Page 123 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

“Always the master of observation, aren’t you?” she said as she felt him moving around her. “I don’t feel great.”

“You don’t look great,” he said, not missing a beat.

“Shut up,” she huffed and then winced at another shot of pain.

Yasen helped Zarya lie down before he stripped off his coat and started tearing it into ribbons. She listened to the jagged sound of fabric ripping as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

“Remember that day in the swamp, Zarya? When the naga attacked you?” Yasen asked before tearing more strips from his jacket.

She almost smiled at the memory. “No, I’d almost forgotten the day I was nearly eaten by a sock with teeth.”

Yasen snorted and then peeled away the bottom edge of her leather top, slicing it apart to access her wound.

“You were so ridiculous, leaping out to try and save us, nearly getting yourself eaten. I had to save you that day, too.”

He wrapped the torn strips around her midsection, gently lifting her up to feed them around her back. She could feel the tremble of his practiced hands, so different than all those months ago when he’d bandaged her in the swamp.

Zarya groaned as he shifted her to her side. “You didn’t save me. How dare you?”

Talking was becoming harder, so she watched his face, noting the tightness of his smile and not missing the fact that he was attempting to distract her.

“Then, you swept into all our lives, and nothing has ever been the same since,” he said softly before he shook his head. Finished with wrapping her stomach, Yasen tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “And I think we’re all the better for it.”

Tears pooled in her eyes, threatening to drown her. She grabbed his hand, pressing it against her heart. “You did save me, Yas. You saved me in so many ways that I will be forever grateful for. In every way that truly matters. Thank you for taking care of me. I love you. You have no idea how much you mean to me.”

Panting from the effort of speaking, she sat back again.

“I love you, too, Zee.” His voice caught, and he swallowed, the knot in his throat bobbing. “You’re a really amazing second-best friend.”

“I take it back. I hate you,” Zarya said quietly, her eyes closing.

Yasen snickered. “And you’re not going to bleed to death on me. We need to get you out of here. Let’s get you to the infirmary and find Koura.”

She nodded, her eyes still closed. Yasen scooped her up, and she felt him crossing the cavern when a voice broke through the cloudy fog of her drifting thoughts.

“What do we have here, then?”

Her eyes snapped open to find Professor Dhawan at the opposite end of the cavern, surrounded by a group of massive soldiers wearing black leather armor.

Flanking them were two small ajakava tied to glittering leashes that must have been some type of magic. They were being held by two soldiers, their pincers snapping and as ghastly and hideous as she remembered. Their feet clicked against the stones as their bronzed shells gleamed in the low light.

Yasen slid Zarya’s legs to the ground before he pulled his sword from its sheath.

“Dhawan,” Zarya hissed. “What have you done?”

His hands spreading in a magnanimous gesture, Dhawan replied, “Why, my dear, only what I had to.”

She growled low in her throat. “I don’t understand. Why?”

She eyed the ajakava pacing along on the stones with confusion and trepidation. How was he controlling them?

Dhawan tilted his head, his gaze moving over Yasen and Zarya. “I don’t think I need to answer that right now, but in due time, you will understand, Zarya.”

Dhawan gestured to his soldiers to move, and they drew their weapons as they advanced.

“They were supposed to capture you at the Bayangoma grove and return you to me. But it seems I underestimated the power of the Chiranjivi.” He peered at her, clearly angry about that fact. “How did you manage to best such a formidable army? None of you should have walked away from that.”

She narrowed her eyes, not about to reveal anything. He hadn’t known then what would happen when the seven of them joined together. An advantage that had saved all their lives.