Page 66 of You Only Love Twice
It nicked Obsidian's forearm, but she could see his own knife lifting—
Gemma threw herself into him, slamming him back against the wall before he could bring it down into Charlie's unprotected back. A shadow rippled at the edge of her vision. Byrnes flipping into the room right on Charlie's heels.
"Gemma." Obsidian sounded shocked as she slammed his knife hand against the wall.
"They're my friends!"
She saw the realization creep over his face, as if he knew what she was saying.You're choosing them. His gray eyes shuttered, locking down tight on the swift gleam of betrayal.
But that was not what she was saying at all.
Obsidian shoved her away from him, and Gemma went down, sprawling across the mattress in a spill of skirts.
Charlie yelled, and Gemma arched her spine, then flipped to her feet, catching her heel under the bloody hem of her skirt. Damn her skirts. She needed her leather working breeches right now.
Working in unison, Charlie and Byrnes circled Obsidian, darting in at the same time to force him to split his attention. Byrnes's blade lashed out, and dark blood spattered across the white walls. She saw the frustration on Obsidian's face as he jumped back, Charlie's razor whistling through the air where his abdomen had been. He slammed a hand down on Charlie's wrist, and then spun shockingly fast, his boot driving Charlie into the wall with a crack of plaster.
"Oof." Charlie fell to his knees.
Gemma's ears were ringing. He hadn't used the knife. She didn't know what that meant.
But her side had no such compunctions.
"You all right, Charlie?" With his back to her, Byrnes feinted in, spinning in a whirl to avoid Obsidian's counterstrike, light gleaming off his blade—
Leaping off the bed, Gemma caught the heavy beam of the rafter, and swung her legs up, hammering her heels into Byrnes's back. He slammed against the wall, pushing off it in surprise when he saw her drop to the floor with the knife clutched in her hand.
"Don't kill him!" she yelled, but footsteps were pounding up the stairs. Reinforcements.
Obsidian shot her one last unreadable look, and then he bolted toward the window and leaped through it.
"Gem?" Charlie panted, pushing to his feet. "You okay?"
She was fine. But she knew how Malloryn worked.
He of all people knew what he faced. Charlie and Byrnes were the distraction.
Sprinting toward the window, Gemma slammed her boot on the sill, and jumped through the open hole, her fist clenching around Obsidian's knife.
Gravity caught her in its hold, and her skirts whistled up around her breasts as she plunged toward the sharply sloping rooftop below her. Gemma landed with a jolt that nearly flipped her forward, but she adjusted swiftly, skating down the slick tiles. A pair of gargoyles leered at the bottom of the gutter, and Obsidian paused there, his head whipping toward her, and then turning to lock on one of the gargoyles.
Time slowed down, almost as if she moved through thick treacle.
Malloryn ducked out from behind the statue, lifting an electrode-stimulating gun. She barely had a chance to cry warning. The arrowhead hissed from it as he pulled the trigger, the sharp prong sinking into Obsidian's chest.
Current arced along the thin metal chain attached to the end of the arrowhead, and Obsidian's body jerked as Malloryn ruthlessly shocked him. Obsidian's feet went out from under him, his back slamming to the tiles and a spark flashing as his knife flew from his hand. Moving lethally, Malloryn reached into his coat to draw his second pistol, and Gemma could see it all unfold in a flash.
He'd be packing the armor-piercing bullets the Falcons had used, or one of the chemical Firebolt bullets that exploded on impact.
"No!" Gemma screamed, flipping the perfectly balanced blade of Obsidian's knife into her fingers, and then flinging it with all her might as she rode the tiles toward them.
Silver flashed, winking in the gaslight from the streets.
As Malloryn drew the pistol in one smooth motion, her knife slammed into it, flinging it from his grip.
And then she was there, crouched over Obsidian protectively as Malloryn whipped his second pistol out.
It locked upon her, the duke's mouth falling open in shock. "Gemma?"
