Page 155 of You Only Love Twice
Obsidian tilted his head toward her.
"I made my choice the second I kidnapped her. A part of me knew any potential future with my brethren was dwindling. It's always going to be Gemma. And if she is with you, then so am I."
It stole her breath.
Obsidian turned his icy gaze upon the duke. "But you should know, there are people on my side I will not stand against or betray. And I don't take orders well."
"Does it seem as if any of these damned fools take orders well?"
"We listen when it suits us, Your Grace," Byrnes said.
Malloryn ignored him. Standard procedure for dealing with Byrnes. "Come. I want to know everything you know. We need to prepare you for the council meeting."
"Welcome to the Company of Rogues," Charlie said, slapping a hand on his back. "This is really going to upset the ranking."
Obsidian shot him a dangerous look. "Touch me again and you’ll lose that hand."
Charlie instinctively hauled it to his chest, his face paling.
"I was jesting," Obsidian said, allowing the faintest of smiles to touch his mouth.
He crossed to her side and offered her his arm, amusement warming his gray eyes.
"Do you think he’s really kidding?" Charlie muttered, behind them.
Gemma let out a breath of relief. Oh, he’d fit right in. Eventually.
"According to Gemma, you're a sugarplum, Charlie," Obsidian called over his shoulder. "If I hurt you, Gemma's going to break my fingers. You're safe."
"What?" Charlie sounded aggrieved. "Gemma!"
"Your manhood's still intact," she said, rolling her eyes.
"A sugarplum?" Kincaid snickered with malicious delight. "That's brilliant."
"I wouldn't laugh too loudly," Obsidian said. "Unless you want me to repeat what she said about you?"
Kincaid shut up rather abruptly.
"That was somewhat wicked of you," she whispered, and then reached up to brush her lips against Obsidian's cheek. "Thank you."
"For being wicked?"
"For being mine," she replied, and turned her mouth to his to kiss him, right in front of everybody.
* * *
"We callit the neural control implant," Obsidian said, staring defiantly back at the seven council members who watched him like hawks. "It was initially developed in Russia, and modified for Lord Balfour's purposes here."
He stood just inside the brass ring set into the floor of the atrium, facing the dais. The atrium was perfectly rounded, columns circling the room. Light spilled through a stained glass window hanging over the dais, casting a luminescent sort of haze over the queen.
A gown of yellow silk draped her small figure, the golden diadem of the realm upon her brow. Eyes the color of warm whiskey locked on him, and her smooth cheeks held no expression. Tension lingered in the way she gripped the arms of her throne, and when she glanced at the ruined remains of the door, he knew why.
He'd barely caught a glimpse of her when Gemma tried to kill her. Merely a crowd of Coldrush Guards settling into place like a shield wall of blue blood bodies around her.
But she'd remember.
"It's a derivative of the device the Blood Court use to control their serfs in Russia. The Russians call ittsep' razuma—a chain of the mind—and it was created nearly twenty years ago following the Serf Rebellion. It keeps them docile and forces them to bow to the whims of their blue blood masters. There have been no uprisings since."
