“I’m starving.” That was the first truth I’d spoken. “And I’m sure that’s a surprise.”
He chuckled. “Not at all—Wait.” His head cocked. “Where are your sunglasses? The sun has to be killing your eyes.”
Oh, man, he’d noticed. Half of me was all warm and fuzzy that he’d noticed and was worried. The other part wished he hadn’t, because how I was going to explain this? “I, um, they fell off when I was crossing a street. I had to run, and they slipped off...” That sounded sort of believable. “By the time I realized they’d fallen, they were crushed and dead.”
“Damn. You got another pair at home?”
I nodded.
“Wish you’d said something. I would’ve grabbed them.” He reached up and pulled off his own sunglasses. “Here. Take these.”
Surprise flickered through me. “Thank you, but what about you?”
“My eyes will be fine. Yours won’t.” He held them out. “Take the sunglasses. Please.”
Feeling like a goober, I slid them on. I blinked, immediately seeing and feeling the difference even though they were nowhere near as dark as mine. “Thank you.”
“Can I sit?”
I nodded, wondering why he felt the need to ask.
Pulling his hands from his pockets, he sat beside me, close enough that his thigh touched mine.
It was different.
I hated myself, and I hated Roth for putting these thoughts in my head. “Thank you for coming to get me.”
“No problem.” He shifted, stretching out his legs as he tipped his chin back. The sun seemed to lovingly caress his face. “I was surprised to hear you made it all the way here. Been forever since I’ve been to this park or the zoo.”
“The zoo.” I tapped my feet. “I like animals. Thought about finding the entrance but I had no idea if it cost money or anything. I probably could’ve looked that up, but...” I shrugged. “I like this place, too. You know what’s weird?” I rambled on.
“What?” Lowering his chin, he looked at me.
Having his full attention made me feel guilty and dizzy and hopeful...and bitter. I cast my gaze to the ground. “I haven’t felt a demon since I’ve been here.”
“It’s because of the zoo.”
“What?” My attention jerked back to him. I hadn’t expected an actual answer.
“The animals can sense them, especially the large cats. They go crazy when demons get near them,” he answered. “It’s rare you’ll find a demon around here.”
“Huh.” Then what I’d felt definitely might not have been a demon. Then again, Roth claimed to like the park. “I guess the zoo is a safe place.”
“Safer than most at least, even a church.”
Which was all kinds of messed up, as a lot of demons could cross hallowed ground. “So, I...felt something while I was here,” I said, deciding that if I wasn’t going to tell him about Faye, I should tell him about this. “Something weird. Like a coldness where I’d normally feel the presence of a demon. Just like that, actually, but cold instead of hot. I felt it once before.”
His gaze searched my face. “When we were at the abandoned building? You asked me if I felt something when we were there.”
“Yeah, that’s when I felt it before. Both times, nothing seemed to be there. I don’t know what it is.” I lifted my shoulders. “It feels like when I accidentally walk through a ghost or a spirit, except this is localized to one area.”
Zayne’s brows lifted. “You mean...a cold spot? Those things are real?”
I laughed softly. “They are.”
He looked away with a quick shift of his head.
“You’re now worried you’ve been walking through ghosts? Maybe even Peanut.” I bumped my shoulder into his. “Don’t worry. People walk through ghosts, like, all the time. It’s as weird for the ghost as it is for you.”
“Not sure knowing that makes me feel better.”
I grinned. “Anyway, I don’t know if it’s just a new ghosty feeling or something else.”
“You think it’s a bad thing?”
The fact that he was deferring to me made me like him even more, and I didn’t need to like him any more than I already did. “Nothing bad has happened when I’ve felt it—well, I felt it before the whole zombie-horde thing, but I don’t know if the two are related or not. Nothing happened now, other than me being creeped out a little.”
“It could be related, though. Definitely something to keep an eye on.” He looked at me. “So...”
I waited. “So what?”
“Are you really okay?”
Whatever relaxation I’d been feeling belly flopped out a window. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well...” He sat forward, dropping his clasped hands between his knees, and I tensed to the point I thought my bones would break. “You’re out here, by yourself, sitting in a park.”
“Is there something wrong with that?” I crossed one leg over the other as I leaned back.
“No. But I know you’ve... A lot has happened, and you haven’t done it before.”
“And you haven’t left me alone in the middle of the day for an extended period of time before,” I pointed out. “You had stuff to do, and I had laundry combined with a singing, dancing Peanut.”
He coughed out a dry laugh. “That actually sounds like something to see.”
“It’s not. Trust me,” I assured him. “A lot has happened, but I’m okay.” That was the truth. For the most part. “And it was you who lost someone last night. Not me.”
“Just because I lost someone doesn’t zero out what you went through, Trin.” His voice was quiet, too quiet.
The whole time I’d worried about what I was going to tell Zayne to hide what I’d done, I hadn’t considered that he’d think my walk in the park had something to do with... Misha and everything. “I just wanted to get out. You know? I wanted to see the city during the daytime,” I lied. Well, it was a partial lie. I did want to see the city during the day. “And I thought today was a good day, since you were busy.”
“Hell.” Zayne dragged a hand through his hair. “I didn’t even think about that.”
“Think about what?”
“That you’d want to do that.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “Do something normal during the day instead of just eat and train.”
“Hey, those are two of my favorite pastimes,” I joked. “And training is important. More so than seeing the city.”
Zayne didn’t smile as he sat back, twisting toward me. “There’s nothing more important than seeing the city.”
I tilted my head as I raised my brows above the sunglasses. “The city is always going to be here, Zayne. It’s not that important.”
His gaze met mine. “But your vision won’t be.”
The next breath I took got stuck.
“I know you’re not going to lose your eyesight tomorrow and maybe not even next year, but why wait and take that chance?”
I was struck silent.
He glanced at the sky. “Since we’ll run out of daylight in a couple of hours, let’s grab something to eat and do an early patrol, so we don’t get back too late. Tomorrow I’ll show you all that I know. Make a whole day of it.”
A wild mess of emotions buffeted me from every side. “But...but we need to be out there as long as we can tonight. The Harbinger—”
“—isn’t as important as you.”
I gaped at him. “It’s extremely more important than me, and you, and my eyeballs and everything. It’s killing Wardens and demons. We need to find it and stop it before it moves on to killing humans.” I kept my voice low. “That’s the only thing that’s important.”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “It’s not. You, and you getting to see the city, is a Hell of a lot more important.”
My heart stuttered as the mess of emotion swirled even more. I stared at him, realizing that no one had ever put me before my duty. Yes, my life was valued and constantly placed above others, but no one ever put me before what I was designed to do, and that always made me feel like I wasn’t a person but a thing. A weapon. I knew that no one meant to do that, especially not Thierry, Matthew or my mom, but training had always come first. Knowing that I’d one day be called upon by my father had always been the future—the only future. But not to Zayne.
It was so strange to hear a Warden say what he was saying. Wardens were born to fight evil and to mate so that they could procreate. Sure, they had more of a life than me, but they were also strictly duty-bond.
I wanted to hug him. I wanted to kiss him. I also wanted to punch him, because he wasn’t being remotely helpful in keeping the ZAYNE file cabinet door closed. It was almost like he was yanking on it! And he knew better than to do that.
“You make this so hard,” I muttered.
“Make what so hard?”
Irritated and charmed, and annoyed because I was charmed, I glared at him. “Not liking you,” I admitted.
Zayne’s lips tipped up and a wide, beautiful smile appeared, stealing my breath again.