Page 167 of Dukes Are Forever
Malloryn had been pretending to laugh at something the Duchess of Casavian said, but he turned to her sharply. "Who?"
"The Rising Sons," she said through her teeth. "I can't see any of them anymore."
He raked the crowd with his gaze and reached up, very slowly, to tug at his earlobe. Several Nighthawks noticed Malloryn's signal and straightened.
The enormous clock began to chime midnight, sending a portentous shiver down Adele's spine.
Its peal rang slowly;one, two, three, four, five—
"If we could charge our glasses?" Barrons called.
A choreographed wave of glassware glittered in front of her. She couldn't help looking for a malevolent stare, but all she could see was the flash of gleaming white teeth. No Rising Sons anywhere.
"Malloryn," she whispered sharply.
"To her Majesty, Queen Alexandra!"
—six, seven, eight, nine—
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
It sounded like fireworks, but they weren't scheduled yet, were they? There was supposed to be some grand conflagration just before dawn to herald the rising of the sun in some sort of symbolic gesture.
Every guest in front of her froze.
Malloryn's hand locked around her upper arm, prepared to haul her to safety if need be. "That." Malloryn clasped the hilt of the sword sheathed at his hip with his other hand. "He's been waiting for that."
"What the hell is going on?"
"We're under attack," he replied grimly, pressing a finger to the earpiece in his ear. "Ava? Jack? What have you got for me?"
Another explosion ricocheted through the night, and this time it felt as though it detonated nearby. The entire tower seemed to shudder.
Adele screamed as a chunk of the roof crashed down, sending a pair of debutantes sprawling. Lords and ladies fled the center of the dance floor in a panic of silk and velvet.
Plaster dust rained down, painting Malloryn's coppery hair white. He looked up, tensing as he listened to the information clearly relayed through his earpiece.
Another explosion rattled the tower. Adele staggered into him.
"Where is that coming from?"
"Protect the queen!" he bellowed, shoving her behind him into the waiting arms of Gemma and Ingrid.
The cacophony of sound continued.
Another detonation shattered every window along the north side of the ballroom. Glass spewed into the ballroom. Screams filled the air.
"Sound the alarms!" Malloryn bellowed, for the sake of the crowd. "And find out where that noise is coming from! Someone's setting off explosives."
"Where's the source?" Gemma demanded as she put herself bodily between Adele and the crowd, her pistol held low, hidden in the folds of her diaphanous skirts.
"I don't know yet," he snarled. "Clear the room!"
Several guards surrounded her, forming a bodily mass. The rest started pushing the frightened guests through the doors. Until they could work out where the explosions were coming from, there was no point fleeing.
