been here?”
“Shouldn’t you know?” His voice was a hoarse whisper. It had been so long since he’d actually talked with someone. Usually, he was silent. Or screaming from the torture.
“Just tell me.” She glanced toward the door at the far end of the hall.
He knew how many marks he’d scratched into the wall. “I’m not sure. I can’t tell time from the sun. But I think it’s been about forty-eight planetary days.” An eternity.
She started to rub her hand over her face, cursed, and stopped. “Is there anything you remember?”
He snorted. “I speak multiple languages and can map the known universe.” A vision popped into his head. It was a formal dinner of some kind. “And apparently I know the right silverware to use at a banquet. Not exactly helpful.” He clamped his mouth shut before anything else spilled out.
“You’d be surprised.” Her voice was soft.
His heart began to race. “Am I who you’re looking for?” When she hesitated, he almost begged her to answer. He bit his lip hard, drawing blood, to stop himself.
“I think so. Who is keeping you here?”
His captors already knew that so there was no reason for her to ask. “A man named Balthazar.”
Something about her changed. A spike of excitement shimmered in the air. “Does the name Spear mean anything to you?”
“Is that who I am?” He rolled it around in his head. “It doesn’t seem right.” But it did seem familiar.
“No, that’s not your name.”
Your body is a weapon. So is your brain. Use it. The voice in his head rang with authority. He tried, but there was nothing but a blank slate where his memories should be.
“I have to go.”
He bit back his roar of denial. She’d jolted his world, given him hope. To take it away would crush him.
You’re stronger than that.
“I have to take the candle.”
She was right. If the guards discovered it, he’d get a beating until he confessed who’d given it to him. He didn’t want Del getting in trouble with Balthazar. He shoved the candle through the bars. The flame sputtered and extinguished. There was a slight rustling sound as she collected it and slipped it into a pocket.
“I’m going to get you out of here.” Her words sent warmth to his heart.
“It’s too dangerous.” It was a miracle she hadn’t been found out.
“I won’t be caught. And if I am, I’m not without skills.”
He shook his head, not sure if she could see him. “The guards don’t have blasters, but they have knives and clubs and they’re big bastards.”
“And I’m deadlier than I look.” The air in front of him stirred as her dark hand came toward him. He flinched before he could stop himself. When she started to withdraw, he grabbed her fingers. She curled them into his, squeezing gently. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
The promise sank into his bones, strengthening them, firing his determination. “You can’t risk yourself. I don’t have much time left. Balthazar wants information I can’t give him. Even if I could remember it, I wouldn’t.”
“Not even to save yourself?”
He shook his head. “No, honor is everything.” He’d said it without thinking. It was part of the very fabric of his being. “Family and honor is all.”
Her fingers tightened around his. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ivar.”
****
He didn’t know who he was. That was a situation none of them had foreseen. But the more she talked with him, the more convinced Delphi was that this was Spear’s missing brother. The fact that he could speak multiple languages, map the universe, and had attended formal dinners all fit with his role as a long-range scout for the Gravasian military and a member of the royal family.
And the way he’d said that family and honor was all was the most telling, even though he didn’t seem to realize it. That was the basis of all Gravasian life. To a male, his honor was everything.
“Is that my name?” His low voice seeped into her, warming her. Dirty and unkempt he might be, but there was a dignity, almost a regal bearing about him. While she couldn’t one hundred percent confirm his identity, she was willing to take the gamble.
“Yes.”
“How can you be sure?” Most men would have been grasping at the piece of information, not questioning it. Another point in his favor.
“I can’t. Not completely, but everything fits.” It was harder than it should be to make herself release his hand. He clung a second longer before letting go. “I’ll