Page 124 of You Only Love Twice
Ingrid jerked.Malloryn?
She stared along the hallway, but there was no sign of him. Only the distant muzzle flash of light flickering in the darkened shadows.
If anyone could stop Gemma, it would be him.
Her verwulfen heart gave a solid squeeze. If only he could do it without hurting her friend....
They could get Gemma back. They had to.
They just needed to work out how to snap her out of this spell she was in.
"We need to get the queen out of here," Ingrid said, meeting Byrnes's eyes. "Just in case."
He nodded. "Are you all right?"
"Fine." Her heartbeat throbbed in her ears. The Black Vein made her feel strange, but it didn't seem to be working upon her the way it would have done to him. "Well, it didn't kill me, so it seems verwulfen are immune to Black Vein."
Something locked around her upper arm. A hand. Byrnes frowned. "You're limping."
"Gemma kicked me in the knee. I'm fine."
"Doesn't mean that poison's not circulating through your system."
"Concentrate, Byrnes. We've got a job to do."
He let her go, but she knew he wouldn't like it.
"What the hell's going on out here?" Jasper Lynch, the Duke of Bleight—and the husband of her best friend, Rosa, came striding through the double doors.
Behind him, she could make out dozens of craned necks, and an entire throne room full of ruffles and silk. Court was in session.
"There's an assassin loose in the Tower and we think she's after the queen," Byrnes said.
Lynch's gray gaze sharpened. "An assassin? How the hell did they get past the guards at the gates and the bottom of the Tower?"
"Long story," Byrnes replied.
"Can you get the queen out?" Ingrid asked. She suddenly realized the gunfire had died down.
Only silence remained.
A prickling of hairs rose along her arms.
"The throne room's secure," Lynch said. Which meant there was no way out, barring through these doors. Hidden passages riddled the tower, but not here, in the heart of the court.
Ingrid head turned toward the scene of the carnage.
There was a shadow rippling over the walls, growing larger as it stalked toward them.
Ingrid shoved Lynch back inside. "Barricade the doors. Whatever you do, don't open them."
He nodded.
The doors slammed shut, and she heard the rasp of something being slid through the handles.
A shadow made of curves and malice, smoke smoldering from the pair of pistols she held, Gemma finally strode into view. Her hips swayed like an exotic snake being charmed, her eyes blank and empty holes as she stared through them to the throne room doors.
"Malloryn's down," Ingrid breathed.
