Page 123 of Sunsplitter

Antal dressed in a human shirt and simple trousers, sleeves rolled to the elbows. He greeted Kashvi with a bow that only made her scowl fiercer.

“Thank you for having us,” he said in seasonspeak. Then, a swap to daeyari for their guests, “This is Kashvi, Thomaskweld’s governor.”

Syvr wore equally relaxed attire for a daeyari, a shirt of contrasting dark and light blue fabric with silvered trim. They took in the space with bright eyes, a high arc to their tail. At the introduction, they mirrored Antal’s bow and offered a clawed hand to Kashvi.

“I’m Syvr,” they greeted in seasonspeak. “A pleasure, governor.”

Kashvi looked at Syvr’s hand. Back to them. “No.”

While Syvr appeared thoroughly amused, Ixli loomed behind, tail low, eyes ticking over windows and exits. She wore no metal armor. A shirt and pants of dark, scaled silviamesh hugged her frame, arms bare and lithe with muscle.

“Ixli doesn’t know seasonspeak,” Antal told Kashvi. “I’ll translate. If that’s acceptable?”

“Oh, don’t mind me.” Kashvi waved a chipper hand. “I’m just here to lend you my space. And to make sure no one gets eaten. The usual since you showed up, Lord Daeyari.”

“Please be nice to her,” Fi added in daeyari. “She keeps a crossbow under her desk.”

Ixli went rigid. Syvr cracked a wider smile, tail swatting Antal’s calf.

“Veshri’s teeth,” they snickered. “Youdohave a type.”

Antal looked like the most tired creature in all the Shattered Planes.

He gave Kashvi the usual berth, circling the table to greet Fi with a nose to her cheek. She purred at his softness, at the brush of his tail at the back of her hand. All this affection in front of other daeyari? Fi would have patted him on the head for what a good boy he was being—if she weren’t preoccupied by counting the guests he’d brought.

“Avroz couldn’t join us,” Antal said, noting her wildcat twitch. “Business with the Daey Celva, reviewing candidates to replace Jazst.”

Oh, thank theVoid. Maybe this meeting would go well, after all.

They could get straight to business—Kashvi’s impatient stance near the map made her vote clear. But this was more than a tactical meeting. Fi eyed the visiting daeyari like wolves captured from their native habitat. Syvr, always a crafted ease about them, circled the room with head tipped to inspect the architecture. Ixli stood stone-still, back to a defensible wall, looking every bit a wild animal on foreign ground.

Antal watched both of them as closely as Fi did, his tail low and anxious.

This poor, soft-hearted predator was afraid of every ghostthat followed from his old world. But Fi had vowed he wouldn’t fight alone.

She fetched the coffee.

As she poured, clawed footsteps whispered behind her. Syvr circled closer—not too close, she preened to see. Not Fi-could-stab-them-with-an-energy-dagger-again close.

“Good to see you well, Fi. And in better spirits than last time?”

Their greeting was too cheerful. Their smirk, too smug. Not hard to guess, then, that Antal had dragged her away to fuck her brains out. For whatever reason, this fact appeared to increase her standing. She allowed it.

“Much better.” She matched their cheerful tone. “Coffee?”

Syvr accepted a mug, waggling scandalous brows, and by the Void, Fi did like this daeyari a little bit. None of that chiseled cold so common to their species.

Ixli sipped her coffee—then promptly spat it back in the mug.

“What in Veshri’s teeth isthis?” she asked.

“Human coffee.” Syvr took a pointed sip of their own.

“Why is it so…sweet?”

“It’s an acquired taste, Ixli.”

“No, it isn’t,” Antal grumbled over his mug.