"Hurry! She'll return any moment, and she'll have others with her. Perhaps the entire army."

Zane watched as Nola tried and failed to jerk the head of his chains from the iron pole they were attached to, a pole that was anchored deep in the earth. As before, her fingers merely passed through the object.

His shock had yet to diminish. Nola was here; Nola thought to help him. After her announcement, his captor had stormed out of the tent with every intention of speaking to the Amazon queen. Nola wanted him for her own.

Earlier when she'd apologized to him, it had not been remorse thickening her voice. It had been desire. Then she'd climbed on top of him without hesitation, had moaned when he'd arched into her. He hadn't been able to feel her, but oh, just the thought of doing so was enough for him.

"How do you propose to fight her?" he demanded. "You cannot hurt her, and she cannot hurt you."

"I didn't want to fight her. I wanted time. And why are you just lying there?" She peered down at him, hands on her hips, dark hair streaming wildly around her delicate face. There was the soldier he knew. "Fight free!"

"You will come with me? If I escape?"

"If I can, yes. I want that more than anything," she added in a whisper.

Again, there was no hesitation. There was even a flicker of hope in her magnificent eyes. She truly did not hate him.

What had brought about this change in her? Doesn't matter right now. Everything he'd craved these many months of his captivity—Nola, freedom, a chance to be together—was now being offered to him. No longer did he feel cursed. Never had he been so blessed.