“Hubris?”
She shakes her head a little like she’s embarrassed. “My skyglider.”
“You named your skyglider—”
“It was one of my teacher’s ideas. I kind of was a reckless flier when I first—” She shakes her head again, harder. “Never mind. The point is, my skyglider is gone. I have no way of flying.”
“So…” I don’t think I would ever describe myself as giddy—until now. “You’re asking for a ride?”
“Yes.”
Which means she has to be close to me, and I to her. I smile and unbuckle my own skyglider from my belt. Might as well use this to my advantage. “I don’t know. My skyglider normally doesn’t like strangers.” The words roll off my tongue. It feels so natural to tease her.
“Skygliders like me,” she huffs under her breath.
I pull back our only means of transportation and hold up a finger. “One condition.”
Her eyes become defiant. “I don’t believe for a second you would leave me here. I was a stranger ten days ago and you hauled me into a royal carriage.”
She’s got me there and she knows it. I would never leave her.
She stares at my skyglider, then back at me. “Which is actually kind of risky for a guard who protects the future maharaja. I could have been a trap to hurt Raja Jatin.”
You were a trap.My father couldn’t have planned it better. He always wanted us to meet again, in unofficial circumstances. But I don’t think he could imagine what we have already been through in the past few days, how much I already care about her. “Are you always going to insinuate assassinating the Naupures?”
“What’s your condition?” she relents, ignoring my question.
“Fine, it’s not a condition. I’m starving. You hungry?”
“We beat up ten guys together, almost got killed, and your condition is food?” she asks like I’m absurd.
I feel absurd, confidence and uncertainty mixed together. “So yes, you’re hungry?”
Adraa touches her stomach as if she forgot that part of her was still working. “Yeah, of course I am.”
Victory.“Well, I’m stopping to eat somewhere before heading home.”
She throws up her arms. “It’s one past midnight.”
“Ah, well…” I look around the pier, hoping an answer will come. This is stupid. I should have just asked her out properly, when ten unconscious bodies weren’t surrounding us in the dead of night. “Do you know a place?”
She cocks her head to the side, thinking. “Yeah, maybe I do.”
Kalyan has been acting weird since discovering my one Touched arm. Is it pity? I practically know every reaction to my ungodly and unnaturally naked limb. But his surprise, delight, and understanding about the legends…Yeah, it’s strange, and different from all my other experiences. I can’t seem to drag it out of my head, even after we start flying.
The skyglider twitches in the air. I start and can’t help but grab onto him.
“You okay?” I ask. I’m always in control of my own flying. Haven’t had to rely on someone to cart me around since I was twelve. Gods, I wish Hubris hadn’t died tonight. Or better put, I wish I hadn’t killed her.
“I’m fine,” he says.
“I can fly us if you want.” My arm hasn’t moved from his body, but I feel uncomfortable latched on like this.
“I’m fine,” he repeats with a laugh. He seems overly happy. Maybe he’s on an adrenaline high from the fight or maybe he is still grinning about me telling him he was right about my needing help. Is that all a man needs to be happy? Validation?
The skyglider falters again and my stomach dips out from under me. My other arm wraps around him instinctively and now I’m hugging the guy. In a moment it’s over and we cruise like nothing happened. “Are you doing that on purpose?” I ask.
He laughs. “Possibly.”
