Lore had always had a great imagination.
Someone had taken the gold rings out of her hair, and now her chestnut mane fanned out across an inflatable pillow and the tiled floor behind her head, and he had the strangest urge to touch it and see if it was as silky as it looked.
Instead, he went down on his heels at the edge of the pool and studied her profile, so feminine and peaceful, as if she were lounging in a Jacuzzi instead of recovering from an injury that would have killed anyone else. Her long, sable lashes cast shadows across the delicate ivory skin beneath her eyes, and her cheeks had pinked up, maybe from the heat of the water—or a sexy dream.
“Don’t suppose you can hear me?”
Her eyelids fluttered, but didn’t open.
“What’s your deal?” he asked quietly. “You after Kynan, or me?” This time, her eyes opened and fixed on him. There was no recognition there, no sign that she even knew where she was.
“Rami?” There was hope and desperation in her voice, both of which made a person vulnerable. Exploitable.
He could use that. “Yes,” he said, running with the exploitation thing. “It’s Rami.”
Her lush lips curved into a smile that punched him right in the gut. That was a mouth any man would kill to taste—or to have taste him.
“You’ve come for me?”
He couldn’t help it; he let his gaze slide down the long, lean length of her. Freaking gorgeous. “Yeah,” he rasped. “I’ve come for you.” I’d come with you.
“Good,” she sighed. “Take me to heaven.”
His dick jerked, all, Sure, we’ll take you up on that offer, and Lore had to admit, if circumstances were different—meaning, she hadn’t tried to kill him—he’d be all over that. “First, why don’t you tell me what your mission is?”
She frowned. “Did I fail?”
“Fail to kill Kynan?”
“Kill?” She shifted, and a lock of hair slipped into the water, spreading like blood over her chest. “Protect.”
Acid bubbled up in Lore’s throat. She was Kynan’s protector?
“Take me, brother,” she said, and whoa, that cooled his jets. “Take me to Heaven so I can get my wings.”
Lore rocked backward, remembering what she’d told him at the mansion.
Who sent you?
God.
Oh, Jesus, she was really talking about Heaven. The Heaven. Not a fallen angel. An angel.
Not that it mattered. She was a threat to him if she was truly protecting Kynan.
Numbly, he peeled off his glove. The hospital was safe-guarded by the Haven spell, but he was willing to risk a skull-splitting headache if it meant saving his sister’s life. He’d suffered worse, for sure.
He reached for Idess. All he needed to do was to brush a knuckle over her cheek… a lover’s caress that would send her to Heaven, just as she’d asked. She closed her eyes, as if anticipating his touch, and his hand began to shake.
What the hell? He was an assassin. A cold-blooded killer. And she was dangerous, someone who not only stood between him and his goal, but who had tried to whack him.
But right now, she didn’t look dangerous. She looked sweet and angelic. Fragile. Helpless.
Lore might be a killer, but he had standards, and he’d never, ever taken the coward’s way out. He gave every one of his victims the courtesy of a wide-awake, face-to-face assassination. Murdering a female while she recovered from injuries was low, even for him.
The door opened. Lore leaped to his feet to face Wraith, who stood there, blond hair falling around a severe jawline and fangs bared in a silent snarl. “What are you doing?”
“Just thought I’d check on her. Why are you here?”
Wraith’s gaze dropped to Lore’s exposed hand, and when he looked back up, the glint of awareness in his blue eyes told Lore his brother knew exactly what had been about to happen. “Your revenge will have to wait.”
Lore exhaled, a futile attempt to release some tension. “Why?”
“Because,” Wraith said, his voice thick with anger, “I’m going to get into her head. I want to know who wants Kynan dead. And then I’m going to make them wish they’d never been born.”
Four
“I need your help. Please, Idess.” Clutching his forearm, Rami doubled over at the Nile River edge. Idess kneeled beside him.
“What’s wrong?” But even as she spoke, she knew. Two of his four heraldi were glowing angrily. Two? That was beyond rare—so much so that she’d never heard of it happening. When a single Primori was in trouble, the pain was excruciating. She couldn’t imagine having two in danger at the same time. “What can I do?”
“Help… the Viking.”