Page 96 of With Wing And Claw

She couldn’t help an owlish blink or two. ‘But you said …’

‘Yes,’ he admitted, and there was a touch of grimness to the set of his jaw as he averted his gaze again and ran a gem-studded hand through his short black hair. ‘Yes, I suppose I did. Gods help me – she trained you well, didn’t she?’

What?

This whole conversation was making less and less sense.Shewas the one who’d had justified questions, for hell’s sake, and somehow he’d pried those out of her fingers and punched them straight back into her face – sendingherteetering, while he was still sauntering along without so much as a blink of confusion. How could he claim he was just keeping her safe when he was tugging at the very pillars thathadalways kept her alive in this world?

‘I don’t see where you’re going with this,’ she sputtered.

‘Never mind.’ He rubbed his brow, then stuck his hands back into his pockets. ‘Tell me about your allies.’

Was he trying to destroy her trust in them, too?

‘Look,’ she said, voice rising above the crashing waves in a sudden burst of agitation, ‘do you have any actual reason to think I shouldnotbe working with them? Any concrete accusations? If Inga confessed anything when you spoke with heryesterday—’

‘Oh, no,’ he interrupted – steady and without hesitation, yet all the same, she couldn’t help but sense an unexpected sliver of … was it defensiveness in his voice? ‘The conclusion of that conversation was that Inga definitely did not leak your plans.’

Thysandra snapped back around to him. ‘You managed to get a bargain out of her?’

His shrug showed neither pride nor false modesty at the accomplishment. ‘We had a good chat.’

‘Good gods.’ Thatwashelpful, admittedly – but then, it made his insistence that she distrust the people around her all the more ridiculous. ‘Fine, so we can trust Inga. Whose loyalties are you doubting, then?’

‘Everyone else’s?’ His wry grin came as close to an apology as anything she’d ever seen from him. ‘What exactly made you decide to start working with ademon, of all creatures? To the point where you trust her to sample the emotions of others for you?’

So he had noticed Naxi behind that hedge yesterday. What could she say?Don’t worry, I bribed the little menace by feeding her honey cakes and fucking her into the ground several times over– not a great way to improve his faith in her sanity, and in any case, with the odd way Naxi had been behaving yesterday, their agreement may not even last that much longer.

‘Bargains constrain demons as well as anyone else,’ she said instead, aiming her gaze at the motions of her feet, the small clouds of sand she was kicking up at every step.

‘True,’ Silas said, his voice neither sceptical nor impressed. ‘Then again, poorly worded bargains constrain demons as little as they constrain everyone else.’

‘I’m not a fool,’ Thysandra said, looking up to glare at him. ‘Anaxia bargained not to willingly harm me, and she’s bright enough that I doubt she’ll do it unintentionally.’

He canted his head. ‘A demon’s idea of harm may not be identical to yours, of course.’

‘Of course,’ she said, unable to keep the frost from her voice entirely. ‘Your concerns have been noted.’

‘Excellent.’ Another joyless grin crossed his face. ‘How about Nicanor, then?’

‘Nicanor gets what he wants from me. Also …’We’re old friends. He’d pick the painless poison for me– sentimental arguments that she should surely ignore if she ever wanted to convince her uncle that she’d picked her allies well. ‘If he wanted me out of the way, he could just have stood by and waited when I was attacked a while ago. Considering that he single-handedly saved my life on that occasion, I see no reason to distrust him now.’

‘Beyond him being a self-serving bastard,’ Silas dryly added.

She huffed an unwilling laugh. ‘Yes, and that’s been accounted for in the plans.’

‘Alright. Gadyon?’

‘Would Gadyon ever harm anyone except those leaving dog ears in his books?’ she countered, starting to feel a little steadier on her feet. This was familiar ground. Better than the utter dread of that falsified letter still pulsing in the back of her mind –traitor’s daughter. ‘He doesn’t strike me as the kind to stage violent uprisings.’

Silas pursed his lips. ‘He survived at the Crimson Court despite the disadvantage of a physical impediment, though. I doubt he’s as harmless as he seems.’

‘Are you trying to make me feel like a fool for placing even the most minimal, well-considered amount of trust inanyoneelse?’ Her voice soared. ‘Then what should I do – never exchange a word with anyone for the rest of my life? Or is the suggestion that I rely only on you and your assistance, perhaps?’

His steps did not falter.

He did not even blink.

‘What I want you to do,’ he said, slowly and meticulously, every word punctuated as if it set the conditions for a life-or-death bargain, ‘is to not take any assumptions for granted at this court. You’re living in a tinderbox, Thys.’ A mirthless laugh. ‘One spark and it’ll burn us all alive.’

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