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But there was nothing good to be found in this land. Only pain and death.

“You stopped crying,” Jura said.

“You can only cry so much before you’re too tired to do it anymore.”

He nodded as if he understood. Perhaps he did.

“When will we go home?” she asked.

“A few months from now. When the weather turns, we’ll go back down to the flatlands before we get snowed in. Are you eager to return?”

“After today, yes.”

Another wave of despair washed over her as she thought back over the events of the day. She turned away from him and rubbed the heels of her hands over her eyes as she teared up again.

She was surprised when she felt his arm drape over her shoulders. The unexpected offer of comfort wrenched more tears from her. She was even more surprised when he pulled her to his chest to let her cry against him.

She rested her forehead on him, her shoulders quaking. She had not expected to find any sympathy from the others, and her relief was so strong it almost hurt. She was certain he wouldn’t have been so kind to her if the others had been watching, but she would take what she could get.

At length, the tears slowed again, and Zara wiped her face. She began to pull away, embarrassed, but Jura’s hand clasped around her wrist.

“You’re all right now?” he asked, his eyes searching hers. They were the sort of luminous blue that would only be found in a Varai, very unlike her own gray-blue eyes.

She looked away. “Yes.”

His other hand skimmed along her waist, touching her in a way that could only be called a caress. She stilled.

“I will help take your mind off things, if you like,” he said.

Zara looked up at him, frowning.

He smirked a little, tilting his head as if to acknowledge a secret between them. “I’ve seen you looking at me,” he said.

It wasn’t a lie. She had been looking at him. She liked him.

Jura was young, closer to Zara’s age than Kashava’s, and attractive. She would have to have been blind not to notice it. His black hair had a youthful bluish sheen, his skin was dark and smooth, and his eyes had a warmth to them that was unusual in Varai, who tended to be outwardly cold to people they weren’t close to. Zara had spoken to him a handful of times during the trip. He’d never been unkind to her.

Varai men didn’t often approach her this politely.

She did not think she was considered ugly, exactly, and Varai didn’t mind women being a little taller than average, but her pale, washed-out skin and hair were unusual even among humans. She might have appealed to them as a novelty, but she was not conventionally beautiful by Varai standards.

She was mostly invisible to them, and when she wasn’t, they treated her like a target. A thing to be taken and used. She had long ago lost hope of ever finding real companionship in Kuda Varai.

But there was something pleasing about the way he was looking at her. She knew she should be offended, but it felt good to be wanted. It felt good to be chosen. It felt good to be approved of in some small way.

Maybe it would have been nice to forget about everything for a few minutes. He was right. Sleeping with him would take her mind off things, and she was desperate.

And she wanted so badly for there to be one person here she could trust, she was almost willing to lie to herself about it.

“I’ve been wanting to tell you how beautiful you are,” he said. He paused, waiting for a response. When she didn’t move, he leaned closer. She hadn’t yet decided how to react, so she let him kiss her. She didn’t move as his lips touched hers. His hand slid up her ribs to graze the side of her breast. But when he moved to palm it in one hand, a shock went through her, driving her to motion.

She tore away from his mouth, pushing against his chest. He frowned at her, bemused. After a moment, he took hold of her wrists to move them out of the way and tried to kiss her again. She dodged out of the way again. “Stop.”

“I will be gentle with you.”

“I said no,” she said sharply, pushing him away. He was holding her tightly enough that she had to use all her strength to break his hold.

His brow twitched with irritation. “You’re rejecting me?” he scoffed.