Page 68 of You Only Love Twice
A thoughtful look came into his eyes, and then he grabbed her by the back of the head and kissed her. Hard. Brutal. Goodbye.
Letting her go, he took a step away from her, shooting Malloryn one last look, and then he was gone, stepping off the rooftop into the streets below and vanishing into the shadows of the night.
Gemma sank to her knees.
For the second time in her life, she'd betrayed Malloryn for the sake of her wretched heart.
Chapter 15
At least Malloryn waited until they were home.
"Nearly there, Gem," Ingrid murmured, helping her up the stairs toward the main entrance of the safe house.
Malloryn strode toward the front door as if he could barely look at her. He'd ridden in front with Herbert on the way home and spoken not a word to her. Tension vibrated through his lean form. A storm brewed within him, despite the cold look on his face, and Gemma couldn't stop herself from glancing at him to gauge the full effect of his fury.
A tropical cyclone, she decided. Ready to burst from his skin the second she opened her mouth.
"We'reincredibly pleased you're back." Ingrid squeezed her hand, and Gemma was suddenly grateful for her tall verwulfen friend.
"Speak for yourself," Byrnes called. "At least my blud-wein collection's been safe from a certain blud-wein thief. I haven't missed you at all."
Ingrid swung a lazy punch in his direction, but he avoided it with a laugh. Gemma mock scowled at him, but his joking eased the knot of tension within her.
She couldn't quite manage a smile in return, though she tried. "Thank you."
Byrnes squeezed her shoulder.
Ava burst through the front door in a flurry of lace. The young scientist had been forced to stay behind, but she scurried down the steps and threw her arms around Gemma. "Oh, my goodness! You're alive."
And there was the welcome she needed. Gemma lost herself in Ava's embrace, squeezing hard to try and choke down the urge to cry.
So much had happened in the space of a few days. Obsidian, alive. The Chameleon, also alive. A threat to the queen. Her heart, ripped clean out of her chest, as she came face-to-face with the ghosts of the past and realized there was so much more to it than what she'd thought.
It was easy to lock her heart away when she'd told herself the man she loved had shot her without remorse. Easy to tell herself none of it had been real.He played you. He was an enemy spy who pulled the wool over your eyes.
Except now there was a whisper of doubt in her mind.
Obsidian could barely remember the past.
He certainly couldn't explain what had happened.
Or why.
He had barely any recollection of shooting her, only the aftermath. It was as though he'd pulled the trigger, and came back to himself just in time to watch her fall.
This is not the first time this has happened,said the assassin-trained part of her mind that never stopped thinking.
Gemma no longer knew what was real, and what was not.
Whatever she'd felt for Obsidian, those feelings clearly lingered. She'd thrown herself between him and Malloryn without a hesitation.
But could she trust those feelings?
Could she trusthim?
Her heart was a mess, and her thoughts didn't help.
"Come on," Ava said, drawing back from her embrace. "You look like you could use a hot bath and a glass of blud-wein."
