Page 117 of Ashen Wings

The windowpanes rattle with every gust, dust dances in the light like ash caught midair. A frigid, oceanic blizzard is rolling in this afternoon, and the quivering glass is far too brittle to keep the chill out. I pull my knit sweater tighter around my frame and wait for Saphine’s response.

“I told your companions all of this already, is it truly necessary to rehash it?” she asks, sighing.

“Yes.”

“Fine. After multiple stowaway attempts, my current employer found me holed up in some grungy bar—not dissimilar to this place—and offered me a job. I took it on the spot without discussing details and I’ll regret that until I meet Morvayne. That was ten or so years ago now,” she says. Light glints off the silver in her plait, turning each strand into a sliver of cold morning sun. Her index finger taps the stained wood grain impatiently. “I’d like to hear more about you. There are few and far survivors left. You’re the first I’ve seen since I fled Smoke.”

“Not yet. I have more questions,” I reply.

It's the kind of calm that I’m itching to break. There is no familiar warmth in her violet eyes like with Yaris. She may bear the same features as I, share the same history as I do, but there’s an air about her I don’t trust.

“Gods above, you and your companions show up after I saved your ass, hold me captive, and now claim that an intact Astralwing egg exists and I am its rider? It’s incredulous to say the least. You don’t trust me yet, Nova Lindwen? The feeling is mutual.” Saphine’s posture is steady, her words precise.

“We aren’t going anywhere until this storm blows through, so might as well get to know one another.” Jace leans against the doorframe, arms laced over his chest. A flicker of sconce light falls over his face, bearing his expression unreadable, all trace of the heat between us now gone from his breath.

I haven’t managed to catch his gaze, half terrified my body might combust into flames if I do. We spent the good portion of the morning tucked beside one another, not speaking, just taking in our proximity.

A dull soreness throbs between my thighs like a little reminder of how he claimed me…how I claimed him. Swallowing the dry lump in my throat, I adhere to my chair before my feet follow the thoughts wandering back upstairs.

“You said you were tracking Samkiel. Why?” I squeeze my thighs together under the table.

Jace locks his eyes on me, a satisfied smirk twitching on his lip. Gods above, that pompous asshole knows exactly where my mind went. He drags a thumb over his bottom lip as if the blood once smudged there still lingers, and my skin goes taut. Fuck, how did I ever believe this perfect creature to be a monstrosity? Ok, focus, Nova. Fucking focus.

“My employer has a rather sensitive trade in play with an arms dealer out of Smoke. I was tasked to keep on Samkiel Ashar to ensure that deal goes through.” Saphine leans back in her seat.

“And how did you get your hands on a Ceti signet ring?” I steal my infuriating eyes away from Jace and clear my throat. Saphine pulls off the glittering silver ring on her index finger and places it between us like an island surrounded by rough seas.

“It’s a family heirloom, passed to me from my grandmother,” she replies.

“Interesting that you wear it so openly. I assumed you wouldn’t take such risks as a mercenary,” I mutter, inspecting the ring. It’s smooth and newly polished, just as Yaris’s was. Only a handful of rings such as this exist in our world. The doubt of her lineage fades slightly when I place it back on the table, suddenly nauseous.

“Perhaps it’s pride.” She raises a brow and throws Jace a venomous glare. “Or perhaps a ‘fuck you’ to Ashar and his allies.”

“If you’re suggesting Shadow and Smoke are allies, Ms. Sunwither, you’re greatly mistaken,” Jace bites. “If we were, you’d be dead already.”

Dust particles scatter through the impasse between us. My eyes narrow as I take Saphine in—her straight posture, the scowl carved on to her face, the sweat beading at her hairline.

“My companions here seem to be convinced that you are as you say, but doesn’t this all seem a little too convenient? We come to Sea, specifically in search of a Ceti descendant, and here you are.” I clasp my hands together and lean over the table, closing the space between us. “I don’t buy it.”

“I’m unsure what else you want from me? If you don’t believe me, then let me go. Why waste time with interrogations?” She shrugs.

“The question I keep going back to is this—what do you gain from lying? A payout? A fulfilled contract? If the egg doesn’t respond to you, you’ll be dead anyway. So tell me, why have you exposed yourself so willingly?”

Saphine’s brow furls and she leans into my space. “Did you ever stop to think that perhaps it’s because you and I are cut from the same cloth? They took everything from us. Us, not just you. Has this world stripped you so bare you think the worst in your own faction? I could have let you bleed out on the fucking street, but I didn’t. I put myself at risk for you, and you sit there with that disgusted look on your face like I’m no better than trash. Fuck you.”

She spits right in my face. It tastes of copper and salt when I swipe her insult from my lips, and for a moment the storm’s hiss drowns out everything but her vicious fucking death glare.

My nails dig into the tabletop.

“It doesn’t matter regardless, we’ll find out your truths soon enough.” I push off my chair and pace to the hearth, now casting a warm glow across the creaking floor. The fire sighs when I approach and smoke curls up the chimney like a drawn-out exhale. Just as I do, the flames grow tired of this banter. “In a few days’ time you’ll either be our savior or dead.”

Saphine doesn’t bother with a response. If she’s anything like me, she knows words won’t earn my trust. Only actions, or maybe consequences, can.

A cool hand drapes over my shoulder, soothing the migraine manifesting between my eyes.

“Damn, starling, you’re cruel,” Jace whispers against my ear. I lean into his touch, uncaring of the affection so publicly displayed.

“Keep it up and I’ll have those vicious little lips of yours wrapped around my⁠—”