Page 130 of You Only Love Twice
"I don't know. He tried to stop her." Ingrid.
"Arrest her!" The Coldrush Guards swarmed past him to the still figure lying on the floor of the throne room, motionless.
No.
Obsidian managed to find strength from somewhere, and pushed to his hands and knees.
They slapped cuffs on her. Hauled her upright, where she screamed as her shoulder popped again, and then slumped in their arms unconscious.
"Lynch." Byrnes snagged the duke's arm. "It wasn't her. There's some kind of neural implant in her head that made her do this. You can't let them hurt her."
The duke's implacable gray gaze swept across Obsidian, then raked over Gemma as if he saw everything in a single moment. "I'll take charge."
He strode after her, and Byrnes breathed a sigh of relief.
Someone knelt at Obsidian's side, helping to steady him. Charlie. "Well. Guess you weren't the one we needed to watch."
"I need to be there," Obsidian gasped, struggling to stand, "when she wakes."
Charlie sighed and slipped under his shoulder. "You shouldn't be going anywhere."
"Lynch has got it in hand," Byrnes said, still looking somewhat shocked. He crossed to his wife's side and examined the blood on the back of her shirt.
"No. You don't understand." He grabbed Charlie's wrist. "Gemma loves you all, especially Malloryn. If he's dead...."
If she’d killed him....
"This will destroy her."
Chapter 25
Adele Hamilton— No. AdeleCavill, she had to remember, fled along the hallway, her fists full of skirts, and her sister at her side.
"This way," she snapped to Hattie.
Round and round they went, clambering down the enormous double staircase that circled the hollow interior of the Ivory Tower.
She didn't know what was going on. Hattie had been having a minor attack of hysteria in the powder room when an explosion rippled through the tower. But Adele hadn't been part of this court for so many years without learning when to run, and the one thing in this world she loved was her younger sister.
She had to get Hattie safely out of here.
"Adele!" Hattie gasped, staggering into a wall. "I don't think... I can run... anymore."
Each breath Adele took strained her own corset until it felt like her ribs were trapped in a vise. She'd barely recovered from her assault on the day of her first wedding attempt. Adele collapsed against her younger sister's side, grabbing her by the wrist. Hattie's cheeks were flushed with exertion.
"I don't know if it's safe to stop," she said, glancing up. Shouts echoed down through the tower. "I don't know what's going on—and I don't intend to find out."
Blue bloods were dangerous, and it was the humans around them—like her and her sister—who often suffered when they were caught up in blue blood schemes.
There was no knowing where her husband was, but he could take care of himself.
Indeed, she'd be surprised if Malloryn even gave her a thought.
It would probably be convenient if I died here today.
Not if she could help it.
"Oh, my goodness!" Hattie suddenly burst out. "Is that blood? There's a... a dead woman."
