Iron Seas 03 - Riveted

stopped the foreman stepped forward, shouted, raising his arms and the bloodied pickaxe. The men piled into the troll, the carts.
    Work was done for the day.

Chapter Thirteen
    Annika had to slow a few times in the tunnel, dizzy with sick nervousness and the cut on her head, but steadied by the time she drove into the sun. The train of carts slid easily behind her troll, crowded with men. She drove straight into the clearing, settled the troll down.
    Annika almost wished that she hadn’t been so quick to leave the driver’s seat when Lorenzo climbed up from the living quarters, frowning at the men in the carts. Some were still looking down. Others met his eyes.
    His gaze froze on her forehead. “What happened? A cave-in?”
    “No. We killed the foreman.”
    He blinked, stepping back to look at the men again, then back at Annika, as if trying to decide who had done it. “How?”
    Pleasure tinged the question, as if he enjoyed the surprise. She didn’t intend to give him any more. “We didn’t bring the body. It’s probably frozen to the tunnel floor now.”
    “I’ll get it. Go on in, have your head looked at.”
    Dismissing her, he turned and spoke to the men. There wasnothing more she could do here. She staggered a bit on the steps, but had steadied again by the time she passed through the tunnel and into the hearth room. Paolo and David were still at the table, maps spread across the surface. David glanced up.
    “Jesus Christ.” His chair crashed back, and then he was at her side, his arm around her waist. He steered her to a seat. “Are you all right?”
    “Yes. Mostly bruised.”
    Paolo appeared beside her with a bowl of steaming water in his hands and a towel. David took the cloth, gently dabbed her forehead.
    “What happened? Did the troll tip?”
    “The foreman clubbed me.”
    David froze. She’d seen him kill a man. She’d never seen him murderous. He spoke a single word, lips peeled back from bared teeth.
    “Where?”
    “He’s already dead. He was hitting one of the men. I yelled at him to stop. He came after me, but I didn’t think he would hit me.”
    Still shaking with rage, he dabbed at the blood again. “But he did.”
    “Yes. I hit him a few times with the spanner. Then one of the men caught him in the head with the pickaxe.”
    “Which one?”
    “I don’t know his name.”
    “I’ll find out. I’m forever in his debt.”
    No need for that. “I already thanked him.”
    “Annika!” Källa paused at the entrance to the snow tunnel, staring at her. “Are you all right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did you tip the troll?”
    Annika glanced up, met David’s gaze. She had to laugh. He still wasn’t. “No.”
    “The foreman clubbed her,” Paolo supplied.
    Källa sucked in a sharp breath. Her hand clenched, as if around the handle of a sword. “Where is he?”
    Annika only shook her head, then rolled her tongue across the roof of her mouth. The taste of sour and sickness still lingered. “I need to wash.”
    David bent, picked her up, cradling her against his chest.
    “I can walk,” she said.
    “But I need to hold you.”
    She smiled, laid her head against his shoulder. “All right, then.”
    In the bath chamber, Annika rinsed out her mouth. While the tub filled, she dunked her head under the stream of running water, gritting her teeth against the sting in her scalp.
    “It’ll start bleeding again,” David said, a clean towel in hand.
    She pressed her fingers to the cut, looked. Only a little blood. She accepted the towel and pressed it against her head, using her free hand to remove her boots and stockings. After rolling her trousers, she sat in the chair and draped her legs over the edge of the tub, let her feet soak up the heat.
    “We’re leaving tomorrow for Smoke Cove,” David said. When she glanced up at him, eyes wide, he nodded. “Paolo agreed that we should begin working on the other project.”
    She leaned against the back of the chair with a happy sigh. “And he wants you with him, so Lorenzo won’t do anything to jeopardize that.”
    “Yes.” He crouched beside her. The crinkle of paper sounded. Her gaze dropped to his hands. “I was saving this.”
    A butter candy. He untwisted the wrapper and slipped it into his mouth. Her breath caught as he rose, moving in for a slow kiss. The candy melted between them, creamy and sweet, and he lingeredover her lips long after it had gone. As if reluctant, he finally lifted his head, but remained close, his breath