Page 130 of Sunsplitter

“We already knew that, Ixli.”

“Fucker.”

“Oh, yes, cuss at me. I’m so intimidated.”

Antal had missed them both so much.

“No, Syvr’s right,” he said. The world swirled, and he was full, and merciful Void, he wanted this to last forever. “I don’t want to keep fighting. To live in the past. Tell me everything, all that you’ve been doing for the last fifty years.”

Syvr laughed. “Oh, you know. Traveling the Shattered Planes. Scouring secrets.”

“Travelingtoomuch.” Ixli scoffed. “Avroz has been plying favors all over. Preparing for his Pilgrimage. Which meansI”—her tail lashed—“have to make sure those favors go through. He’s even sent me out to the Contested Planes a few times.”

Antal frowned through his haze. “Avroz lost an antler tip. On the Contested Planes, he said. I thought that meant an aedari fight, but you still don’t have your bands?”

Ixli scoffed harder.

“We went with him,” Syvr said. Annoyed. “Favor for a terrified territory lord who’d spotted an aedari. We split up to track the trail. Avroz ran into the damn thing alone, fought it off. Found him back home the next day with the antler missing.”

Ixli looked livid at the recollection. Denied her bands, when they’d been so close.

“Let’s not talk about Avroz,” she growled.

Antal tipped a claw to his highest antler at that. This night was going too well.

“Agreed,” Syvr said. “We have more urgent matters.” They pressed a conspiring shoulder to Antal’s. “That human of yours can use Void ether. What the kindlyfuckis that about?”

Antal’s groan made his head spin. “I wish I knew. I swear on Veshri’s antlers, I only take my eyes off her for five seconds.”

“You sound whipped.” Syvr smirked. “Antlers.”

Never mind. Friends were awful, actually. Antal’s sigh made Syvr cackle.

“Veshri’s teeth, you have it bad for this woman?”

Antal hesitated. He glanced at Ixli, the previous woman he’d had it bad for.

“We don’t have to talk about this,” he said. “If it makes you uncomfortable.”

“No, no, I…” The world was swirling, and Ixli grinned—actuallygrinned, a soft thing with no teeth. “Tell me. Please. I want to know you’re happy.”

“Dammit, Ixli,” Syvr said. “Sentimental bullshit for the second bottle!”

Antal contemplated how to answer. He was tipsy, and he trusted these daeyari, and the moment he thought of Fionamara…

“She’s the fiercest creature I’ve ever met. Like nothing in all the Shattered Planes can stop her once she sets her mind to something. She’s flayed me into pieces I never knew existed. Smelted me back together, more whole than I’ve felt in a century. She’s so unrelenting, and so soft, and by the merciless Void, I think I want to marry her.”

Silence followed the confession.

Too much silence.

The weight of Syvr’s raised brow, Ixli’s parted lips, threatened to crush Antal alive.

“A human wedding,” he amended. “That thing they do with sweet food and dancing. Not a daeyari bonding, of course. I know my parents would never—”

“Are we invited?” Syvr asked.

“… What?”