Page 50 of You Only Love Twice
"His neural implant was malfunctioning. It was only a matter of time before it killed him, and they found it. He needed to die." Silas swung his legs over the edge of the tower. "How would you do it?"
Obsidian shot him a sharp look.
"How would you kill the queen?"
He stared at the tower, considering his skill set. "The tower's impenetrable."
"Not for you. You can get inside any building."
"Even for me. I've spent weeks testing its weaknesses. The guard’s rounds are too irregular, the walls too steep. And the queen's personal chambers are at the very pinnacle. Getting to her means going through an entire tower’s worth of defenses. You could fly over it in a dirigible and come in from the top, but they've mounted cannons on the wall to counter airships.
"If I wanted to kill the queen, I wouldn't enter the tower at all," he mused. "I'd wait until she left it."
Silas made a frustrated sound. "She's holed up tighter than a nun's britches, what with them riots in the streets."
"Malloryn's wedding gives us a chance. She won't miss that."
"Imagine Malloryn's face if the queen died under his watch. Hell of a weddin' gift." Silas gave an evil smile. "Compliments of Balfour."
Obsidian nodded, pacing in front of the open tower as he cracked his knuckles. "It could work. She’ll have to take a steam-carriage through the streets, which makes her vulnerable. Then there’s the wedding venue itself. The Hamilton’s house is nowhere near as well-protected as Malloryn’s manor."
He felt eyes watching him.
"What's troublin' you, mate?" Silas finally asked.
I have one of Malloryn's spies locked up in the Duke of Vickers's abandoned manor, and I can't kill her.
And then... there was her story.
She was an enemy spy.
She tried to kill you.
The faint echo of pain whispered through his head.
I thought what we shared in Russia was real….
"Do you ever wonder if Ghost has ever lied to you?"
Silas stiffened. "You're asking dangerous questions."
"We swore an oath," he said quietly, dragging out an old milk crate and sinking onto it. "Brothers by blood. Forged in Falkirk. And then he sent the Wraith to kill Zero when she betrayed him. I... I didn't realize until it was too late."
He could still see her face sometimes. Begging him for mercy as he injected her with Black Vein and held her while she died.
"Zero would have killedus."
"Do you think so?" He clasped his hands between his knees. "All she ever wanted was revenge upon the people who hurt her and threw her in Falkirk. He gave the order to kill her, Silas. He didn't give a damn about her. He used me to do it."
Indeed, Ghost's last words had been,"She's served her purpose. Put her out of her misery."
As if Zero's abilities were the only value she had for him.
"She was mad as hatters, damn it." Silas pushed to his feet. "Bloody hell. We can't talk about this."
"Why not?"
Silas raked a hand through his hair. "Because Ghost'llkill usif he ever catches wind of it."
