Page 121 of You Only Love Twice
"Byrnes. Ingrid. Get the hell out of here." Setting Isabella down, he started to stand. "Get to the queen."
Gemma reached for the pair of pistols sheathed at her hips—
Malloryn threw himself down, rolling across the carpet, his hands reaching for his own pistols and finding them.
Bullets spat past him, and he heard Byrnes swearing. "What the hell?Gemma?"
"Get down!" Malloryn yelled.
He came up into the perfect firing position, and—
She didn't even bother to protect herself.
Simply strode toward him like some lethal weapon, her eyes blank and dull, and her pistols tracking Ingrid and Byrnes as the pair of them darted for cover.
The perfect assassin.
And he'd brought her here.
"Malloryn?" Byrnes yelled, his pistol in hand as he shielded Ingrid with his body.
He heard the question in his agent's voice.
And for the first time in years, he didn't know what to do.
He had a clean shot. Both his pistols locked right on the center of her chest as she swung back to face him.
And he couldn't do it.
"Disarm her," he yelled, rolling across the carpet as Gemma shot at him.
An explosion of sound echoed, heat roaring across his skin as her bullet sank into the wall. She was packing those bloody exploding bullets.
Bodies slammed against each other, Byrnes a pale blur as he tried to take her down.
Gemma lost one of her pistols. She spun, ripping something from the holster at her hip.
"Stop!" Malloryn screamed as he saw what she'd reached for.
Black Vein darts.
The only thing that could kill Byrnes.
Byrnes's eyes widened as if he realized, and he blocked her blow as she stabbed at him.
Gemma ducked under Byrnes's arm, spinning beneath his grip as she drove her knee into the side of his. It was like watching a blur.Chop. Chop. Block. Punch.
Byrnes met every blow, his forearms slapping against hers, but Malloryn could see he hadn't expected her to match him for speed.
Dhampirwere faster than blue bloods.
But Gemma had been training as an assassin since she was a child. They'd stripped her reaction time from her, so everything was pure reflex. They'd taught her how to read the movement, so she was always several steps ahead.
Every time Byrnes countered one of her blows, she was ready for him, already disengaging and striking elsewhere.
Byrnes grunted as another knee took him high in the thigh.
"Step back!" Malloryn demanded, pistol trained on the pair of them.
