Page 16 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

It was a toss-up, really.

She knew she’d have to talk to him eventually, but she wasn’t ready yet.

“I know you’re up,” came Row’s almost amused words, and she glowered.

Since when was he amused about things?

Finally, he appeared in the doorway. He was already dressed, wearing his usual long black jacket that fell past his knees, belted with a wide strip of leather wrapped around his waist and tied off at his hip.

“How are you?” he asked, and she shrugged.

“Tired.”

He tipped his head, studying her.

“Are you going to lecture me about last night?” she asked.

“I think you already understand the consequences of your actions.”

Zarya huffed and sipped her coffee, grimacing again, before she went in search of some cream to temper the taste.

“I was hoping we could talk a bit,” he said. “About everything.”

She turned to face him, bracing her hands against the countertop behind her. “Yeah. I guess we should do that.”

“Should we go outside?”

His gaze flicked towards the stairs, where the faintest sounds of Aarav and Lekha hung in the air like a swarm of buzzing mosquitoes.

“Seems like Aarav has… been busy,” Row said, and Zarya laughed in spite of herself.

“You could say that. And yes, please, for the love of the gods, let’s go outside. I’ll gag on my stomach lining if I have to listen to that any longer.”

Row raised an eyebrow. “Glad to see nothing has changed around here.”

He said it in a weary sort of way that made Zarya fall silent instead of responding with her usual sarcastic remark. Had he expected some kind of epiphany to transpire between her and Aarav in his absence? True, they weren’t at each other’s throats quite as much, but they still had a ways to go before they could call each other friends.

Row turned and headed back through the living room, opening the door to the balcony outside. It hung suspended over the ocean, offering a view of the palace and the street below on their left.

“This house is really beautiful,” Zarya said. “Weird that you never mentioned it before.”

He pressed his lips together. “I needed somewhere to stay when I visit the city,” he replied, ignoring the subtext of her comment. “The palace is too confining for me. Too many eyes and ears and silver tongues trying to dig up every secret.”

“You have a lot of them, don’t you?” Zarya asked. “Secrets, I mean.”

Row ignored that comment, too, and settled on one of the divans under the pergola, gesturing for her to do the same. Zarya did, gripping her coffee between her hands and tucking her feet up under her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the city rise with the sun. A moment later, the sounds of grunts drifted overhead, and Zarya looked up towards Aarav’s open window.

“Hey!” she shouted, tossing a pillow that failed to reach its target and landed on the patio with a soft thump. “We can hear you! Close your damn window!”

The sounds stopped, and a moment later, an arm reached out and slammed the window closed.

“At least someone is enjoying themselves,” she muttered to herself.

Maybe a small part of her was envious of Aarav. She thought about last night and the atmosphere inside the peri anada. The way Rabin had reacted when she’d been talking to Amandeep.

Had Rabin been jealous like the fairy had claimed? He’d told her he felt nothing for her. Unequivocally. In the most devastating way possible. She wondered if Rabin had Aarav’s stamina… and no, she was not wondering that. That was not a productive thought.