Page 113 of Heart of Night and Fire

She shrugged. “If you find out, please do enlighten me.”

He narrowed his eyes.

Despite the blood rushing through her veins at Rabin’s presence, at his face, at his body, at his closeness, she was also done with this infuriating line of questioning.

“The dragon. It was you, wasn’t it? Why did you save me from falling?”

His jaw tightened. “I’m a soldier. It’s my duty to protect the helpless.”

“You seem to have a lot of excuses, and I am not helpless. How dare you?” Zarya was aware she sounded shrill but didn’t care.

“No. You’re not.” He arched a dark eyebrow. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

Zarya lifted her chin.

“Who taught you to use a sword?”

“Why? Are you going to be a pain in their ass, too?”

“Answer me,” he growled. “Stop deflecting every question.”

“The man who raised me.”

They stared at one another.

“Why are you here, really? Where did you come from? And very conveniently, right after Vik and Amrita were joined? Wasn’t that supposed to be your fate?”

He didn’t answer her question, something warring in his gaze.

“You’re here because you felt it, too.” Her quiet voice filled the air with static as Rabin went entirely still.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me. We have a connection. Something brought us together in that forest. Some kind of magic beyond both of us. It was…” She trailed off, unable to find a name for what she’d felt with him in the woods. For what raced through her now.

“You’re imagining things.” His voice was low with strained fury.

“Why are you fighting it?” She cocked her head to the side, wishing she could peel him open and root inside his thoughts. “Tell me what you’re hiding.”

“All those years with your magic bound addled your brain. You and I aren’t anything.”

Zarya whispered, “You feel it. I know you do.”

But now she was beginning to doubt herself. Had it been all in her head? Had her lonely spirit created a fantasy that didn’t exist? Surely, this thing couldn’t have just been her? Even now, there was an energy between them that was impossible to ignore.

“Tell me,” Zarya said, their faces inches apart. “Tell me you felt nothing in the forest and that you feel nothing right now.”

Rabin inhaled a ragged breath as he placed a finger under her chin, the rough stone pressing into her back. When he tilted his head, her heart clutched, and her stomach plunged into her feet. As their eyes met, she saw it. Desire. Heat. Longing.

They both stopped breathing, and awareness exploded in every cell of her body. Rabin was going to kiss her, and Zarya had never wanted anything so much in her entire life.

“I. Feel. Nothing,” he said in a dead voice, his eyes shuttering to coldness.

A sheet of ice split her in two, her limbs shaking as Rabin dropped his hand and stepped away. His boots rang like funeral bells as he strode down the quiet alley and disappeared from view.

Suddenly dizzy, Zarya slid to the ground and braced her arms on her knees. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her stuttering heart and willing herself not to cry. She had things to do. She had to flee. That was her goal.

She forced herself up and hobbled into the street, taking in the extent of the destruction for the first time.