Shield of Winter

Chapter 16

VASIC HAD SENSED Ivy’s presence, had expected horror at the sight of the liquid mass of blood floating in midair, but her voice held a kind of shocked awe. “You should be resting.”

“My head feels stuffy from too much sleep.”

“Headache?”

“A dull throb. Nothing too bad.” Ivy ran her hands through her curls, aware of the steel black shields that had protected her when she couldn’t protect herself, sliding quietly away. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Shielding me.”

Not responding, he walked over to physically right a fallen chair.

Her breath caught, an ache in her chest. He hadn’t expected thanks, didn’t know how to handle it. Did anyone ever thank an Arrow for doing what no one else would? “Anyway,” she said past the fist squeezing her heart, “Rabbit was curious—and so was I after I saw the way the compound had been redecorated.”

Taking a step into the room where she’d seen Vasic draw up blood droplet by droplet into an eerie liquid globule, before he vanished the whole thing out of existence, she looked for any remaining evidence that might tell her what had taken place, saw only the damaged kitchen area. “What happened?”

Vasic faced her, his expression inscrutable. “Cristabel foiled an assassination attempt on Lianne. She was seriously wounded in the process, the assassin killed.”

Ivy’s hand rose to her mouth as she recognized the name as belonging to the elfin brunette Arrow who’d been unfazed by Rabbit’s inquisitiveness yesterday afternoon. “Is Cristabel . . .”

“Out of critical danger as of thirty minutes ago.” Shifting the table several feet to the left, he used raw muscle to rip off a shelf on the far wall.

“And Lianne?” The quiet, somewhat shy woman had to be in shock.

“About to be transported out of the compound.” He moved past Ivy to place the remains of the shelf on a stack of wood beside the cabin. “I decided not to move her until she was more stable.”

Scowling at his back, she folded her arms as Rabbit “helped” Vasic by adding a stick he’d found to the woodpile. “Why? It’s not her fault some fanatic came after her. I was in the same situation, remember?”

“The situations are not analogous.” He began to walk toward the Arrow cabin. “Lianne breached her contract by sharing classified data with her family, including the names of every E in this compound.”

“Wait, what?” Her mind struggled with the implication of his words. “Someone from Lianne’s family tried to kill her?” Family was protection, safety, freedom, not hurt. “She must be devastated.”

Vasic’s response was as gut-wrenching as the realization that Lianne had been betrayed by someone she should’ve been able to trust. Turning in the doorway of the Arrow cabin so fast she almost ran into the leashed power of him, he said, “Your family is not how most families in the Net operate.”

He stepped inside before she could recover enough to reply.

Feeling odd—scared of him in a way that just felt wrong—Ivy followed with Rabbit to see Lianne sitting on the edge of a cot that was literally just a taut piece of canvas stretched over metal. The black-haired, small-boned empath’s eyes were red-rimmed, her shoulders hunched inward as she clutched at the edge of the cot with a brutal tightness that had to hurt. And her fear of Vasic . . . it was a sweat-soaked animal that smashed into Ivy and dug in its claws.

Staggering, she gripped the doorjamb.

Ivy? Eyes of silver frost locked with her own, her body stabilized by a phantom telekinetic touch.

Last night, what did Aden do to me? She had only vague, pain-filled memories.

He extracted the detritus of the block on your ability. Your empathic senses are now wide open.

Yes. Breathing was an effort. Too wide. Most Psy were taught how to filter input from a young age. As a telepath couldn’t hear everything and stay sane, Ivy now understood an empath couldn’t feel everything and not collapse under the overload.

Vasic closed the distance between them, his gauntlet flickering with lights as a cool blue beam swept over her. You’re not getting enough oxygen and your blood pressure is rising.

Ivy attempted to regulate her shallow breaths, calm her pulse.

I don’t know how to help you—Vasic stood as strong and stable as a deep-rooted oak as she steadied herself with one hand on his chest, his lightweight armor absorbing any sign of mortal warmth—but I can get you to someone who can.

No. Lips quivering and eyes wet as she looked at Ivy, Lianne appeared a forlorn child. Ivy couldn’t abandon her. It’s all right.

Forcing herself to break contact with the rock-solid strength of him, she began to walk through the thick syrup of nauseating fear. It clutched bony fingers around her throat, twisted her stomach into a knot that felt as if it would never unravel, and made her skin creep at the idea of Vasic at her back.

Ivy shook her head to dislodge the sensation. The response wasn’t hers. She wanted to curl into his protective strength. No, this came from Lianne, the pungent emotional response clawing into Ivy’s unprotected senses to bewilder and confuse.

The throb at the back of her head now a pounding, she forced her mouth to shape words. “Don’t be afraid.” She nudged Rabbit up beside the distressed empath.

Lianne’s eyes flicked from Ivy to Vasic, then back. “I broke the rules.” Shaking, Lianne clung to Ivy’s hand when Ivy came down on the cot beside her. “I’ll be punished.”

It was difficult for Ivy to think with Lianne’s fear threatening to suffocate her, so it took her several seconds to process the meaning of the other woman’s words. She thinks you’re going to kill her, she telepathed Vasic. There’s a good chance she’ll calm down if you step outside.

Vasic didn’t move from his position by the doorway. Lianne is now a known security risk. I won’t leave you alone with her. He switched from telepathic to verbal speech, his words directed at Lianne, before Ivy could argue with his stance. “You won’t be executed so long as you keep your silence about this project from now on.”

Ivy stared at him. Are you serious? You would’ve killed her if you thought she might publicize what she knows?

No. He turned his attention to her, the gray of his irises so cold, it made the hairs rise on the back of her neck . . . and this time, she didn’t know if the response was her own or Lianne’s. I’d have simply had her memories locked down, he continued. Execution would be an overreaction, as this experiment will either succeed, in which case it will go public, or it will fail, in which case decisions will be made about the information to be shared.

Is that what you’ll do if I break the rules? she asked through the miasma of panic and fear fogging her mind. Erase me?

An infinitesimal pause. That situation will never arise. You and your family don’t want attention, won’t do anything to draw it. Lianne’s, on the other hand, is hungry for power.

Ivy wanted to push at him until he gave her a real answer, but he was so scary she couldn’t—

Lianne, she reminded herself with teeth-clenched concentration, this was Lianne’s fear. Ivy might’ve momentarily doubted her own emotions under the influence of it, but while she accepted that, objectively speaking, Vasic was scary, she wasn’t scared of him . . . would never be again. Because the one thing she remembered from the previous night was his strong-boned wrist under her fingers, this cold-as-ice Arrow allowing her to hold on to him, his voice—

Stabbing pain in her stomach, her mouth full of bile.

Conscious Lianne’s increasing panic could soon paralyze them both, Ivy twisted to face her. “Breathe, Lianne,” she ordered, modulating her own inhales and exhales until the other woman fell into the same pattern. “The Arrows aren’t planning to execute you.”

It was over seven minutes of repetition later, Ivy’s empathic senses raw, that Lianne calmed down enough to follow Ivy’s request to shield her emotions.

Peace.

Ivy couldn’t hold back the shudder that rippled through her.

Lianne, cheeks red, whispered, “I would’ve been exposed on the Net.” Her hand spread on Rabbit’s head where the dog was sprawled across her lap.

Ivy understood the other woman’s worry. Silence might have fallen, but the change was too new to be trusted. Ivy herself had discarded her veneer of Silence now that she was safely away from the settlement, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about the consequences of her actions. Even now, she maintained her PsyNet shields so her emotions wouldn’t leak out and betray her to strangers who might wish her harm.

“I ensured you weren’t.”

Vasic’s voice was an icy balm on Ivy’s ragged senses . . . until she realized she couldn’t sense him. At all. Even a shielded Lianne continued to register on her empathic senses, but Vasic was missing. If she hadn’t been able to see him, she’d never have known he was in the room.

Her breath hitched as she understood the crushing depth of his control for the first time.

“It’s time for you to leave the compound.”

Lianne went rigid at Vasic’s statement. Turning to offer comfort, Ivy found herself facing thin air. Vasic had initiated the teleport—after transferring Rabbit from Lianne’s lap to beside Ivy.

Blinking, she shook her head as her poor, confused dog stood up and did the same. “Yes,” she muttered, rubbing at her temples. “That is definitely starting to annoy me.”

Rabbit woofed in agreement and bounded down to the floor while she continued to sit on the cot. Uncomfortable thing. And this was where Vasic would sleep when he was off shift. Frowning, she wondered if he’d had any rest the previous night.

Then there he was, walking over to crouch in front of her. “Your headache is worse, isn’t it?” His eyes focused totally on her, his hair black silk she wanted to feel against her skin. “Aden said they should pass within forty-eight hours.”

He was so beautiful, she thought. All hard lines and strength and a strange, unexpected vulnerability. Of the latter she had no evidence, and yet her instincts insisted. Foolish Ivy. “Lianne?” she asked, drinking in the sight of him as if she’d been thirsty for a lifetime.

“Safe with those family members I’ve confirmed have no fanatical pro-Silence leanings. I have an Arrow keeping a discreet eye on her to make certain,” he said. “Your headache?”

She hadn’t expected him to care about Lianne’s safety after the other woman’s betrayal. That he did . . . “Yes,” she murmured. “It’s worse.”

“Do you have the training to ease it?”

He had such solid shoulders, wide enough to block out the world. She wanted to smooth her hands over the breadth of them, tear off his armor, touch the living heat of him. Visceral, the need knotted her gut, made her hurt.

“Ivy?”

Fingers curling into her hands, she forced herself not to take advantage of his nearness to indulge her need. It would hurt worse if he started keeping his distance because she couldn’t follow the unspoken rules. “Yes.” All Psy children were taught how to manage pain, since pain medication had an unpredictable effect on psychic abilities. “But I haven’t used it a lot,” she admitted, and it wasn’t quite a lie. “I’m rusty.”

The truth was, she didn’t want him to go.

“I’ll talk you through it,” he said, before switching to telepathic communication to do exactly that.

I like your voice, she said afterward, luxuriating in the icy strength of it.

Good, since you’ll hear it throughout this contract.

Laughter sparkled in her veins. Yes, I suppose so. Unable to touch, she ran her gaze over the nonregulation-length hair that hinted so tantalizingly of a man behind the frost. Hopefully, you don’t find mine irritating.

No.

“No.” Biting the inside of her cheek, she tried for a solemn tone. “You’re very verbose, you know that? I don’t know how I’ll stand your chattering.”

No smile in his eyes, but when he rose to his feet, he said, “I don’t see your bodyguard.”

Hope exploded like confetti in her heart. That hadn’t been an Arrow comment. It had been a Vasic comment. “I think Rabbit’s starting to thaw where you’re concerned,” she said, fighting not to betray the strength of her response. “Still, it must’ve been something really exciting to draw him away while you were so close to me.” She had no idea how right she was until they left the cabin.

A squeak escaped her.