Page 59 of Above Cursed Winds

“No! No—no it’s not.” Taking a breath to settle her nerves, she shifted restlessly beside him. “It’s a ‘thank you, you’re stuck with me’ lunch.”

“You want to keep seeing me?”

He was inscrutable. On a whim, she opened her senses, probing his emotions, but she was met only with a churning chaos.

“Yes. Jeremiah, you spark something within me that I’ve never experienced before. And I—you’re—” She shook her head, trying to sort through her words. “I like you.”

Mentally, she added, And you’re safe from my curse.

Zia recognized the moment when everything in Jeremiah softened. “Lady Z, count me among the fallen.”

“The fallen?”

“An ode to the hordes of men who’ve been slayed by your beauty.” He winked. “I count myself among them.”

Zia rolled her eyes. Distracting herself from the heated way he watched her, she took another bite of her sandwich. As the seconds stretched into minutes, Jeremiah sobered. A myriad of emotions charged the air around them as he apparently thought through what he’d say next.

“Zia, can I ask a question that you might hate me for?”

Something twisted painfully in her chest. “Of course.”

“Do you think Sehrin had anything to do with the stolen list?”

The question stunned her. Straightening where she sat, Zia searched his gaze for any signs he might be joking. She found none. “What makes you ask that?”

“He has access to clan lands and wouldn’t trigger Nero’s psychic alarms,” came Jeremiah’s reasoning. “From what I’ve heard, he’s clanless, and we already know of one clanless Raeth aligned with the Citizens.”

Zia thought about the allegation, taking great care not to be defensive. What the Elemental had said wasn’t impossible. “That still doesn’t account for the fact that Sehrin would’ve needed my fingerprint and password to activate the computer.”

“From the little I saw, Sehrin doesn’t seem to care about personal boundaries—and he certainly had no issue giving out orders.”

What he left unsaid made the bottom of Zia’s stomach drop. “Are you accusing me of betraying my clan?”

“No, Zia,” he replied sincerely. “Everything I’ve seen from you has shown that you’re entirely loyal and dedicated to your clan, but people who have been blackmailed or threatened would do any number of uncharacteristic things.”

“You think Sehrin threatened me into giving up that information?”

“Did he?”

“No,” she breathed. “No, Sehrin didn’t blackmail or threaten me into giving him the documentation or my login credentials. And before you ask, no, I don’t think he’s aligned with the Citizens. He’s too selfish to support anything other than himself.”

“Would you stake the security of your clan on that?”

She’d never been more sure. “I would.”

“Then that’s all I needed to hear.”

As he grinned happily and took a huge bite of his sandwich, the tension she’d felt from him suddenly slipped away. Zia didn’t have to read his emotions to know that he believed her. His complete faith in her assessment was shocking. Few people, Nero included, would’ve taken her answer at face value.

The conversation left her off-kilter. He’d accused Sehrin, and her by extension, of the security breach. Though his logic made sense, being at the center of his investigation was disconcerting. It had seemed, momentarily, as though they were on opposite sides of a fence. She realized then that she never wanted to feel that way again.

Jeremiah was doing his due diligence—the job he’d been sent here for. No matter how close they’d gotten, he’d resisted sweeping it under the rug, and his underlying concern had been for her and Myko’s welfare. It made her feel safe.

Zia made a conscious effort to let go of the animosity she’d felt with the accusation. It hadn’t been personal, as much as it felt that way, and he’d taken her word as law. That had to count for something.

“Thank you for asking, Jeremiah.”

The unexpected comment made his eyebrows raise.

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