Page 32 of Night's Reckoning
She landed on the other side. Through the stone, he saw her eyes.
“Hello, Tenzin.”
She said nothing.
Ben looked away. “I’m here, and I know it’s because you want me here. So can you at least talk to me?”
“Why did you bring the Italian woman?”
Ben frowned and looked back at Tenzin, who was still on the other side of the taihu stone. “What?”
“Is something wrong with your ears?”
“Nothing is wrong with my ears.” Was she serious? Ben crossed his arms over his chest. “I broughtFabia—who you’ve known for about seven years now, by the way—because she’s an archaeologist who did postgraduate work on a dive in Calabria for two years and she’s a certified diver.”
“Oh.” Tenzin flew up and perched on top of the rock. “That makes sense.”
He looked up. “I thought so, yes.”
He examined her in the torchlight. Her hair was a smooth sweep of black silk that brushed her chin, and she was still wearing the red silk robes from the Hall. Her skin glowed gold in the light.
I missed you.
You’re so beautiful.
You make me insane.
“How were the mountains?” he asked quietly.
Her grey eyes met his and they looked a little sad. “I never made it. I stopped in Shanghai and Cheng told me about this job. I haven’t been able to think about anything since.”
“Really?” She hadn’t thought aboutanythingsince then? Not him? Not New York? Not their fight? Or what happened between them in Puerto Rico?
“Yes, really.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Ben stuck his hands in his pockets and kept walking. If she wanted to talk to him, she could follow along.
She didn’t follow, but she did fly to the next rock along the path. “My father wants to see you.”
“Yeah, I figured that out after the fourth letter.” He glanced sideways at her. “Thanks for that, by the way. Giovanni had a fun time chewing me out when he heard I didn’t jump into service.”
“What took you so long?”
How was it possible for her to piss him off so quickly? Ben stopped and waited for her to grow impatient enough to fly off the top of the rock. Within seconds, she flew down and stood in front of him. Ben glared at her, holding himself perfectly still.
“I said, what took you—?”
Ben’s hand flew out and gripped the side of Tenzin’s neck, pulling her toward him. A fraction of a second later, he felt her fingers digging into his throat. She was in his face, her fangs bared.
He waited, eyes locked with hers. The corner of her lip twitched in an instinctive snarl. Their bodies were so close he could feel the hair on his arms reach toward her. He could feel her cool breath on his lips.
“You left me.” Ben drew the words out. Gave each one the weight it deserved. “You’re the one who ran away.”
He saw the battle in her eyes. She pushed back the predatory instincts and her fangs shrank back. They didn’t disappear; they never disappeared.
She swallowed, but she didn’t let go of his throat. “I wrote you letters.”
