Born of Ice

“I love you.” His gaze went to Omari and then Sway. “I love all of you. Don’t make me regret teaching you loons how to fly.” He cut the transmission.

Devyn swung around in his chair to issue orders to them. “Omari, take the helm. Vik, scan and let us know if someone starts after us. Sway, check the guns and make sure we’re ready for anything.” He motioned for Alix to follow him.

He led her down the hallway to the infirmary.

And as soon as the door closed, she grabbed him and kissed him passionately. She still couldn’t believe what he’d done for her. What he’d risked.

“Thank you, Devyn.”

Devyn held her close as he breathed her in. “I’m the biggest idiot ever born.”

“No. You’re a hero. You could have let them take me and you didn’t.” She tightened her arms around him. “I can’t believe you did that for a nothing like me.”

“You’re not nothing, Alix, and I’m only this stupid for people I care about.”

Those words hit her like a blow. Dare she believe it? “What?”

Devyn hesitated as he stared into those blue eyes that seared every part of him. Tell her you love her.

I don’t even know her.

It didn’t matter to his heart. To the confusing feelings inside him. Whether he’d meant to or not, he’d made a giant commitment to her tonight. Hell, he may have just consigned himself to slavery.

He kissed her lips, then forced himself to step back. “We have to get you detagged.”

She left him to lie down on the examining table so that he could pull her tracer out.

“Do you know where it is?”

She pointed to a scar on her arm. “I should probably tell you that they messed up when they put it in. It’s embedded in the bone.”

Devyn grimaced. “How old were you when they did it?”

“Three.”

That made him curse. No one under the age of sixteen was supposed to be tagged. The risks were too great. But obviously her father had never wanted a daughter.

Only property.

“I’ll have to break the bone.”

“Whatever it takes.” She met his gaze. “I trust you, Devyn.”

He didn’t know why, but those words made his chest ache. Kissing her cheek, he stepped away and prepped the room for surgery.

Alix lay in silence as she struggled with her fear. Not for herself. She didn’t really care what happened to her. It was the ones helping her who mattered.

And most of all . . . “What do you think they’re doing to my family?”

Devyn paused beside her to look down at her as she watched him closely. “Nothing.”

“Don’t patronize me. I’m not stupid. I saw the way Whelms turned on me. I’ve now put my mom and sister in the line of fire.”

“Listen to me, Alix. I have a friend who’s watching over them from inside the jail. If anyone comes near them, they won’t live long enough to regret it.”

“What?”

He smiled. “I come from a family of assassins, and not all of them are tied to The League. Believe me, no one’s going to hurt them. We’ll make sure they’re not caught in the crossfire.” He put the mask over her face.

Alix inhaled the anesthesia as her thoughts drifted. She wanted to believe him, she did.

But Merjack was trickier than that.

And while Devyn might know how outlaws and assassins lived, he didn’t know anything about slaves.

Please, please don’t let them rape my sister.



“How bad is it?”

Nero grimaced at the loudness of Syn’s voice in his ear while his head felt as if it were about to explode. He should never have answered the link while he was “napping.” But he’d known his old friend was beside himself with worry and had stupidly thought to make him feel better. “You wouldn’t be asking me that if you didn’t already know.”

Syn cursed. “I don’t understand this. Why would he risk everything for her?”

“You know that answer, too. He loves her.”

“Yeah, and the last woman he loved almost killed him.”

“This isn’t your fight, Syn. It’s Devyn’s.”

He could sense the turmoil, anger and fear that Syn’s stoic voice hid.

“Tell me about her. Do we need to execute her?”

That comment would be harsh coming from anyone else, but Nero understood his friend and what had made him that cold-blooded. And the truth was, Nero would be every bit as harsh about his child, too.

“She loves him.”

“So did Clotilde.”

“No. Clo loved herself, which I tried to tell him and he didn’t listen. Alix is entirely different. She barely thinks of herself as human.”

“So what do we do?”

“Keep them safe.”

Syn paused before he spoke again. “Can you do it?”

“Not right now, asshole. My head is killing me. I’ve got to recharge my powers or I’m going to be more worthless than tits on a boar hog.”

“Fine. But are you sure about her feelings for Devyn?”

“I know you didn’t just ask me something that stupid. If I thought for one minute she’d betray him, you better believe I would have left her to the Rits.”