Page 144 of Dukes Are Forever
No time to think. The flames had almost reached the first of the barrels and the second they went up there'd be nothing on this earth that could stop the tower from burning to the ground.
Malloryn drove into Adele, his arm locking around her waist as they plunged toward the open clock face. The pulley mechanism that opened and closed it flashed past his eyes, and at the last second he grabbed hold of it, the two of them swinging out into the open—
Not a second too soon.
The entire top of the tower exploded.
Heat seared his back, burning straight through his coat. Then he was falling as the pulley's rope suddenly cut off, Adele screaming in his arms, her hands bound behind her back. The ground flashed up toward them, and Malloryn stuck his feet out—
He hit, the impact jarring through his left ankle and flipping him forward. Somehow he bore the brunt of it with his shoulder, pain screaming through him as the joint popped from its socket. Adele slammed against him, and then they were rolling head over heels until they finally came to a stop.
He could barely move. Barely lift his head off the cobblestones. His ankle and shoulder were on fire. But Adele gasped in a sob, and somehow he managed to scramble across to where she lay, his useless arm hanging in its sleeve.
Once again his vision turned to shadows as the heat of the craving swept through him. Safe. She was safe. He'd never wanted to kiss her so much in his life.
"You saved me," she sobbed.
"I've got you," he gasped as he tore the ropes from her wrists.
Malloryn yanked the hood off her face with one hand—
—and stared directly into the terrified eyes of Mrs. Danner as she threw her arms around him.
Chapter 28
His heart jacked through his chest, kicking behind his ribs as Malloryn caught Giulia's arm. He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.Giulia....What was she doing here? What was—? Where was Adele?
"You came for me," Giulia gasped, bursting into tears.
And that was when he knew how Balfour had played him.
Suddenly he could move again, pushing her away from him. No.No, not this. Anything but this.
Somehow Malloryn staggered to his feet, aware that dozens of Coldrush Guards were streaming from the Ivory Tower, watching as Crowe Tower burned. He felt weightless. Distant from his body. Unerringly, his head turned toward the east, toward the opera house where he'd first met Giulia.
The opera house, where he'd sent Byrnes and Ingrid to rescue the soprano at his feet.
And as he watched, an enormous mushroom cloud of fire suddenly bloomed into the sky.
* * *
Adele wriggled in her ropes.
She couldn't see a damned thing, and there was a hood over her face. First thing first. Using her teeth and her shoulder, she managed to get hold of the edge of the hood and then painstakingly drag it off her head. It hit the floor beside her, and Adele took her first blessedly cool breath of air even as light blinded her.
Where on earth was she? As her eyes slowly adjusted, she took in the stage around her, the red velvet curtains—and the spotlight shining directly upon her.
"Hello?" she called.
Adele began to notice the elegant chairs and the sumptuous carpets. She'd been here. Many a time. The opera. She was tied to a chair on the opera stage.
"Devoncourt?" she yelled, and her voice echoed through the room.
That rat bastard.
He'd kidnapped her, and tied her here and—
There were half a dozen barrels all around her, marked ominously with painted green flames, but no sign of anyone else. Clearly, nobody expected her to escape, and the barrels.... There was a good reason she might be here alone.
