"Hm?" She saw him glance back at her in turn as she pulled his thoughts from wherever they'd wandered.
"Cazador."
Astarion's bark of a laugh was sharp and brittle at the edges. "I admire your ambition, darling."
"I mean it." Tav's hands curled into fists where they rested on her knees. "I'm gonna kill him."
"Well I suppose we have to, don't we?" Astarion sighed. "If we don't want an all-powerful super-vampire tromping all over the Sword Coast. Somehow," he added in a dark mutter. Bitter and pessimistic, but with a thrumming undercurrent of fear and worry that he'd never admit to out loud.
"That's not why."
"What?"
"I mean, it's not all of why. Of course I don't want him to complete the ritual." She clenched her fists, consciously smoothing them back out over her knees before her nails cut into her skin. "But...he hurt you."
"...what?" It was quieter this time, softer.
Tav swallowed before repeating herself. "He hurt you. And I'm gonna kill him."
Astarion didn't answer. The lump in Tav's throat grew until she could hardly breathe around it.
And then, almost imperceptibly, she felt pressure and warmth against her back as Astarion quietly leaned his weight against hers.
