Before I could move, her warm hand took mine.
“I apologize,” Balthezar said carefully, looking at me like I’d planted a minefield around this office and one wrong step would trigger me to come for him again. “Regardless, my price is a sample of her blood and a lock of her hair.”
Astraea’s voice filtered through my head.“You think it might be the monocular from the Wanderer’s Trove, don’t you?”
“It’s possible, but also just as likely to be a very old and ordinary monocular. I could just erase it from his mind. I was trying to be civil, but I don’t like where it gets me.”
“We can’t keep taking what we want. You never know when the most unexpected acquaintances could come back into your life one day.”
I curled a lock of her stunning silver hair around my finger. “I don’t like to share,” I said aloud.
“That’s what we do for friends,” she said, casting a sweet smile at Balthezar.
I sighed, pulling a knife from my side and holding it to the lock I held.
“Are you sure?”I asked though the bond.
“It’ll grow back.”
It pained me to cut even one tress of her hair, and more so to put it in the hands of a man I didn’t trust.
“What will you do with it?” I asked, watching him marvel over the lock that kept its unique glittering property even when cut.
“I’m not sure yet,” he said, as though his mind was churning through a million options for what would give him the most gain. My fist tightened.
Balthezar opened a drawer of his desk and lifted out a small box. He tied the hair with a purple ribbon—how fitting—before storing it away.
Next he produced a small bottle, looking up expectantly. I turned to find Astraea holding her stormstone dagger, but I caught her wrist.
“Let me,” I said, slipping into her mind to take away the sting as I cut the palm of her hand.
She realized what I’d done, staring at the cut with surprise, then smiled at me in gratitude. So damn precious. My teeth sharpened in my mouth at the scent of her blood. A feeling of dominance at the thought of another male receiving it clawed within me. More so than the hair, it physically challenged me not to reach across the desk and spill his blood by pulling the heart from his chest.
“You’re radiating violence,”Astraea said in my mind.
She soothed my senses from within, and I kissed her temple before wandering over to a tapestry on the wall.
“Is this ancient or important?” I asked, indicating the hung material.
Balthezar looked up when he corked the bottle of Astraea’s blood. “It was an honorable gift I received from a wealthy—”
He choked on the ending of his tale when I ripped the bottom of it.
“Part of our exchange,” I explained, and tied the strip of material around Astraea’s cut palm.
“How long until we reach Volanis?” she asked Balthezar.
He regarded a device above the fire that kept time with sand and metallic spheres rolling through it. “Should the sea stay calm, we’ll reach shore by morning. But the evernight has made the sea rather angry. I fear the longer this imbalance lasts without daylight, it will surely start to rebel far more viciously.”
I didn’t fear the imbalance like everyone did. I wouldn’t care if this world collapsed when I could take Astraea to another, to as many as it took to find peace. But it was for her Ihadto care. For she had friends and a duty she loved here.
It was past midnight and Astraea spoke for both of our fatigue after the unexpected hitch in our journey.
“Is there a place we can rest for a few hours?” Astraea inquired.
“You can rest here.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling kindly and slipping her hand into mine. “I’ve never been on a boat before; I’d like to see the waters from the deck before I retire.”
