Page 121 of Sands of Atonement

“I don’t want anything to do with you. I’m cold.” I frowned at his amusement. “The water is cold.”

We were under several palm trees casting shade on the water. It was the only logical reason my skin was reacting this way.

Another step forward, and he caused me to step back. The water was now midway up my thigh.

I was trapped. He saw that too. His eyes were darker than they had been a minute ago.

“Repeat that again,” Ezra rasped.

I narrowed my eyes. “I’m cold.”

“No, what you said before that.”

“I don’t want anything to do with you, Ezra.” I could say it a hundred times, and it still wouldn’t be true.

His lips curved. He had caught my lie. “Mmm, is that so?” His eyes were reading mine, and I felt heat at the tips of my ears.

“Totally,” I lied.

I held my breath. Believe me, I wanted to say through my eyes. He took another goddamn step, which caused the waters to lift against my thighs.

My heart was pounding at this point. I couldn’t have another panic attack—I couldn’t be weak. I wouldn’t be.

I had to distract him.

“You said something the other day, in your—you know.” Atrove.

He nodded in understanding, pausing his steps. “You said that you wouldn’t have saved me all those years ago. What did you mean by that?” I asked.

The palm trees stilled, and all I could hear was the beating of my heart. The cool waters rippled around my thighs.

Ezra sighed. “I found you.”

A chill ran through my skin. It was as if my body knew this, remembered this, but I didn’t.

“You mean you found me in the baths?”

“No—I mean I did then, too. But later that night… after the explosion, I found you underneath all the limestone and marble. I found you barely alive.” His voice was low, straining. Like he was remembering something so cruel, and it was hard to speak it out loud.

I felt my lips part as my jaw fell slightly.

“One of your father’s loyalists was behind me once I began to remove everything, and he helped me get you out.” Salazar. He took another step forward, but I didn’t move this time. His body barely brushed against mine, causing me to hold my breath.

“You knew I was alive this whole time,” I whispered.

Ezra nodded very slowly. Something like pain flashed across his eyes.

“Did anyone else know?”

He shook his head slowly and continued staring at me.

“Why?” The words barely slipped from my mouth.

“Because I wanted you out. Very far away from there. This man told me he was your teacher—he took care of you and… I had to trust him when he told me that he would take you. He seemed just as adamant as I was that no one knew you were alive.”

Something seemed so distant in his eyes. He wasn’t even looking at me anymore. He was looking through me.

I raised a finger to his face to let him know I was here, that he didn’t need to go anywhere, but I stopped myself before I regretted it.