I try to imagine details, but I can’t. I’ve of course seen people kissing before, but I usually look away quickly, because such a scene makes me uncomfortable.

I can’t quite imagine how our mouths would move in unison. But I do know that I want to wrap my hand around his arm, maybe slide it across his chest, or touch his hair.

All at once the scene in my head turns from petrifying to thrilling.

But when Kellyn starts to turn back in my direction—

Fear.

Fear takes over.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

We see the towers long before we arrive in Briska. The city is tall: The homes are thin and built straight up into the air with five or more stories. Kellyn tells us that these are apartments that fit multiple families on each floor.

A shudder goes through me at the thought. As if it weren’t enough to have people on either side of you. Now they’re being placed above and beneath.

I can’t even imagine how many people must be crammed into this city if it’s so vast and the buildings are also growing upward.

It’s okay. We’re not staying here. We’re just passing through to get to Galvinor.

But my mind is spinning out of control at the thought of having to stay overnight here. I’m certain I would rather die than stay here.

I’d rather be covered in red ants.

Or rolled down a hill in a barrel full of nails.

Or covered in honey and thrust into a bear den.

“Ziva,” Temra says cautiously, like she needs to talk me down from a ledge.

She just might.

I swallow, unable to take my eyes off the towerlike homes in the distance.

“Okay, and we’re just going to turn this way for a moment.” Temra grabs my reins and turns my mare around, back toward the road we just traveled on. “And breathe, Ziva.”

“Stop coddling me,” I snap. Then, “No, I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. It’s just so big. And—”

Kellyn steers his horse in front of me so I’m forced to look at him. He eyes my face carefully before asking, “What are you afraid of?”

“Don’t act all surprised. You’ve seen me at my worst before.” So embarrassing. The way he witnessed my fit in the woods.

“I’m just wondering what’s causing it. I want to understand.”

Why? “It’s the people. I don’t want to be surrounded by so many.”

He quirks his head to the side. “They’re not going to hurt you.”

“If it was a rational fear that I could just explain away to myself, believe me, I would have done it by now. This isn’t something I can control. It’s nothing you can fix. It’s just something I live with.”

Kellyn opens his mouth, but Temra interrupts him. “I have a fear of spiders. I know most of them aren’t poisonous. I know most of them don’t even bite. I know I’m way bigger than they are. Doesn’t matter. I see a spider and I lose it. We all have something like that. Don’t you give Ziva a hard time because you don’t understand hers.”