Darling let those words soothe him, along with her fingers that toyed with his hair against his collar. In his mind, he saw an image of her as a little girl on that day when they’d first met, crying and begging for her big brother to save her cat. Wanting to play ball outside, Gerrit had callously brushed her aside and ignored her pleas.

But those tears and her concern for her pet had touched him even as a boy. Unable to walk away from her misery, Darling had gladly braved the high-pitched roof of her father’s mansion to make her smile.

It was the first time in his life that he’d felt heroic. She’d been so grateful. So thrilled. She’d even hugged him for it, then given him the cookie she’d been saving for herself.

His siblings had always taken his help for granted. He could give them the entire universe and they’d think nothing of it. As for his parents, they expected it of him, and were extremely disappointed whenever he failed to help someone.

But not Zarya. She had never failed to make him feel so incredibly special and courageous. It was why he’d always begged his father to take him along whenever his father visited Lord Starska. As soon as Zarya saw them coming into the palace, her entire face would light up and she’d run as fast as she could to say hi to him.

In all the years they’d been apart, he’d never forgotten the way she made him feel.

Welcomed. Appreciated. Noble.

Loved.

It had been the same when he, as Kere, had been working with the Sentella on a rescue mission to save the Caronese Resistance members who’d been pinned down on a remote outpost. Since he hadn’t heard a single word about any of the Starskas in years, he’d assumed Zarya was long dead, or that she was so deep in hiding that he’d never see her again.

He and Hauk had volunteered to get as many of the Resistance soldiers out as they could. Smoke and enemy fire had been thick all around them.

While Hauk secured the rear, Darling had gone on ahead. He grabbed the first soldier on the ground that he’d come to and pulled him back to where the bulk of the Resistance’s troops had been pinned down for hours.

There in the midst of utter chaos, with hell itself raining down on them, Darling had stared into that pair of amber eyes that had haunted him as a boy.

Zarya had smiled up at him with that same, exact look she’d worn when he saved her cat—the look that made some unknown part of him soar.

“Thank you!” she’d breathed with such sincerity that he’d glanced behind him to see if she was talking to someone else.

Momentarily stunned by the way she smiled at him, he’d taken a shot to his shoulder that had sent him into the wall next to her. Cursing, she’d sprung to her feet and opened cover fire to protect him from the Caronese guard corps.