Ivar's Escape (Assassins of Gravas #2) - N.J. Walters Page 0,23

one beside it.

He shot off his blanket and grabbed her wrist. “Why are you hurting yourself? You’re bleeding.”

“It’s nothing.” Ignoring him and the pain, she pulled her arm away and used the tip of the blade to ease a small metal disc from beneath her skin.

“What is that?”

She held up the bloody disc and grinned. “This, my friend, is freedom.” Holding it tightly between her fingers, she squeezed.

****

Blood seeped from Delphi’s foot but she was smiling. The way her lips tilted up and the pleased twinkle in her eyes went straight to his groin. His shaft stirred, making itself and its wants known.

He ignored his growing arousal, pushed to his feet, and hurried back to the hot springs room to retrieve the medipack. When he returned, Delphi was still on the blanket with her legs extended, ignoring the blood on her foot.

It was only a small wound. Nothing really in the scheme of things. But it bothered him on too deep a level to ignore.

This woman should never be hurt, had been harmed enough in her life. The knowledge wove through him, as though she’d spoken it aloud.

He opened the pack and ripped open a small healing pad, placing it over the cut. “The bleeding is almost stopped.”

“It’s nothing.”

Her nonchalance over her own safety and well-being bothered him. His actions were brisk as he made sure the edges of the pad were secured. It was medicated and would speed healing. “Of all the idiotic things to do. Slicing your foot open. And who hides a—whatever that thing is—under their skin?”

She pressed her hands against his face. They weren’t soft, but rough and calloused in certain spots. They were the hands of someone who knew how to fight and trained often. He didn’t question that knowledge. It was simply there, like so much other random information.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Really.

The anger drained out of him until only a sliver remained. “You have to take care of yourself,” he told her. “I can’t lose you.” He’d already lost far too much.

“I won’t leave you,” she promised.

He shoved the wrapper back into the medipack and slammed it shut. “I’m not worried about me. Do you know what will happen to you if Balthazar finds us?”

“Yes.” Her gaze was steady, her voice calm.

Kneeling beside her, he brushed his thumbs over her face, studying her, trying to figure out just who Delphi was. “Am I so important, then?” His gut clenched and his heart began to hammer.

“Yes.”

He squeezed back the tears that threatened. After so long alone and lost, he’d wondered if there was anyone in the universe who missed him, who was searching for him. Without knowing his past, he’d been caught in the never-ending hell of the present.

“Ivar.”

He peered into her dark eyes, seeing the honesty there. “You’re certain that’s my name?”

“I’m sure of it. With that mop of hair and bushy beard gone, I can see the real you. You remind me of your brothers.”

“Brothers? I have more than one.” A lone tear slid down his cheek. He didn’t see it as a weakness, but as a release, a relief. He’d been lost but was found. “How many?” His voice was rough and scratchy from emotion.

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “It’s best if you wait until it comes back to you.”

His hands briefly tightened on her face before he dropped them. He wanted to shake her, to demand she give him the answers he sought.

Maybe she didn’t really know them. Maybe this was no more than a ploy to find out what he knew. His emotions turned off faster than a spigot shutting down the flow of water. Calm settled over him.

“Better for whom?”

She was frowning, and even now, he wanted to comfort her. With no internal defenses, she’d slipped under his skin, sneaking in like the assassin she was.

“Help will be coming.” She ignored his question and carried on. Fury simmered beneath his icy exterior.

“Help from whom? Balthazar? Are you working with him?”

“No. What are you talking about? I risked my life to get you out of there. I killed people.” The hurt in her voice sounded real, but what did he really know about her? Maybe she was as good an actress as she was an assassin.

“Balthazar would think nothing of sacrificing some of his men to get what he wanted. I only have your word the whole thing wasn’t staged. It went off without a hitch.”

She surged to her feet. “You ungrateful son of