Page 137 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

Too close.

Way too fucking close.

A bright flame of panic lashed through my limbs. Fist cocked, arm straight—I threw my weight through my shoulder, slamming into something very soft and fleshy.

Aegir’s airless gasp was enough for the imagination.

Had he been a true enemy, had I wanted him dead—and I still wasn’t sure that I didn’t—I’d have climbed over him then, laying blow after blow into his face until his body lay motionless and gray. Aegir had Maren to thank that I backed away instead, ears ringing and heart pounding, watching his dim shadow roll to the side and force itself, shakily, back to his feet. I wiped my nose, a new surge of blood leaking from the pressure. “Need a minute?”

The Videre didn’t answer right away. He hunched faintly over his feet, blowing a long gust of wind from his mouth. Sucked clean air into his nose and swallowed.

“No,” he finally groaned. “I’ll recover from a coward’s throw.”

“At least you take a punch like a human,” I drawled, my hands itching to strike him again.

If the blood poured from between my knuckles, I’d welcome the thought of Aegir making me bleed.

He climbed to his feet, sending a hard blow over my head. Hard, but slow. I ducked under it, my fist rocking into his mouth.

Aegir stumbled, and I hit him again.

Sun and stars, it felt good. The crunch of a cheek under my fist, the way a hit reverberated through my wrist and into my arm, the subtle bite of pain and promise of sore muscles tomorrow. The King of Calder had not fathered me, but if he’d given me anything, it was a vicious hand when I needed one. If there was one thing that made me feel safe, it was violence. For a moment, I was almost dizzy with it, that addicting feeling of leaning into a fight.

Of winning one.

Flecks of blood landed below, stark among stone and coarse sand. And within the giddy, impulsive drive of my dislike for Aegir, a darker flame lit. A burn low and dangerous in the pit of my stomach.

This wasn’t a fight I needed to win. This was one I needed to end.

Thunder rumbled from the east. The air over my arms rose, a static twisting the salt in the air. Leal’s uh oh suddenly made a lot more sense.

I spun to meet Nori’s eyes. At least, the shape that looked most Nori-like. She didn’t even have the decency to balk under my accusatory gaze. “My orders are to inform her if you’re in danger,” she said, emotionless.

“Think she’ll spank you, Kye?” Leal asked.

“She’ll at least give him a tongue lashing,” Hadrian muttered.

Leal shook his head with a grim smile. “He’d enjoy that.”

The shadows around Aegir’s eyes narrowed.

Fingers twined in the hair at my nape. Pain exploded across my cheek. Stars flew, and I shook them away, grappling through the bending light for a neck or a nose of even a fucking braid to hit.

“Should we stop them?” Dimas asked.

“No,” Diara answered, the word flat and angry.

I flipped over, a heavy body under my knee, wrestling for freedom. Dirt and sand and blood coated my tongue, the sting of scrapes from the rocks bright over my arms and back. Somewhere along the line, our punches had grown mean. My dignity had dropped off the edge like a river into a waterfall, sudden and raging and oh so fucking deep.

My forearm lay across his throat, and I leaned in, making sure he heard me. “You’re lucky,” I slurred, gravel in my voice. “You’re lucky she’s almost here. Otherwise, I might not have stopped.”

“You’re nothing,” he croaked back. “You aren’t worthy.”

I turned my cheek and spat, though more blood welled in my mouth. “You’re right. I’m not. But neither are you.” Lightning shuttered softly in the clouds overhead, almost to Evenstar. I moved in closer, whispering in the Naiad’s ear before I shoved myself off him.

“Cross the line with my wife and she’ll probably kill you herself. But if she doesn’t, I fucking will.”

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