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  “Good night, My Lady,” Ivana said.

  “Goodnight, Ivana. And thank you,” came Nova’s hushed reply.

  Ivana pointedly left the doors open between the rooms and shot me a small smile on her way out. I marveled at her bravery. Regardless of all she had seen that night, she had done her duty.

  I paced across the room and back to the door. It wasn’t appropriate to look inside, but I needed the reassurance that Nova was alright.

  Why do I care so much?

  I had held her in my arms as she gripped my shirt with a strength fueled by her fear. We both knew she had barely escaped death. Lady Winden’s own words had confirmed that if I didn’t kill them, the men would have slaughtered her. She had been so pale as she cowered in the corner. I couldn’t believe she was alive; I still had a hard time believing it.

  I had to know for sure that she was alright. I hesitated by the door.

  “Nova?”

  Silence followed my words in which my heart pounding loud in my ears.

  “Nobody’s called me just Nova since I was little.”

  That admission, said in her quiet voice, calmed me the way my own thoughts couldn’t.

  “It’s a beautiful name,” I replied from where I stood just outside the door where I couldn’t see her.

  “My mother chose it. She said her little girl was destined to do big things.” She paused, then said, “I’m afraid she was wrong.”

  I allowed my tone to lift wryly when I replied, “You’re the Lady of the Loreandian System who is also the captain of a starship. That’s pretty big if you ask me.”

  A quiet laugh followed my words. “You make me sound far braver than I am.”

  I shook my head even though she couldn’t see it and spoke my thoughts aloud. “Any woman who could face down the men you just did is brave in my book.”

  “I didn’t face them down.”

  I heard her sniff. It was a quiet sound, barely louder than a gun leaving a sheath, but it made my heart slow just the same.

  “Nova?”

  “Kovak, could you…could you come in here?”

  My heart stopped beating altogether. I touched the doorframe, but couldn’t will my feet to move. Something tightened in my chest, something I couldn’t name but felt with every fiber of my being. If I crossed the threshold, things would change. I wasn’t sure how, but the certainty pressed against me with a weight like the thickest Gorian armor.

  I took a breath of the petal scented air and stepped into the dark room.

  “I know this isn’t appropriate,” Nova said. “But I can’t stop shaking. I keep feeling completely alone and I thought…I thought that if you at least kept watch in here, I might be able to sleep a little.”

  I nodded and straightened despite the pull to my shoulder. “I am happy to, My Lady.”

  “Nova,” she replied. “Just Nova, please.”

  I paced slowly to the windows, checked outside where the reflection of the yellow moon washed the blue walls in a sea of green, then crossed to the door again and made a sweep of the sitting room. It was two more rounds before Nova spoke again.

  “You’re probably exhausted.”

  I allowed a small smile to touch my lips. “Beyond, but I couldn’t sleep if I tried. The adrenaline after something like that always keeps me awake.”

  “Have many of your other fights been that way? You looked so composed and in control.” She shook her head, her hair brushing softly across the pillow. “I couldn’t imagine being in more fights like that. It was horrible.”

  I took a few steps closer to the bed and smiled down at her. “Well, the other fights I have been in were not exactly like that. Usually I know what I’m up against.” I hesitated, then spoke my true thoughts. “I’ve never been so scared during a battle.”

  Nova rose onto one elbow. The moonlight brushed her face, giving it an unworldly glow framed by her long dark hair. “You were scared? You didn’t show it.”

  “Terrified,” I admitted. Lightheadedness swarmed me along with the threat of another headache. I gestured to the chair beside the bed. “May I?”

  She nodded without a word.

  I took a seat and glanced down at my hands. They were still coated in dried blood. I was pretty sure most of it was the attackers’, but some came from my shoulder and it was fresh. I lowered both hands so Nova wouldn’t notice; a Lady shouldn’t see such things.

  Unfortunately, she had the keen eyes of her Cadonian race. “Kove, you’re bleeding.”

  “I’m fine.”

  She sat up and wrapped the blanket around her. Her eyes were gently accusing when she met mine again. “You should have told me you were hurt. I wouldn’t have gone to bed knowing you needed care.” She reached for the bell pull. “Ivana can escort you back to the medical wing and see to—”

  “No. I won’t go back there.”

  She stared at me. Embarrassment made heat creep up my neck. I swallowed and gave a low chuckle. “Sorry. I sounded like a petulant child just then. I can’t say I’ve ever been accused of that before.”

  Her eyebrows pulled together. I thought she was going to argue, but confusion warred with the sympathy in her eyes. The fact that her emotions were for me made me feel as if they would be my undoing.

  “Why don’t you want to go to the empaths, Kove?”

  Every time she said my name with such familiarity, it tugged at my heart. We were in a room together, just she and I. The setting was so intimate and after all we had shared, I felt as though I knew her so much longer than I did. It all combined to give me emotions I had never felt before, ones I didn’t want to examine too closely. I was merely hired muscle, a gladiator, no more than a bodyguard. Yet the way she looked at me with such innocence, her long hair down and the blanket wrapped around her, showed me a vulnerability nobody ever had. Why did it bring out the same emotions in me?

  I sat back and pressed a hand to my shoulder. I gave her a scoundrel’s smile I didn’t feel and said, “They’re too filled with emotion for me. Instead of focusing on the wound, they want to talk about feelings. That’s not going to stop me from bleeding.”

  Nova watched me quietly. I felt as though she saw through the mask I put on to shield myself. Yet I kept my most charming smile plastered to my face in the hopes that I was wrong.

  “You’re not going to bleed out while I sleep?” she finally asked.

  I shook my head. “I wouldn’t be a very good bodyguard if I did. It’s more an annoyance than a threat.”

  She studied me for another moment before she nodded. “It’s your body. I can’t force you to seek care. But at least clean it. It’d be pretty ridiculous for a gladiator to die of a simple infection.”

  A true smile touched my lips. “It would at that.”

  She gestured toward the pitcher of water and the clean rags that Ivana had brought in for her to freshen up if she required.

  I rose and made my way to the table against the wall. The thought of touching the white chair or beautifully painted wood with my stained hands made me continue standing. I glanced once at Nova and saw that her eyes were closed. At least I wouldn’t offend her sensibilities if I cleaned up while she slept. I pulled my shirt over my head with compassion for the woman who had saved me from Roan Seven only to find herself needing to be saved as well.

  Chapter Eight

  NOVA

  Nova watched Kovak as he washed the blood from his chest. His back was to her. The light from the window played across the scars that lined his back. There were so many. It took her breath away to see all of the wounds he had survived. Some looked jagged and life-threatening while others were slices and nicks, symbols of his brushes with death. There was a thin line of blood that ran from his shoulder blade to the middle of his back. He acted as though he didn’t feel it, but she knew it needed to be cleaned just the same.

  She rose quietly from the bed and pulled the blanket around her. It didn’t hide the fact that she wore only a nightgown, but helped her feel better
protected against the chill that made her continue to shake.

  Kovak’s head was bowed as he pressed a rag to his shoulder. She couldn’t tell how bad the wound was, but his posture showed sheer exhaustion. His reflection in the mirror showed a battle-weary man with blood on his jaw and his hair coming out of its pirate’s tail. How he managed to keep going despite his concussion, the battle before the wall, and now her attack was beyond her. She felt ready to collapse at any moment and she hadn’t done more than shoot at a few soldiers from behind rocks and cower in her room when the men attacked.

  To be fair, they had been trying to kill her. Her instincts at the first sound had been to kick off the bed and put her back to the wall. The sight of a knife plunging into her pillow where her head had been wouldn’t leave her mind. If it hadn’t been for the headstrong way Kovak had charged into the room, the knives that glittered in the moonlight would have been pointed at her instead of him. He had saved her life. She had watched the entire battle with her mouth open and entire body trembling, only to act when the last attacker begged for mercy.

  The sight of yet another person slain if he could perhaps be persuaded not to do what he was sent for was too much for her. She had begged Kovak also for mercy. It had distracted him, she knew. A split second later, a knife embedded his shoulder. The wound was entirely her fault; yet he hadn’t said a word about it. The least she could do was help him reach the cut he couldn’t.

  She was two steps from him when she said, “Can I help—”

  He spun and grabbed her by the wrist and the throat faster than she could finish speaking. His eyes were wild and hands rough when he pulled her closer. She could only stare at him as a tear of pain slid from the corner of her eye. She held his wrist, but he was too strong to even notice. If he increased the pressure, he would snap her neck. His hands remained locked in place, his chest rising and falling as he stared down at her.

  He blinked and recognition chased away the stranger behind his eyes. His hands opened immediately and he backed away, his face pale.

  “Nova, I….”

  She shook her head. “It’s my mistake. I shouldn’t have startled you like that.” Her voice shook. In the mirror, she could see the reflection of the angry red marks his fingers had left along her throat.

  Kovak stared at her, his brown eyes wide and his expression aghast. “Nova, I could have killed you! I thought you were asleep.”

  “No,” she said. “I can’t. Not after an attack like that. I saw you bleeding and I thought I would help.”

  Kovak ran both hands through his hair as if it was a habit. He looked at the floor, the ceiling, the window, anywhere but her.

  She could see the confusion on his face, the loss he felt at attacking her, and how appalled he felt that he had done so. Despite her own fears and the knowledge of how close he had come to killing her, she took it as her duty to comfort him. Blood dripped down his bare chest from his wound. It centered her resolve.

  “Kovak, you need someone to help you. Sit down.”

  He stared at her. When he didn’t move, she put a hand to his uninjured shoulder and pushed him gently down. He sat on the white chair without speaking.

  Nova dipped a fresh rag into the water bowl. It was already pink with the cleaning he had done, but she wouldn’t summon Ivana for a fresh bowl the way they both were. There was already enough to start a dozen reputation-ruining rumors.

  “Here. Hold this.” She pressed a different rag to his shoulder. “Keep that there while I clean your back. I don’t think you can reach that one.”

  She felt Kovak’s eyes on her in the mirror as she stepped around behind him and began to wash the wound. She kept her gaze lowered and her face calm. In truth, she had never touched a stranger, let alone a man, before in such a way. Her insides still quivered at the fight, but a different kind of tremble caught her stomach. She clenched her teeth and worked as though she tended to half-naked men in her chambers all the time.

  The wound was shallow and cleaned easily. In short work, she had it tended to the point that she was satisfied.

  “That should do for now,” she said in a forced normal tone. “I would be happier if we had some bandages, but we’ll let it air dry until I can find something that will do.”

  She stepped around in front of him, but couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze. Instead, she kept her attention on his chest which, she realized, was probably worse. Why did he have to have such toned muscles? His scars only accentuated how fit he was. When she lifted a clean rag to his wound, his muscle twitched. She glanced sideways at him and found him watching her with a half-smile. Awareness that he had done it on purpose made her shake her head.

  “You’re only making things worse for yourself,” she scolded, unable to meet his dark eyes any longer.

  “Am I?” he asked.

  She pulled the old rag gently away. The sight of the deep stab wound made her stomach turn over. Fresh blood welled up and began to drip down his chest again. The realization of how bad it was made her want to cry. She closed her eyes and refused to let the tears form.

  “Kove, this is beyond any skills I pretend to have.”

  “Nova.”

  She kept her eyes closed until his fingers touched gently beneath her chin. “Nova, please look at me.”

  She opened her eyes and stared into the warm brown gaze before her. All joking was gone from his expression. Instead, he looked completely serious, his face just inches from hers.

  “Nova, you are a Lady, not a physician. Already my blood stains your fingers. I’m supposed to take care of you, not the other way around.”

  The corners of her eyes tightened and she asked, “But who takes care of you?”

  His mouth opened to reply, but when no response came, he closed it again. A hint of his wry, rascally smile returned and he said, “You got me there. I usually don’t need anyone.”

  “Maybe that’s your problem,” she said.

  Instead of arguing, he surprised her by lowering his gaze. “Perhaps you’re right.”

  His words were said in a bare tone she didn’t recognize. It sounded as if all of his bravado and teasing was stripped away to leave only him, a gladiator deprived of his battle arena, a bodyguard void of his weapons and armor. She saw in his face the expression of one who was lost and searching for something. Her heart went out to him because the same feelings echoed within her.

  She forced herself to push away the thought and focus on the task at hand.

  “What would you do at the Palladium with a wound like this?”

  He looked up at her. Silence filled the air between them until he lifted one shoulder. “Stitch it or burn it. That was usually the go-to for quick fixes.”

  She looked around. “I assume most supplies for needlework would be in the day room Lady Winden has, but it is on the other end of the palace.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll not let you walk alone, and given the guards she keeps following me, I doubt my presence would be welcome wandering the halls.”

  She nodded. “Burning then.” Her gaze held his with a hint of worry. “To cauterize it?”

  He smiled at her. “Yes. It’s about as bad as it sounds, but it’s effective as long as the wound is clean.”

  “I’ll see to that.”

  “Will you?” he asked.

  She found she couldn’t look down at him seated on the chair much longer. It both overwhelmed and made her ashamed that he sat there bleeding because of her.

  She turned away. “What supplies do you need?”

  “Fire,” he replied.

  She rolled her eyes as she made her way across the room to the fireplace. The purple sticks had burned low. She picked up the fire poker and crouched, wondering which one to get.

  “A coal would work.”

  Nova spun with the fire poker held out. Kovak grabbed it before she could strike him.

  “You’re too quiet!” she said.

  He grinned. “And you’re quite the spitfire. Remi
nd me not to mess with you when you have a real weapon.” He crouched and shoved the poker into the hot coals.

  Her eyes narrowed as she crouched next to him. “That could be a real weapon.”

  “In the right hands,” he said with a nod. At her look of frustration, he offered, “I’d be glad to teach you when things settle a bit.”

  “I’m not sure learning from a gladiator would be fitting for a Lady.” She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.

  Kovak’s head moved back just enough to let on that the words had bothered him. A smile touched his lips and just like that, the mask humor he wore had returned.

  “We wouldn’t want to do anything unfitting, would we?”

  Before she had a chance to apologize, he pulled the poker from the fire. The end glowed fiery red. She could feel the heat wafting from it. He pressed it to his shoulder without hesitation.

  The Smiren barely winced, but she watched his face wash from the color their little argument had given it to a gray pallor. The sizzle of his flesh sealing shut made her dinner rise in her throat. His gaze held hers and she saw his pupils dilate from the pain he refused to show. She cringed for him and finally had to turn her eyes away.

  “I’m fine,” he said quietly. “Don’t worry your pretty little head over me. I’ve survived far worse, trust me.”

  The sound of the poker being returned to the stand near the fire made her look back. He had risen and waited with his hand held out. Without a word, she slipped her fingers into his and allowed him to help her to her feet. Her knees felt wobbly as she returned to bed, but she refused to swoon and be one of those girls he no doubt thought she was.

  “I’ll keep watch,” he said. “Get some rest. You could use it.”

  She watched him pace to the windows, back to the doors that separated the chambers, and then listened to his feet travel to the sitting room door and back. He went back to the windows, watched for a moment, then completed the round again.

  Nova told herself to sleep, but she couldn’t settle her nerves. The moment she lowered her guard and allowed her exhaustion to take over, thoughts of the battle swarmed with such intensity that her eyes flew back open and sweat broke out across her body. She wanted to cry or shout or hit something, but the presence of the Smiren kept her still.