Page 178 of You Only Love Twice
"It's like watching Balfour put his pistol to Catherine's temple and pull the trigger, all over again." Ghost mused. "She looks so like Catherine, doesn't she? That's why she was chosen, Malloryn. Sent to kill you, so you'd be the one to put a bullet in her heart. But ah, alas, it was not to be. The little turncoat somehow wrangled her way out of certain death. Or was that you, granting her mercy? She means a lot to you, doesn't she? I suggest you put the gun down. Because while you could kill me, you'll never save her."
The goddamned bastard!Her life was worth more than a means to slight Malloryn.
Gemma's heart fluttered, like a flock of birds taking flight."Don't,"she mouthed at the duke.
The second he dropped his weapon he was vulnerable.
Malloryn remained frozen, his dartgun trained upon them.
"I won't ask again," Ghost spat, and dug the knife in hard enough to cut.
Gemma cried out as blood welled and ran down beneath her corset. It was meant to stop a blow and deflect the edge of a knife. Not to prevent her from being stabbed.
"All right," the duke said softly, bending to place his dartgun on the wire mesh of the bridge.
"Kick it over the edge."
His gaze met hers, as if Malloryn was trying to tell her something.
Then Malloryn kicked his pistol away.
At his feet, Dido slowly crawled to her hands and knees, shooting the duke a merciless look.
"Gemma," Obsidian called in a low voice. "Remember how I took you down in the tower?"
What the hell did he—?She suddenly froze. The shock collar around her throat.
"Do it," she said, reaching up and grabbing Ghost's arm.
Obsidian must have pressed the control device, for current suddenly arced through her.
Gemma screamed, her body jerking and kicking back as Ghost was flung away from her. She hit the mesh, panting hard and the stink of something burning filling her nostrils. Every inch of her body felt like it had been hit with a metal pipe, and her heart gave an erratic squeeze.
She could hear fists striking flesh and someone grunting in the distance, but Obsidian leapt past her.
He kicked Ghost in the ribs as thedhampircrawled to his knees, flinging him onto his back.
"This is for Gemma," he said coldly, and drove his knife directly into Ghost's heart.
* * *
Blood splashedhis face when Obsidian came for her.
"Are you all right?" he demanded, helping her to her feet.
Gemma fell into his arms, wincing as her burned hands came into contact with his chest. They'd heal. Indeed, she could already feel them tingling as the craving virus sought to regenerate her tortured flesh. Her throat was practically on fire. "I'm alive. That's all… that counts. I presume Ghost is no longer with us?"
Obsidian shuddered, wrapping his arms carefully around her and gently pressing her face to his chest. "No. I cut his heart out of his chest."
"We did it."
And they'd both survived.
"I thought I'd lost you," she blurted.
"I thought I'd left you here to die." Obsidian's voice shook as he cupped her face in both hands and kissed her.
She hadn't dared think of the alternative—of what it might be like to truly lose him for good. There hadn't been time.
