Page 78

“Are there many other humans here with you?”

“Only Crow. And now you.”

“And you.”

He nodded, shrugging. “And one half-blood.”

“That is an ugly word.”

“It’s an accurate one.”

“It is meant as an insult. You should not call yourself that.”

“What would you call me?”

“Half-Varai. Or just Nero.”

She realized that her aches had nearly disappeared. She raised her arm out of the water to look at it in the dim light. The bruises had faded to almost nothing.

Clinging to the edge of the pool, she looked up at Nero. She didn’t know what she’d done to earn the generosity he’d shown her. “Thank you for coming back for me.”

He glanced away, frowning. “I would have been there much sooner if I’d known what had happened. I’m sorry it took so long.”

She bit her lip, fighting the emotion rising in her throat. “I did not think… I did not think anyone would help me.”

A look of sadness crossed his face. “You thought I would leave you there?”

“I did not think of you at all. I am not your responsibility. There was no reason for you to put yourself in harm’s way to help me.”

He pushed himself off the wall and came closer. A wave of heat went through her as he stepped into the light. She didn’t think he could see much of her from this angle, but being naked in front of him still gave her a thrill.

She had found him attractive long before he’d rescued her, but now he was downright magnetic.

“Have I only been imagining the affection between us, then?” he asked, looking a little annoyed and a little anxious. She could tell it took courage for him to ask.

“No,” she said quietly. “You did not imagine it.”

He was uncertain of himself, at least when it came to other people. He was accustomed to rejection, just because of what he was and how he looked. It was a feeling she understood well.

She didn’t understand how other people couldn’t see him the way she did.

He was not what you would call charming. Most of the time, he was frowning. When he spoke, it was often to say something bitter or sarcastic. People who didn’t know him might have found it off-putting. She found it endearing. Maybe there was a part of her that was secretly pleased to find someone as cynical as herself.

But he was also kind, generous, and considerate. She had seen that from the beginning. And she was beginning to feel a deeper connection to him that she didn’t think would be satisfied by stolen kisses or cheeky hand jobs.

“You can come closer,” she said. “I will not bite.” She smirked, nerves flitting in her stomach. “Or… maybe I will, if you like.”

He came to kneel beside the water. She knelt facing him, setting her hands on the lip of the pool and laying her chin over her knuckles. Ripples of light from the pool danced across his dark face as Zara let herself stare at him.

“I think I owe you,” she said. “For rescuing me. What would you like as payment?”

She waited for a familiar playful sparkle to appear in his eyes, but it didn’t come. “You’re not in a position to be making deals,” he said sternly.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re depending on me for safety. You have nowhere else to go.”

“Yes. That is why I want to make a deal.”