Page 94 of Heart of Night and Fire

Gods, how she wanted to kiss him.

“Where are you, Zarya? Tell me that,” he said, interrupting her reverie.

“Daragaab,” she whispered, not sure if she should be revealing that, but he’d charmed the words from her throat. “Near Dharati.”

She caught the barest spark of surprise in his eyes, accompanied by a conflicted flutter of emotion in her stomach. He drew her hand to his mouth and flipped it over before he pressed his lips to her palm. Every nerve and sense honed into that spot, and she did her best not to dissolve into a puddle at his feet.

“I’m on my way,” he said, and it was her turn to be surprised. “Don’t move.”

Then he let go of her and walked away.

“What?” Zarya whispered. “What do you mean?”

He glanced over his shoulder with a look that suggested he was far from done with her.

“Wait!” she called.

But she woke up and the dream was over.

She lay on her bed with her skin flushed and her breath heavy, heat stirring in her stomach and the space between her thighs. Her hand slid over her skin as she pictured him. His beautiful face and the curves and edges of his body. Rounded shoulders and thick arms. Broad chest and carved jaw. She wanted to trace her fingers over every line and groove until she’d committed them to memory.

Her hand slid lower, fingertips dipping beneath her waistband and then her underwear, not at all surprised to find herself wet. She lifted her knees and then let them fall open as she pressed a finger inside her body.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she imagined the forest and the way he might touch her. His hands, so big and rough, but with the skill of a musician expertly tuning an instrument. She imagined his mouth on hers. On her breasts. On her stomach. His head buried between her legs as he made her back arch and her hands clench in the grass.

Zarya was no stranger to these sorts of fantasies. In the cottage with only her romance books to keep her company, she’d had plenty of time to explore herself whenever Row and Aarav would leave her alone, often for days at a time. She’d never had trouble using her imagination, and with Rabin filling her thoughts, she’d never had such vivid material to work with before.

He was quite possibly the most delicious man she’d ever seen.

A small gasp escaped her lips as her fingertip slid over her clit, sending a wave of electric shivers up her spine. She wondered what it would be like if Rabin did this? Would it be fast and hard or soft and gentle? Maybe some of both.

She’d wanted to stay in that forest forever. With him. Exploring these feelings and emotions twisting in her chest.

But he’d said he was coming.

He’d told her not to move.

Gently, she continued touching herself, winding herself closer to the edge. Her neck arched as she inhaled shallow breaths, her knees shaking and her heart skipping.

She’d been trying to convince herself he wasn’t real. That he was only a dream. That he couldn’t hurt her. Not really. But what if he came?

What if the things Row had always feared were real? Had she unwittingly stumbled into the path of danger? What if everything she’d been doing was wrong, and here she was lying on her bed, having erotic thoughts about a man with nefarious intentions?

Zarya circled her clit harder, waves of warmth cresting into her impending release, her hand gripping the bedsheet. Her hips shifted as she moaned, and then she flew apart as soft ribbons of heat dispersed through her blood.

When she was done, she lay like a starfish on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Fuck,” she whispered into the empty room.

THIRTY-THREE

“Always aim a swift kick at a man’s most prized possession,” Zarya said as she instructed Amrita the next day, practice swords gripped in their hands. Amrita giggled, her cheeks turning pink at the suggestion as Zarya offered a wicked grin. “Don’t forget to keep your left side up and never, ever let them see you sweat.”

Zarya whirled and knocked the sword from Amrita’s shaking grasp. The amber-eyed yakshi clapped her hands in jubilation.

“Zarya,” she said, breathless, “where did you learn all this? You are so brave!”

Zarya picked up a glass of water from a nearby table. She sat down on the low wall surrounding the courtyard where she was practicing with Amrita. She was due to return to the city tomorrow, and they were sneaking in the lesson she had promised.