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“He arrived as we boarded the chopper. He almost freed your priest, but the army pushed him back.”

“And what? Now he’s here? On Malta? How’d you get this?” I held up the collar.

“Last night. When I left here, I crossed the quad to my quarters.” His jaw clenched. “An arrow missed my head by millimeters.”

A smile tipped the corners of my mouth. “He doesn’t miss. He wanted your attention.”

“Mm.”

Jesse tried to free Roark and didn’t kill the doctor. Apparently, he wasn’t threatened by either man. Giddiness rushed through me. “What did he say?”

He shifted his weight from one foot to the next.

I laughed. “He threatened you. Tell me.”

A sigh. “He said if you get so much as a scratch while on my watch, he will scalp me slowly as he asphyxiates me with my own intestine.”

I touched my swollen jaw. “You’ve got more problems than I do.”

His face fell. Something flooded his eyes as they drifted over my injuries. Then it was gone. “He demanded the combinations to yours and the priest’s cell. He has a chartered boat. And bodyguards. He’s thorough.”

How would he get through undetected by the Drone’s network of aphid communication? Through them, the Drone had eyes and ears everywhere.

“I gave him the combinations.”

My pulse jumped. “So he’s coming?”

“He came this morning.”

That morning. My eyes shot to the door and the shreds of splintered wood on the floor. “Fuck. The Drone retrieved me around dawn. That was my fault.” My hand went to my stomach. “I called him somehow.”

His face remained empty.

“But Roark…he’s—”

“Free.”

“Free? Jesse got past the guards?”

A watchful nod. “Right under Aiman’s nose. You had him thoroughly distracted.”

Air whooshed from my lungs and with it a heavy weight. I sat on the bed and rubbed my temples, the leather strap wound around my fingers. It caressed my cheek and brought a flood of remembered scents. Dog breath. Mountain yews. Hickory coffee. The same memories stirred by my turquoise rock.

“That Iraqi bastard took my necklace.”

He regarded me as closely as I him. “I’ll get it back.”

I couldn’t see past the damn facade that always blanked his face. How could I trust him? Could he have overpowered Jesse? Captured him and collected the collar? No, I had Jesse’s message.

“I wasn’t the only one distracting the Drone. Did you know they have an incest thing going on?”

A stray lock fell over his brow. “It’s not consensual.”

“No, figured that much out.” My fingers itched to brush his hair back, to see if it was as silky as it looked. And why was that? Jesse remained an unreachable fascination. Roark filled in the void in my heart and kept his off limits. I didn’t need the doctor to make things more confusing. Focus, Evie. “Why did Jesse give you the collar if he planned to rescue me himself?”

“Backup plan. In case he didn’t make it. He wanted you to know you could trust me. Like I said, he’s thought of everything.”

“Why would he trust you?”

“He is—” He cleared his throat. “Perceptive.”

I narrowed my eyes.

He glanced at the chamber door and lowered his voice. “He knew my allegiance lies elsewhere.”

“And where would that be?”

“I’m a member of a scientific community looking for the cure.”

My jaw dropped. “The Shard.”

His shiny black head inclined. “My history with Aiman coupled with certain…skills made me an easy guise to infiltrate his activities and ascertain the cure. I established our partnership but ran into two roadblocks. One, he hadn’t perfected the cure. And two…” He fastened those penetrating eyes on mine.

“Me?”

He swiped blood from his nose. “When I discovered he didn’t have a cure yet, I began plotting my exit. Then, he found you.” He blinked at me under drawn brows. “I couldn’t stop your abduction without unveiling my disguise and surrendering his captured nymphs. As it turns out, all of the nymphs perished anyway.”

I leaned against the wall and wrapped an arm over my twisting gut. “You deceived me.”

He sat beside me, leaning elbows on knees. “Would you have believed the truth?”

“I’m not sure what to believe.”

Believing him meant he wasn’t who I thought he was. It meant I’d been a hateful bitch while he risked his guise to protect me.

A bright airy sensation filled my chest. Maybe it was weeks of loneliness slamming into me, but I lifted my hand, held it palm up in his lap.

Quiet floated between us as he stared at it. The wait wilted into sad patience then rejection. The pain of it curled my fingernails into my palm. I pulled my hand away.

He caught it and the moment our fingertips brushed, a jolt of emotion flooded me. Our eyes collided.

His fingers snaked around mine, his other arm supported my back, brought me into his chest. “They’ll come back for you.” His hug tightened. “Your priest was loath to leave. That arrow-wielding savage hauled him out with his axe at his throat.”