heart to know it didn’t beat against her, he had already decided to permit it.

“Tell me why I don’t kill you.”

He stared at her, his tortured lover. Her soul had belonged to another. Eva had broken it into pieces with her death. It was not meant for his hands to fix.

“Tell me!” Arianna screamed. “Give me a reason, Cvareh. Tell me why I don’t kill you!” Her hand quivered like a shackle was still attached, holding it back from diving into his chest.

They were running out of time, especially if she kept drawing attention with noise and blood. “Because I love you.”

Arianna’s face twisted as the invisible soldiers who fought wars in the dark battlefields of her mind plunged their claws into her all at once. “That’s not good enough.”

“Because I love you, and because you love me in return.”

Her eyes shot wide open. “I do not.”

“Why didn’t you kill me then, on the airship? Why not after? Why not on Nova, when I avoided you because I could no longer stand being in the same room as you without touching your skin? Why not when I brought you my brother’s hands? Why not a moment ago? Why not now? Why?” He needed to hear it as much as she needed to say it. They’d been dancing around it for so long, a waltz on the deck of a swan-diving airship.

“Because... because I want my boon.”

“Then why haven’t you spent this precious boon?” he pressed. She was too logical for this.

“Because I don’t know what I want.”

He sighed softly. “Yes, you do. You want this. You want me.”

“I only wanted you for a night.” Fallacy colored her magic.

“You wish that were true.”

“Damn you, Cvareh.” She cursed loudly. “Damn you!”

Arianna pushed away from him, swaying as she stood.

“You want to kill my brother. I want to see you do it. Petra’s already marked him for dead! You want to free Loom from Dragon rule, and Petra will give that to you. I will help.”

“I—”

“No more objections, Arianna. You know it’s true just as you’ve known all along that the man who betrayed you was closely connected to me. Perhaps, somewhere in that brilliant mind of yours, you’d already deduced the possibility of our familial ties.” Cvareh appealed to her sense of logic, her sense of reason. She was too smart not to have put it together. Even if she hadn’t consciously admitted it, she knew it was true.