Page 25 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

I leftJana and her advisors to discuss strategy. I made my way back to the coach path, eventually reaching the creek I had found a few days before. I removed my tattered shirt, filthy trousers, and blood-stained boots, and stepped into the frigid water. It stretched only about a dozen yards wide but deep enough that it reached the middle of my stomach while standing. I lowered myself, and the water flowed around me, covering my head.

I stayed there, under the surface, for as long as I could bear. I let the cool water wash away the memories that hurt and bring in the ones I’d forgotten. Maybe it was the stillness—but more glimpses came. Images of my birth father across the dinner table cutting into a piece of well-prepared meat, a teacher reprimanding me for reading a novel under my desk during lessons, playing in the dirt with the golden-purple-eyed boy. The memories were full of ample treats, tutors, and nannies—I was comfortable in my previous life, in a way I hadn’t been in Argention. It made sense if I truly was the daughter of a famed warrior. But everything felt hazy. The images were soft, like gauze. Details of them were clear—I saw the purple-golden eyes of my young friend as if I stared into them in the present. But who he was lingered on the tip of my tongue, as did the remaining pieces of the puzzle I felt were missing. Eventually, I saw a woman, beaming with a gentle roundness in her face that matched my own.

An abrupt disturbance in the water pulled me from my peaceful exercise. Strong arms yanked me up, air filling my lungs once again. “What the hell!” I half yelled, half sputtered, annoyed at the interruption and rough handling. I brushed the hair from my eyes, expecting to find Leiya frowning over me. ButI was staring at wet linen, stuck to the curvature of a heaving, tanned male chest.

The rage boiling on Ezren’s face took me aback. “What?” I demanded, meeting his anger with my own.

“I came to apologize for yesterday,Bellatori,” he bit out, maintaining a guarded control in his voice. “But I see you are just hellbent on killing yourself. I suppose my first rescue wasn’t sufficient?”

I gaped, stunned at his audacity and cavalier tone. I forced my chin upward so that I could meet his eyes, even though we stood so close I could feel the steam roll off his body.

“Howdareyou assume what I do or don’t want after what I’ve been through.” My words were deadly quiet. “Do you know how it feels to stand by and watch your life, and everyone you love, being ripped away from you? To be violated in a way you couldn’t even understand, helpless to stop it? To watch the life leave the woman who raised you, who loved you, who cared for you when you were ill, and shared in your joy and your pain? Do you know what it’s like to know you didnothingto stop her death, and that you’ll never see her smile again, never hear your brothers laugh again, never feel the comforting touch of your father again? I suppose you donot. So how dare you reprimand me if I wanted to die.” I paused, letting the heat of my words settle on him. “And for the record—I never tried to kill myself. I just didn’t fight the Earth splitting.”

Ezren’s eyes flashed down at me with a look that was both softer and harder at the same time. They snagged on my dragon pendant and his gaze turned molten before dragging back to my face.

“Actually, Terra, I do know.”

“You do?” Though a small part of me stumbled within, my tone was haughty, and I maintained my stare.

“Let me guess,” he purred, those green eyes practically glowing. “It feels like a hole has been gouged into your chest? Like you’ve been flayed, ripped open for the world to see, vulnerable to whatever orwhoeverwants to tear into you. The grief is so overwhelming, it might just rise up and swallow you whole, which might even be a mercy, because you’ll never be forced to wake, remember, wake, remember, wake, remember—ever again.”

Whatever mask of indifference and anger I’d been maintaining shattered. He shook his head, almost in disgust.

“I lost my father when I was very young, barely fourteen. What I remember of him is cruel and difficult. I never knew my mother and lived a life largely in hiding. I found love again—once, but she, too, left me. I’ve been abandoned by every person I’ve ever loved. So yes, I know the pain of being utterly alone in this world, powerless to do anything about it.”

The glimpse into the warrior’s past—the reasons for his frost and distance—fissured my hard exterior, letting shame seep through the cracks. I’d judged him, so lost in my own pain, I couldn’t imagine another’s suffering. And he’dseenme, described exactly how I’d felt. “Ezren, I’m so sorry?—”

He looked away, uninterested in my apology. “There is no difference between not fighting for life and wanting to die. You didn’t just lose control of your power… you submitted to it. You let the Earth mirror your internal world—mirror that hole in your chest, ripping wide and swallowing you whole. You could have killed Dane.”

At that, I flinched, which seemed to cause his cold mask to slip once more. His eyes did not let go of mine. Awareness of him hit me—of every outline of his chest and abdomen, defined by his wet, clinging shirt, rolled up at the sleeves. I could see the veins that danced down his forearms, invigorated by the clenching of his hands at his sides. His jaw was tight, flexing atthe hinges to make it wider, the angles of his face even more dramatic than they already were. His waved hair dripped down his forehead in a tousled male way. He looked like a true warrior. All of that couldn’t compare to his eyes. I almost tasted their flames; the heat of his gaze threatened to burn me from the inside out.

Maybe that’s why Sanah called him dangerous.

Something traitorous tingled in my low belly. I ignored it, forcing myself to loosen an exhale, turning to climb out of the water. He remained silent for a few moments longer, unmoving from his position while I dressed.

Ezren released a breath as if he’d been holding in air the entire time we stood close. And then he spoke, breaking the silence that frayed my every nerve. “I’m sorry for the cliffs. Leiya told me what happened. I’m sorry I hurt you, and I’m sorry for… I am sorry for the other thing, too. I’ve never done that before, and I’m truly horrified at the thought of it,” he said, his voice low.

My cheeks flushed as he spoke, my fingers fumbling with the buttons as I faced away from him.

“I’m not sorry for saving you. You have immense power, but you have no idea how to control it. I understand that. Believe me, I do. And I also know what it feels like to have blood on your hands from a lack of control. You have to be smarter—stronger. If you treat your power and your life carelessly again, you might do something you’ll regret.”

I waited a few moments before speaking, my arms wrapped around my chilled body, his apology and warning lingering in the air.

I turned to face him. “How did you know I was falling into the Earth?”

Surprise flickered over his face.

“What do you mean,howdid I know?” he asked, cocking his head.

I sighed. “I mean, how did you know I was in trouble? Everyone heard and felt the Earth split, but how did you know that someone, or that I, was falling through the crevice and needed to be saved?”

His eyes remained alight. “Terra, you called for me.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

MUSCLE MEMORY

Icalled for him.I stood there stunned for a moment, not comprehending his words. I opened my mouth and then closed it. Thinking better of continuingthatconversation, I turned and ran, leaving Ezren in the water. Rogue thoughts bounced through my mind.Did I call for him aloud? Or in thought?I certainly didn’t remember releasing a cry for help.

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