Page 86 of You Only Love Twice
Gone.
She'd actually done it.
Fled from this wedding, made him a laughingstock....
Malloryn headed for the stairs, taking them briskly. "Fetch Byrnes and Gemma. I swear I'm going tothrashAdele when I get my hands on her."
* * *
Malloryn prowled Adele's bedchambers,tossing aside pillows and books as if that would provide some clue as to his missing bride.
Time to tread carefully, judging by the expression on his face. Gemma examined the room. Curtains blowing in the faint breeze, the sill all the way up. No signs of a struggle.
Malloryn finally gave up, scraping a hand over his mouth. "I don't understand. Surely she would have left a letter behind to explain her actions. And shewantedto get married."
Gemma crossed to the open window, kneeling to examine the latch. A tiny chip of paint was missing, but if someone had broken in, then they were an expert.
"You swear you heard nothing?" he asked Ingrid.
"I arrived a minute or two after you left, according to the guard I replaced," Ingrid admitted. "I didn't hear a thing."
"How the hell did she escape? She was wearing her damned wedding dress. The thing must have weighed half a ton." Malloryn spun toward the door. "Where's the guard you replaced? Where's her sister? If Adele was going to run, then she may have confided in the girl. What was her name? Harriet?"
A tiny thread of pale pink was caught on the sill. Gemma tugged the piece of silk free and straightened. "Malloryn."
He turned abruptly, moments away from striding through the door.
"She went through the window." Gemma held the silk strand up.
Byrnes arrived, entering the room like a bleak, black-clad incongruity among all the pink wallpaper. The thick overcast clouds and fog outside meant he could move about during the day, but he was limited to the inside of the house. Sunlight burned his skin these days.
Ava scurried in behind him, whispering in Malloryn's ear. "I questioned her sister and mother, but neither of them knows anything. The sister's upset. She swore Adele would never run. She wouldn't tell me why she was so certain, but she stressed the fact Adele needed to be married."
"What's that smell?" Byrnes asked, exchanging glances with Ingrid and rubbing his nose.
"I can't smell a damned thing," Ingrid admitted. "Gemma?"
She shook her head, but focused on Byrnes. "Your senses are stronger than either of ours. What do you think it is? All I'm getting is perfume."
"It's... something chemical." His nose screwed up as he stalked the room, trying to track the scent. "I recognize it from somewhere, though I'm not certain where."
Malloryn watched him like a hawk. "Concentrate, Byrnes."
"It's ether," said Ava, taking a slow sniff. "I use it myself sometimes when I assist Dr. Gibson at the Nighthawks Guild. It's quite familiar to me."
Everyone in the room grew still.
"Ether?" Malloryn repeated, his face tight and feral. "Why would Adele's room smell like ether?"
Gemma's heart dropped through her abdomen as everything became ruthlessly clear. "Oh, no."
"Oh, no?" Malloryn's gaze cut to hers.
"It was never the queen he was after today." Perhaps the Chameleon knew he couldn't get to the real target today with all the security, but there'd been hardly anyone watching the bride. "He's taken Adele in her place."
Just to prove he could.
Malloryn's face paled as he strode for the door. "Alert the guards. Search the house. I want everyone out in the gardens looking for him. I'll alert Barrons and leave him to sort the queen's contingent out. He can keep her safe."
