“And keeping us all alive,” Adam countered.
“For now.But don’t you dare forget who you really are underneath it all.That’s the man I chose—and I was quite certain I would never choose any man at all, given how insufferable most of them are.That ought to tell you how truly extraordinary you are.”
Adam traced his hand along the side of her face.“What I’m mostly feeling right now is lucky.”
Kalb perked up, his tail whacking happily against the ground.
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Ellie countered quickly.
“With you landing on me in British Honduras?”
“Well—maybe that, a little.But not everything that came after.”
“I dunno, Princess.”Adam’s lip quirked with a hint of mischief.“I think we’ve had more than a few good turns.”
“Those are entirely down to my studies and your extensive repertoire of skills.”
“Extensive, huh?”
Ellie blushed.His comment gave her ideas, as it had been meant to.Not that she could act on them in the middle of an enemy camp with soldiers patrolling outside.“You know perfectly well what I mean.”
Adam gentled with an aching tenderness.“I guess I do.”
Tears pricked at the corners of Ellie’s eyes.She dropped her head back to his chest again, holding him as worry, fear, and love mingled inside of her.“I’m going to get you out of here—you, and Vanika, and even your terrible dog.”
“He’s a good boy,” Adam protested tiredly.
Kalb dropped down against Ellie’s back with a sleepy huff and a softwarmth.
“He is… tolerable,” Ellie allowed.
“He’s gonna grow on you.Just wait.”Adam yawned, exhaustion apparent in every line of his frame.“And I’m supposed to be the one getting you out.”
“We will both leverage our respective skills, I’m sure.”
Quiet settled in around them.
“Adam?”
“Hmm?”he returned, a little dull with sleep.
She lifted her head to look down at him.“There’s a reason it feels awful—what you’re doing with Borthwick.”
He opened his eyes, watching her.
“It’s because that man—the one your father tried to turn you into—isn’t who you are.And it never would have been.Not in any imaginable universe.”
She saw the impact of the words—and was glad that she had said them.
“Get some sleep, Princess,” Adam finally said.
Sandwiched between the warmth of the man she loved and his blasted dog, Ellie let the night claim her.
?
Twenty-Six
Sheltered under arock outcropping, Neil watched the drizzle patter steadily against the leaves as Subhas’s men dozed around him.Theyhad camped a short distance from the top of the ridge in a shallow cavern framed by close-growing trees.A pair of men sat at the edge of the overhang, talking softly to each other as they kept watch by a small, smoldering fire.
