Page 52 of Red Dragon’s Heart

He climbed out of bed, made some coffee, and took it to the lab. To his surprise, instead of working, Maddie was just sitting with her elbows propped on the lab table, chin in her hands, staring into space.

He put her mug of coffee in front of her and sat down, sipping his own.

“What are you doing up so early?” he asked.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“You should have woken me. I’m way more fun in the middle of the night than the lab is.”

She gave him a little smile, but her heart wasn’t in it.

He said, “You’re worried about Troy, aren’t you.”

She nodded. “I know I can’t do this in time. I feel like I’m letting him down.” She looked up at him and said, “And letting you down.”

That made that place in the pit of his stomach feel hollow. She wasn’t letting anyone down—it wasn’t in her—but she couldn’t do the impossible.

He couldn’t let her see what he was thinking, though. He couldn’t let her think he didn’t have faith in her.

He said, “You’re just burned out from working so hard. You need a break—you haven’t even been outside in days. We should do something fun. Besides sex, I mean.”

“Oh, sure,” she said. “Where were you planning to go have fun at four-thirty in the morning?”

As it happened, he’d been doing his research, and he did know a place.

“The skating rink,” he said smugly. “They have figure skating practice sessions starting at five. You could teach me to skate.”

Maddie laughed. “You really do like me. Because that is an extreme offer of self-sacrifice.”

“It is,” he agreed. But her face had lit up at the idea, and that was enough for him. “But imagine how much fun you would have, watching me make an idiot out of myself.”

“Soooo tempting,” she admitted. “Although I probably would too—I haven’t skated in years.” Then her face fell. “But I don’t have any skates. And the kind you rent are terrible—no ankle support and the blades are like butter knives.”

Zakerek rolled his eyes. “Have you forgotten who you’re talking to?”

He put his hand on her shoulder, and with a single thought, she was wearing skates. Good ones, with sharp blades. He’d researched them on the internet to get them right, just in case he ever needed to.

And… wait. Another thought, and he added a spangly skating dress.

Maddie laughed in delight. “Look at me!” she said. “But what about you?” He made skates for himself, too. “No dress?” she said, play pouting. “I’m disappointed.”

“I like you, but I will never like you enough to wear a spangly dress for you.”

He saw the smile she tried to hide when he said he liked her. She said, “You’re serious about this? The skating, not the spangly dress.”

“Absolutely.” He’d make an idiot of himself twenty times over to make her laugh like that.

She said, “We have to take the skates off and carry them, though. Walking around on the naked blades will wreck them.” She bent over, reaching for the laces, and then stopped and said, “They’re not going to disappear the second I take them off, are they?”

He laughed. “No, I told you, the clothes stay real. I just make mine disappear because it’s easier than washing them, and I can always get them back.”

She shook her head, muttering something about quantum physics while she unlaced the skates.

Luckily for Zak’s pride, there was hardly anyone at the skating rink this early. Just a few kids practicing or having lessons with their coaches.

They put their skates on and walked to the ice. The rink was obviously used for hockey as well as figure skating, because it was surrounded by a typical half-wall with plexiglass above it, to keep any errant pucks inside.

When they got to the door, Maddie got right onto the ice. She wobbled a bit, getting her balance, then skated in a circle and did a professional-looking stop. “Are you coming or what?”