Page 17

“Yes, it is!” River snapped. Stepping towards the bed, she started counting on her fingers. “Who shot you, Nik? Why did they shoot you? And thirdly, why the fuck are there scars all over your chest?”

He was so taken aback by the curse coming from River’s mouth—he’d never heard her swear—that he didn’t say anything.

“Scars, Nik!” Alarm wove through her words, and she was practically screaming. “Fae don’t scar easily!”

“I know,” he said softly, his gaze darting to the door and confirming it was closed before he looked back at her.

She twisted her hands together, panic and anger twin flames in her eyes. “In fact, it’s practically impossible to inflict permanent damage on a fae.”

In moments like this, when he saw flashes of her storm, he was reminded how powerful she was…

Just like her brother.

Gods, Ryker would kill him if he knew what kinds of thoughts he was having about his sister. But Ryker wasn’t here, and River needed him.

“River, I know,” he said softly, trying to calm her down. It didn’t seem to be working. If anything, his soft voice was making things worse.

“How did this happen, Nik? How did you?—”

“River.” Throwing caution to the wayside, he reached out and grabbed her hand. He would not remain still while she worked herself into a frenzy.

His fingers circled her wrist, her arm so much smaller than his. Her pulse fluttered like butterfly wings beneath his thumb.

“Look at me, River,” he murmured.

The quiet command worked, and her gaze slid up to his. Gods above, she was so good at taking orders.

“I got the scars at work.” His thumb passed over her pulse. Once. Twice.

She blinked. “Work?”

He dipped his chin, his voice low and steady. “Mm-hmm.”

It wasn’t the full story. Like River so astutely pointed out, it wasn’t easy for a fae to scar. He spent most of his time behind a desk these days, but it hadn’t always been that way.

This wasn’t the moment for that story, though.

“When did you get them?” she asked, her gaze unwavering.

“A long time ago.” The memories of what caused the scars still haunted him from time to time, but he wasn’t going to think about that right now.

She sucked in a breath. “Do they hurt?”

It didn’t surprise him to find out that’s what she was most worried about. Even panicked, River was still a healer at heart.

“Not right now.”

Some days, the scars pained him as much as they had the day he received them. When that happened, tiny flames that refused to be extinguished burned beneath his skin. But right now, he couldn’t feel them at all. His entire body was focused on the woman whose wrist he held.

“Good,” River said.

It looked like she had more to say, but a knock came from the door, cutting her off.

She pulled her hand out of Nikhail’s hold as the door opened and an older man entered the room.

His salt-and-pepper hair was cut short, revealing the curved edges of his ears.

That, along with his aged appearance, confirmed his human heritage.

He introduced himself as Doctor Marvish before proceeding to explain the emergency surgery he’d done on Nikhail.

The doctor spoke about how lucky he was to have survived, but Nikhail barely heard him.

All he could think about, all he could focus on, was the fact that he was no longer touching River.

His entire body screamed for him to reestablish that physical connection and never let go.

That was going to be a problem, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it.

After a few minutes that felt like hours, Doctor Marvish checked his vitals and left. The door had barely shut before River turned back to him. Her arms were crossed once again, and her nails were digging into her sleeves.

“I was so worried about you, Nik,” she murmured. “So gods-damned worried. If you had died…”

She sucked in a breath, her hand covering her mouth as she shook her head back and forth. The pain in her eyes was so powerful, it would’ve knocked him over if he weren’t already in bed.

“I didn’t die, River,” he replied.

“You heard Doctor Marvish. You almost did.” Vulnerability shone in her gaze, and she reached up, twisting one of the diamond studs in her ear.

Diamonds, because even now, River was still a Waterborn. And he was still a fae who’d grown up in Barren Ridge. The reminder of the social divide between them hurt, but not nearly as much as River’s next words.

“You almost died , and you won’t even tell me what happened.”

His heart was breaking from the pain in her voice, and he couldn’t take it. The sight of her earrings was an unwelcome reminder of one of the reasons he stayed away from her, but even they couldn’t stop him from trying to ease her hurt now.

“Is that what you want?” he asked. “To hear what happened?”

She bit her lip. “Yes, if you can tell me.”

Technically, this wasn’t the kind of information he was supposed to share with civilians, but he wasn’t supposed to have feelings for his best friend’s sister either.

“Okay,” he murmured. “I’ll tell you.”

It seemed that lately, he was breaking all the rules for River Waterborn. What was one more?