Page 139 of You Only Love Twice
She saw again the school. Her training masters. A fellow student, lying on the ground before her, the only thing standing between her and survival.
"Pull the trigger, cadet."
And she'd hesitated, until that student scrambled for his forsaken knife.
It was the first time she'd ever killed.
She'd never forget that bloodied mist.
The sound her fellow student's body made when it hit the ground.
"Good."A hand coming to rest upon her shoulder."Lord Balfour will be pleased with your progress, cadet. You have passed your year end exams."
The sickening lurch in Gemma's chest almost brought up her gorge. She could never scrub that image from her mind. She could never forget the name of the man who'd shaped her.
The one who'd sent her to kill Malloryn, because shelookedlike the woman he'd once loved.
"How?"He died.
Obsidian brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, watching her expression as if to gauge her response. "Balfour was taking theelixir vitaebefore Malloryn cut his throat the night of the revolution. In the advanced stages of the Fade, death creates a vampire, but it only exacerbates the elixir's effects upon the craving virus. When Balfour resurrected he woke in a coffin. You have to physically remove adhampir'sheart or decapitate him in order to truly kill him.
"He's the one who gathered us together after Falkirk burned. He's the one we pledged our fealty to. I've been working for him for over a decade, though never in the open." A flicker of consternation crossed his face, and he pressed his hand to his head. "I can't remember why I agreed to it. All he's ever done is destroy our brotherhood, and turn Ghost into the man he is now. But Balfour's behind everything. I should have told you earlier. I-I never realized how much you hated him—how much he'd hurt you—until that night when you told me of your past. Gemma, I would never.... I would never have worked for him if I'd known what he did to you."
She couldn't seem to breathe.
Balfour.
Alive.
It all made so much sense.
She pressed her unsteady fingers to her mouth. The day's events were pure Balfour. He and Malloryn had hated each other with a passion that could burn London to the ground. Of course, he'd have wanted Malloryn to suffer.
And how better to do it than to wield her as the weapon that would cut the duke down?
This was twice now that Lord Balfour sent her to kill Malloryn.
And rage bloomed within her like a flame given oxygen.
"He's currently in Russia," Obsidian murmured. "Please say something, Gemma. I'm sorry. I should have told you."
"Yes, you should have damned well told me!" Unable to control her fury, she smashed her fist against his chest. "I hate him. I hate him so much. He stole over half my life from me. He made me what I never wanted to be."
Obsidian took the blow, and the second.
Gemma's rage snarled in her chest as she saw the look upon his face. The quiet acceptance as if he'd expected to be punished for this secret. Her third blow paused, her fist hovering in the air between them.
He too, had been forged by Balfour.
His memories stripped from him. His choices stolen. What did he know of trust? Even now, she could sense him holding a part of himself back, as if to protect himself.
He was trying.
And surely he would fail at times, for every instinct trained into him taught him to guard himself first. He'd never learned how to reveal the secret depths of his heart.
But he'd thrown his lot in with Malloryn's forher.
He'd betrayed everything he'd ever known forher.
