Free The Serpent in the Stone (The Gifted Series) by Nicki Greenwood Page A

eyes. “ Not here, and not now. I ’ ll tell you ” —she winced and gripped her upper arm once more— “ anything you want to know. Later. ”
    “ You had better, ” he said, and marched away without waiting for her.
    ****
    Sara threw her coat over her shoulder to hide the blood while they took a taxi back to the pier. Ian sat rigid in the back seat, as far from her as he could get without wedging himself against the door. They didn ’ t speak to one another at all.
    Once they boarded the motorboat, she dropped her bloodstained coat and started the engine. Ian sat in the other seat—still looking like he ’ d have preferred a few extra miles between them—and they sped away from Mainland.
    A good way past Unst, he said something she didn ’ t catch over the noise of wind and motor. She lowered the throttle just enough to shout, “ What? ”
    “ Cut the motor! ”
    She glanced around. They were still in open water. “ Why? ”
    “ Do it! ”
    Gritting her teeth, she did so, then lobbed the anchor over the edge of the boat. The craft bobbed in the waves. Her ears rang with the sudden absence of noise.
    Then she spied the streaks of blood oozing from the gash in her shoulder. She put a hand to the wound and hissed. “ I thought I stopped it. ”
    “ Yeah, well... No, you didn ’ t. Don ’ t you have a first-aid kit on this boat? ”
    “ The guys must have taken it with them down to the dig, ” she said.
    Ian muttered something she was grateful not to hear, then removed his sling and shucked off his T-shirt. Using his teeth and good hand, he tore a couple of strips off the bottom.
    She noticed him using the hand of his injured arm also. Not well, but using it. He was healing really fast. Strange.
    “ Come here, ” he said.
    She didn ’ t. His naked torso was every bit as broad and well-defined as it had looked under the thermal shirt when she reset his shoulder. Fine hair dusted his chest. She struggled not to stare and lost.
    He held up the pieces of torn shirt. “ Do you want to keep bleeding? ”
    Gull cries drifted overhead in the cool air. She shook out of her daze and leaned toward him, presenting her arm.
    He knelt on the floor of the boat beside her chair. He laid a strip of cloth over the wound and wrapped it with fast, economical motions, as though he didn’t want to touch her any more than necessary. She couldn’t blame him. This morning when he woke, she doubted gunfire had been on his agenda.
    She started to apologize, but he had finished and sat back in his seat. “That should hold it for a while.” His gaze found hers. “I want some answers.”
    It was work to hold that stare. She tried glancing away, but the only alternative was his body. She snapped her attention back to his face. “ Aren ’ t you going to freeze out here like that? ”
    He reached behind the seats for her coat and held it up with a question in his eyes. She shrugged, and he draped it over his shoulders. “ I ’ m all ears. ”
    Ah. Therein lay the reason for this mid-ocean pause. “ Out here where you think I can ’ t get away from you. ”
    “ Can you? ”
    “ Yes. ”
    Ian reached into his pocket and withdrew the amulet. With a hard look at her, he dangled it from his fist over the edge of the boat. “ Can you now? ”
    She twitched, wanting to lunge for the necklace, but stayed seated by sheer force of will. “ What makes you think I wouldn ’ t throw you overboard? ” she said in a rush.
    His eyes burned with a look that infuriated her even as it made her heart beat faster. “ Why would you have caught me at the cliff instead of letting me fall, if you wanted to get rid of me? ”
    She sucked in a long breath. Hearing him speak of her abilities aloud brought it home:
    Someone knew. There could be no more hiding. As much as that realization terrified her, a sense of relief flooded her body, so strong that it made her want to cry.
    Someone knew.
    He studied her, hard-eyed, suspicion traced in every