Page 139 of Dukes Are Forever
He paused. "As you wish."
Adele sighed. "Give me twenty minutes to wash up."
* * *
Slipping into a clean gown,undergarments and boots, Adele pushed open the door to the bedroom, her skin all soft and dewy with the heat of her bath water. She'd cleaned up as best she could, but she could still feel the ache of his possession on her body.
He'd set his walls back into place the second they'd finished, but she'd seen the look in his eyes.
What was it going to take to break through those walls?
Patience, she told herself.
She was getting to him.
She just had to continue pushing.
The moment Adele set the lantern on the dresser in her room, she turned, lifting her hands to her damp hair to pin it. Malloryn would be waiting for her. Her shadow stretched out in front of her, growing rapid wings that seemed to swallow her whole.
She suffered a moment of confusion, before realizing the shadow was too big to be hers.
Adele half-turned, but it was too late.
A hand slammed over her face, wet linen smothering her mouth and nose. She tried to cry out, but the familiar scent of ether swam through her head. It was like déjà vu. Her wedding day happening all over again. Chemical crawled down her throat, its choking fingers slipping lassitude through her veins.
Lifting a foot, she stomped on her attacker's instep as Gemma had taught her, but the world started spinning. All she could do was lash out, hoping to grab something, anything, off the dresser….
Malloryn!
"Sorry, cherub," whispered a familiar voice, as the world started going dark around her. "But you picked the wrong side."
* * *
A thunk sounded above him.
Malloryn lifted his head as he set the sticky glass on the drinks table, and stilled. Heart suddenly beating faster, his hearing intensified as he focused outward.
All he could hear was the slow, steady shuffle of the butler moving about the house and throwing the locks. The tick of the enormous clock in the front hall. A carriage clattering past in the streets outside.
Where was she? She said she'd be twenty minutes.
Climbing the stairs, he set out toward her bedchamber.
Moonlight streamed through the windows ahead, painted in a grid across the runner. The curtains fluttered in the breeze—
The curtains fluttered.
Time suddenly slowed around him. He reached for the knife up his sleeve, but the hollow retort of a dartgun firing stole his attention.
Too late.
Malloryn froze as he reached down to touch the dart embedded in his chest. A tremor of shock ran through him, slow creeping numbness stealing through his fingers. Not Black Vein, thank God.
Hemlock.
He'd been hemlocked.
"Adele!" He staggered sideways, slamming into the wall.
