Page 58 of Vega

Her eyes lifted toward mine. Even sick, she didn’t trust me. I hated that I had earned every bit of her suspicion.

She finally swallowed the medicine and took a few small sips of water. I lowered her onto the pillows, replaced the cloth, then pulled the blanket away from her overheated body.

“You’re going to eat.”

“No.”

“Stop making yourself sick just to prove you can fight me.”

Her eyes narrowed, but there was no strength behind it.

“Starving yourself won’t open that door,” I continued.

I sat beside her and pressed the cloth gently against her temple.

“But I’m saving you anyway.”

12

SONNET ELLISON

“Why does a man planning to kill me care whether I have a fever?”

The cool cloth stopped moving against my temple. He sat beside me on the bed, dressed in black with that mask still hiding everything except his eyes. His bare hand rested near my face now that he had removed his gloves, and the contrast disturbed me because his skin felt so gentle.

Nothing about him was supposed to feel gentle.

“I didn’t bring you here to kill you,” he tried to insist. “So, you don’t have to pull all of these tricks. I’m trying to help you. Roman wants you dead.”

The name caused cold to run through my veins, despite the fever.

“I don’t know any Roman.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“You saw him kill Donovan.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

The denial came quickly, but not quickly enough to sound convincing.

His eyes narrowed slightly, causing me to notice the freckles peppering the skin surrounding them. “You’re a smart girl, Glasses. Too smart to believe pretending you don’t know what happened will make it untrue.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” I snapped.

There had the nerve to be a twinkle in his eyes behind that mask. “It fits.”

“I told you I didn’t see anything,” I insisted, ignoring that.

“You saw Roman Granger shoot his son in that loading area.”

My heartbeat accelerated. I forced my expression to remain still, though my entire body wanted to retreat from him because he knew exactly what I had witnessed.

“That isn’t true.”

“You recognized Donovan on the news. You researched Roman. You figured out why everybody suddenly started watching you.”