Page 76 of Serna
But she lifted her head, just slightly. A furtive glance, quick and cautious, the kind of look a servant gives when they think no one is watching.
Our eyes met.
Hers were blue. Not the pale blue of ice or winter skies, but bright blue—vivid and startling, like the deepest oceans of Earth I'd seen in the cultural briefings. They were impossibly bright against her pale skin and that flame-red hair, and for a heartbeat, maybe two, they locked with mine.
And then it happened.
My heart stuttered.
Not figuratively. It actually skipped a few beats—a complete cessation of rhythm that left me frozen, unable to breathe, unable to think.
For one terrible, infinite moment, I was suspended in nothingness.
And then my heart settled.
But it didn't return to its normal rhythm. It beat differently now—faster, stronger, with a force that seemed to shake my entire body. Each pulse sent a shockwave through my chest, radiating outward until I felt it in my fingertips, my toes, the base of my skull.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
A new rhythm. A rhythm that wasn't mine alone.
I felt something. A flicker of awareness, distant but unmistakable. The sensation lasted only a moment before fading, but it left me shaken.
Because I knew what it meant.
I knew what had just happened.
The universe had just given me my true mate.
