Page 25 of Fire Dancing For Icey Dragons

"Hmm, true."

"Anyway, I thought you were great. The squad was too, but one person in particular," I tell her.

"I'm glad you think so," she murmurs, moving closer for another kiss.

"Zara?"

She freezes in my arms, then pulls away, clearing her throat and turning to look at the man who just said her name. "I didn't think you'd come back here again," she says.

"I can see that." He gives me an appraising look.

"This is my boyfriend, Blaze," she says, introducing me and stopping too many of my concerns over who the man might be.

"Boyfriend? You didn't mention that."

"It's new," she says quickly. "Blaze, this is erm, my dad."

I spoke too soon. I should have a lot of concerns over who the man is. "Pleased to meet you, sir." I hold out my hand to shake his.

I'm only half surprised when he takes it.

"I didn't know Dad was coming today," Zara says quickly. "If I had, I'd have prepared you both better."

"That's all right," he says. "I'm sure Blaze doesn't mind. Maybe the three of us can get some dinner before you go back to the academy."

"If that's okay? I don't know what time your train is?" she asks me.

"It's fine," I assure her. "I got an open ticket."

"Excellent. I'll see you after you've won," her dad says to Zara.

"Thanks." She gives him a smile and then turns back to me. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea he was going to come today. He doesn't normally because these things remind him too much of Mum."

"It's okay, I know you'd have told me if you could," I assure her.

"You don't have to do dinner if you don't want to. I can say something came up."

"It's fine. Unless you'd rather I didn't get to know your dad." It should scare me more than it does to say that, but I like the idea of getting to know more about her life.

"I'm okay with it. I know it's early, but graduation isn't very far away and if we want to see each other after that, it probably means meeting the parents."

"Mmm. True. I'll have to work out how to spring mine on you in an unexpected scenario now."

She laughs. "Or you could introduce us at graduation?"

"Yeah, that would also work." I pull her closer and kiss her again. "You really did amazing out there."

"Thank you. Let's hope it's enough to win."

"I'm sure it will be."

The way she smiles makes my insides squeeze together. I know it's foolish to have started something so close to graduation, but I can't help but feel as if this has the potential to be something real.

Chapter 15

ZARA

I'm a mess of nerves by the time the final squad have finished their performance. It shouldn't take them long to know the winner, especially because they've been scoring as we've been performing. It always makes me glad that we're not last and risking being in front of judges who probably no longer want to be watching. Luckily for us, we got a good spot this year.

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