Page 117 of You Only Love Twice
Then the baroness slammed to an abrupt halt.
"Isabella?" Gemma frowned at Malloryn.
The other woman didn't move.
Malloryn's lips thinned. "I should never have let her come." He stalked forward. "Fetch a doctor, Gemma."
"No."
A single, emotionless word.
The baroness slowly turned, her hand sweeping up, the pistol in it locking right on the middle of Malloryn's chest.
Gemma froze.
"Do you know, I always thought you had a heart, Malloryn," the baroness said coldly. "But if I pull the trigger, do you think you'll even feel it?"
"Isabella." Gemma's breath came out in a rush as a horrible, horrible certainty filled her.
You will not know who it is....
Not someone close to the queen. But someone who would be brought into close proximity.
And Malloryn had always suspected a leak.
* * *
"You,"Malloryn said as all the pieces started to click into place. "You're the Chameleon."
Isabella held the gun on him, but the second Gemma stepped forward, it wavered toward her—then back again. "Don't move. Don't speak. You think I don't know how the pair of you work?" A bitter smile transformed her red-painted mouth. "You think I don't know that no matter how much the pair of you meant to me, your allegiance to each other was stronger? I've spent years on the outside looking in. Years giving everything of myself, only to fade into oblivion the second either of you walked through the door."
She didn't understand. He could not give her his heart, and if his suspicions were true and Balfourwasstill alive... he would strike at those closest to Malloryn first. "Isabella—"
"I saidshut up."
The pistol locked on him again, but this time it shook. "I could haveloved you," Isabella spat. "Ididlove you. And then you married that stupid brat. You discarded me like a piece of soiled linen, as if your damned wife would care where you were spending your nights—"
"It's got nothing to do with Adele," he replied, holding his hands up and trying to stall for time. Every second he spent here talking to her was a second in which she couldn't get close to the queen to carry out her deadly mission. "I never meant to hurt you. I didn't realize you owned feelings for me...." He stopped abruptly, for was that not what Gemma had been trying to tell him for months?
"I merely thought to end things amicably, before you could get hurt."
"I begged you not to marry her," she snarled.
"I had nochoice."
"You're a duke, Malloryn! Adele Hamilton is dirt beneath your shoe. If you'd wanted to deny her, you could have."
And seen all his recent work with the Thrall Bill undone?
He clenched his jaw as her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry. I didn't.... I didn't pay you enough attention. But you don't have to do this."
"It's too late for apologies."
Gemma sidled closer, remaining silent and fading into the background.
Malloryn stepped forward so Isabella's attention remained upon him. "If you put the pistol down, it's not too late—"
Isabella laughed. "I know you too well, Malloryn. Besides, itistoo late. Never say I'm not the type to lie in my bed once I've made it. This only ends one way."
