Page 14 of You Only Love Twice
Ghost and Silas exchanged a glance.
"You are," Ghost finally said. "I want you to get me inside the tower."
"I'm working on it." He'd been patiently mapping the keep’s strengths and weaknesses for weeks now. The queen lived there, high in her gilded tower, thinking herself safe from the world.
Obsidian didn't truly care whether the queen lived or died, but the Master had given strict instructions.
The queen needed to die a bloody death.
London needed to burn.
And the Duke of Malloryn needed to watch it all happen.
"Then work harder," Ghost threatened. "I need a way inside the Ivory Tower before the queen's birthday ball."
"My apologies. It's not as though there are several legions of Coldrush Guards to avoid, a good legion of metaljacket automatons one mustn't wake, and a wall that's impossible to climb—even for me."
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"Would I dare?"
They stared at each other.Careful. Brother. Obsidian gave Ghost a thin, faintly edged smile. Frustration edged within him. Ghost ruled thedhampir. He always had, but ever since he and Dr. Richter managed to make a breakthrough with theelixir vitaeand learned to create newdhampir, Ghost had become insufferably demanding.
I am not one of your sycophantic underlings.And if you think I'm going to kiss your boots, then you should perhaps think again.
"It's that straight fuckin' face of his," Silas said, bursting into the silence as he slammed a hand down on Obsidian's shoulder, squeezing lightly in warning. "Can never tell when he's makin' mock, but Obsidian knows how important this is. He'll get us in. Ain't nowhere he can't get into if he's half a mind. You know that. Just needs time."
Ghost's eyes narrowed. "You're dismissed. You have three days to get inside the tower and out again. I need the transmitter placed at the very top. And I think you're overdue a visit to Dr. Richter. I'll have him schedule a reconditioning appointment for you."
"You're too kind. But I’ll need all my faculties for the task ahead of me." Visits to Dr. Richter's always helped ease the headaches that plagued him, but the cost was several days rest. Obsidian couldn't afford to lose consciousness for so long. Not with the target on Miss Townsend's back. He bowed his head as he stepped backward. "I'll work on the tower."
Ghost turned to Silas. "Send two of the new class after Miss Townsend. They have a week to deliver her body to Malloryn's doorstep. I want him distracted, his attention turned away from the tower, while we plan how to get at the queen."
"Consider it done," Silas replied.
"And how goes Project: Chameleon?" Ghost murmured under his breath to Silas, as Obsidian turned toward the narrow stairs that led from Undertown up to the streets of Bethnal Green.
His ears pricked up.
"You could say... it's been resurrected," Silas replied.
"Good. That should catch Malloryn's attention."
Even with his back turned, Obsidian could hear the smile in his brother's voice. Taking the stairs two at a time, he threw himself into the climb, his thoughts churning.
The situation with Miss Townsend wouldn't end with Ghost's defeat.
No matter how manydhampirObsidian killed, Ghost would keep sending them until she was dead, and it made the muscle in Obsidian's jaw tense.
She washis.
His target.
His to kill.
She'd betrayed him in Russia. He remembered that, though his memory was patchy. He also remembered the taste of her mouth, though he refused to think about those thoughts at all.
He needed to get this Gemma situation under control. Find out why he couldn't kill her. Find out why he couldn't stay away from her.
