Chapter 265

Astrid pulled Zoey aside the moment they were safely back in Mantle, specifically in the d’Celestin estate. The polite thing to do would’ve been to let them get cleaned up and relax a bit; they were exhausted from the shard and travel. As fourth advancement wayfarers, they were much better at staving off the need for sleep, though, and could go for days before exhaustion demanded them to rest. Though it was still unpleasant. Regardless, her theories had been sitting on her mind and she wanted answers sooner rather than later.

‘We need to talk,’ Astrid had said to Zoey as she pulled her aside.

“Ah?” Zoey said, looking surprised. “We do?”

“You haven’t been honest, I think.”

Though if her theories were right, it wasn’t hard to see why she’d kept the truth obfuscated.

Astrid wasn’t sure how she felt about confronting a goddess’s champion. More even than Rosalie, Zoey ... made her nervous.

Nervous? Was that the right word?

Astrid didn’t know how to view Zoey. She was the strangest of her teammates. She had a lot of opinions on the tall, busty girl. As mentioned: how she was competent despite her relative newness to wayfaring. Her incredibly powerful skills. And as far as her personality went—easygoing, thoughtful, kind? Not the most common set of traits when it came to wayfarers.

And attractive.

That wasn’t something Astrid tried to pay attention to with teammates. That sort of interpersonal interaction within a wayfaring party was treading on slippery ice to put it lightly. More often than not such relationships ended in disaster. It compromised decision making at a minimum.

Yet—

Attractive.

Very, very attractive.

She couldn’t help but notice. Zoey was one of the most gorgeous women she’d ever met. Her figure was unbelievable. Tall. Busty. An amazing ass. Toned in the right places, soft in the same. She had the sort of body that was found more often on sculptures than reality.

And the part that truly made her incredulous was that the same went for the rest of the party.

“I haven’t been honest?” Zoey asked, seeming alarmed. “What do you mean?”

And here was the problem. Astrid didn’t want to spell out her suspicions. Because how insane would she look if she was wrong? After many hours of ruminating, she was fairly certain there was merit to what she’d concluded. But in the one percent chance she was wrong, the consequences would be mortifying.

So she hedged her bets. Any rational person would.

“I’m not stupid. The rest breaks. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

The way Zoey froze gave some credence to Astrid’s assumption. And relieved her in no small part. But she kept her face straight and waited for a reply.

“A-Ah? The rest breaks? What do you mean?”

The way she stammered boded well. Astrid gave the woman her most disapproving look.

“You won’t make me say it, will you? I’m not stupid,” she repeated.

Despite the facade she was putting on, Astrid was worried she was making outlandish assumptions. For all the evidence, she doubted herself.

Zoey continued to seem like a deer caught in front of a hunter’s bow. She took several seconds to reply.

“Well, what did you see?”

Not the most subtle of replies. It confirmed at a minimum that there was something odd about their rest breaks. Which Astrid had already deduced, but it was a relief to have verified.

“Enough.”

It was a vague response on her own part. And Zoey noticed it. She hesitated, sensing that maybe Astrid didn’t know for sure. Or that she wasn’t confident. Zoey relaxed slightly.

Damn. Astrid didn’t know word-games. Politics. She would’ve spat at the concept if not for who her present company would be for the foreseeable future. As far as she was concerned, politics was the one major failing of Rosalie’s. The girl might use that spear like nothing Astrid had ever seen, but she was also too refined—too perfect with her words.

Well, most of the time. She’d begun stammering and blushing halfway through several of their ‘rest breaks.’ One of Astrid’s major supporting pieces of evidence.

“Enough...?” Zoey asked. “I’m not sure what you mean?”

Maybe attacking straight-on was the correct maneuver. Astrid had provided an opening by not being direct enough.

Damn it. She hated words.

What to say?

Maybe nothing? Astrid met Zoey’s expression straight-on with her most disapproving look.

It worked. Zoey broke first.

“I meant to talk to you about it,” the chosen-of-a-goddess said. “It’s just—there are certain things about ... all of this ... that I have to be careful about.”

Astrid raised an eyebrow. Definitely, when it came to wordplay, less was better. At least with her set of talents. So she stayed silent and waited.

Zoey squirmed in place.

“Look,” she said. “I wanted to be honest from the start. But there’s lots of reasons to be cautious. You get that, right?”

That, at least, Astrid could agree with. She slowly inclined her head. She wasn’t sure where this was headed. For all that she had suspicions and had purposefully pressed for an admission.

Zoey worried at her lip, then sighed again.

“Can I speak plainly?”

“It annoys me when you don’t.”

Zoey paused, then laughed.

“Fair enough. Then—you don’t expect me to trust you implicitly, right? With every secret of mine? Considering ... everything?”

“No,” Astrid said slowly. “But we are teammates. Or soon to be.” Maybe she was assuming too much. She’d thought she’d performed well, but—expectations were high. Higher than maybe any other team in the world.

Zoey grimaced. “Yes, but still. We’ve only known each other a few days. And consider the situation I’m in.”

“Yes...?”

“I’ll be blunt. Can I tell you things and not have them get back to Enzo? Or even your father?”

Astrid considered the request seriously. Some people might have answered instantly—might have said yes without hesitation to gain Zoey’s trust.

Perhaps her slowness vouched for her in its own right, because Zoey relaxed slightly as Astrid mulled it over.

“My loyalty is first to my clan. Second to my team. Third to other allies.”

Zoey didn’t seem fully reassured by that, as she shouldn’t be. She had been placed second on the list.

“So you’d keep a secret from Enzo. But not your father and clan.”

“Yes.”

Zoey blinked at how directly Astrid stated it. Astrid had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Outsiders and politics. Never saying what they meant.