Page 8 of Surrendering Her Heart

“So should you,” I reply.

The words are harsher than I intended. Partly the rawness of my throat, partly the emotions warring in my chest. His eyes remain locked on me, unblinking.

I let out a breath, something bitter, twisting. Rest? As if it’s that easy. How am I supposed to do that when I see them behind my eyelids. All the ones who didn’t make it. The ones we left behind.

Instead of answering, I shift, stretching out my aching legs. The cavern is cramped, packed with bodies pressed too close. Every movement stirs a ripple of discomfort, but exhaustion weighs too heavy for anyone to care.

“Your people are strong,” he says suddenly.

The unexpected words make me blink. I turn my head slightly, meeting his gaze in the dim torchlight. There’s no mockery in histone, no challenge. Only something steady. Certain. I let out a breath that’s not quite a laugh.

“You didn’t think so before?”

A slow blink. “I did not know.”

Something about the way he says it makes my chest tighten. It’s not quite an admission. Not quite praise. But it lingers between us, settling into the silence. I should look away. I should let exhaustion pull me under. Instead, I hold his gaze for a second too long. Then I do the only thing that makes sense.

I close my eyes. And for the first time in what feels like forever, I let myself breathe.

5

AVA

Imust have fallen asleep because I startle awake with the stupid damn Zmaj in my face. He looms over, leaning down, one hand extended.

“It is time,” he says.

I frown, shaking my head and trying to clear it of the dredges of sleep. His hand in my face is annoying but I take it and he helps me to my feet. Most of the others are already up, huddled in groups. A low whisper fills the cavern, echoing their fears off the stone walls.

Outside, the storm seems to have passed. I roll my shoulders, trying to ease the kinks and tension in my muscles. I walk to the front of the cave where Nyanna, Shana, and Dan stand in the entrance quietly talking. Nyanna glances at me when I approach and gives me a tight smile.

“We need those supplies,” Dan says, his voice soft but insistent.

“We can’t risk it,” Shana says, shaking her head.

Dan stares out at the red sands, calmly stretching away as far as the eye can see. Innocent of all the damage it just did. I glance between them, my mind still sluggish with sleep, but their words sink in. The supplies. Everything we had to leave behind when the storm hit. My stomach knots. I know we need those supplies.

“Did we save any of it?” I ask.

Dan doesn’t look at me, still staring at the deceptively peaceful sands.

“Nowhere near enough.”

“We’re not going back for it,” Shana exhales sharply.

A murmur rises behind us. Others are listening. The fear and uncertainty spreads through the group.

“We can’t stay here,” Nyanna says, shifting her feet. “We have to get to the Outpost before the Order attacks again.”

No one says the obvious, but we all know it. We don’t have enough food or water to last long enough to get us there. The storm may be gone, but this new threat is every bit as dire. The Zmaj warrior steps up beside me.

“The sands are unpredictable, but the guster are not. They will return. The prey is too easy,” he says.

A chill runs down my spine. I look from him to Nyanna and back.

“We need to move. There may be salvageable supplies, but we cannot linger,” I say.

“This group cannot go back and forth,” Shana says, crossing her arms. “And waiting here doesn’t seem like a good idea either. And what if the guster are already there? Waiting?”

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