Page 88 of Dukes Are Forever
"I can barely fucking see it."
"Reach through the door and see if you can depress the sun symbol," Lark hissed.
Charlie did, groping in the darkness. Instantly, the fireplace ground to a halt.
The glimmer ball was fading into darkness as Lark hastily returned everything to its right place. She shoved the drawer shut and locked it.
"How strong are you?" Gemma asked.
Charlie threw his shoulder against the fireplace, and it creaked wider. One inch. Two. The strain was immense.
"Can you fit?" he gasped.
Gemma tried to wedge herself through. "Half of me."
It was the top half causing her trouble.
He jammed his boots against the fireplace as it strained to close, forcing the gap to widen. Gemma vanished into the main study.
"Lark!"
His fiancée dashed toward him, sliding between his legs and through the narrowing gap. Charlie threw himself clear and the fireplace groaned as it closed with a hollow, resolutethump.
Lights were flickering on in the house as Gemma slipped out the window. Footsteps hurried up the stairs. He snatched a gold paperweight off the desk and shoved everything else to the floor, to make it look like they'd been ransacking the main study.
"Just like old times," Lark said, flashing him a grin as she followed Gemma.
Just before the study door flung open, Charlie threw himself through the window, hitting the ground and rolling.
Dogs set up barking.
The window sash slammed up and someone shoved their head through the opening. "Stop! Thieves!"
But the three of them were well away.
* * *
"Let go of me!"Adele cried, trying to kick Corvus in the shins as he hauled her through a narrow passage hidden behind a veil of ivy, and into the dark.
He'd stripped her hemlock ring from her finger and found the small knife she had hidden up her sleeve.
Without them, Adele was as good as defenseless.
"You don't want to cross my husband! He knows I'm here. I told him I was going to come and if I don't return home—"
"You think Malloryn gives a damn about you?" Corvus snarled, shoving her up a flight of stairs. "You're a means to an end, Adele. And you'll be returned to your nice, safe warm bed in the end. A pity it won't be in one piece."
She tried to dart under his arm, but he slammed a palm straight into her chest. The blow winded her, and then a hand closed around her upper arm and she was dragged up the rest of the stairs and thrown through a small door.
Every inch of her ached as the door slammed behind her.
She couldn't breathe. Couldn't escape the clasp of her corset around bruised ribs. But somehow, the sound of that lock clicking shut sent a chill down her spine, and she forced herself to scramble onto her knees and turn to face her worst nightmare.
Corvus's cloak flared around his boots as he stalked toward her.
"Did you think you'd escape me forever?" he demanded. "Did you think Malloryn was the answer to your prayers? I'm a patient man, you little slut. No one has ever drawn my blood before, and I'll be damned if you think you can get away with it."
"He'll kill you," she rasped as he slammed her back into the desk. "Malloryn will not let this stand!"
