Page 129 of Heart of Iron
The world was beginning to intrude.Shouting and screams.Footsteps pounding through the corridor outside.
“We have to get going,” Lena said, taking Rosalind by the sleeve and looking up at him.“If they find us here over the body, they’ll kill us.He’s a duke.Nobody can know what happened here.”
A violent quiver went through Will’s body.His eyelids lowered, a lazy, dangerous look at Rosalind that sent Lena’s heart into a paroxysm.“If it weren’t for you, he couldn’t a grabbed her.”
Rosalind bent low, snatching something off the ground.Grabbing Lena around the waist, she hauled her back into her body, shoving the pistol under her chin.The muzzle bit into her soft skin and Lena froze.
“Don’t move,” Lena warned him.“She’s got the same bullets you were making for me.”
“Firebolts.Take off an arm or worse,” Rosalind snapped.
“Let me go.”
“And have him tear my head off?”Rosalind snarled.“Not bloody likely.”
“He won’t hurt you,” Lena said, catching and holding his gaze.“I give you my word that he won’t hurt you.”
“I’ll give her to you,” Rosalind said.“But if you make one move toward me, I’ll shoot her first.I swear.”
Lena staggered into his arms as Rosalind shoved her in the small of her back.She barely had time to think before Will pushed her behind him, using his own body to protect hers.
“Will!”She snatched at his coat, wrapping her arms around his waist.“I promised her you wouldn’t hurt her.”
“But I didn’t,” he whispered.“This is twice you’ve threatened her life—”
“I saved it once,” Rosalind replied, pointing the pistol straight at his chest.She licked her lips.“That counts, doesn’t it?”
“Barely.You wanted to kill Colchester more than you wanted to save Lena.”
“I’m a practical woman.Two boons for the price of one.”
“You ever come near her again and I swear I’ll rip your head off.”
The pistol lowered a fraction.Rosalind clapped a hand over the wound in her side, bending over a little.“I promise.She’ll never see me again.”A faint grimace.“I have certain things to put in order, it seems.”
“How are you going to get out of here?”Lena asked.“Without the guards seeing?”
“Same way I came in.”Rosalind crossed to the bookshelf Colchester had half torn from the wall.She swung it open, revealing a hidden staircase.“The whole place is riddled with tunnels.We stole the schematics months ago.Come.”She gave Will a wary nod.“I’ll get you out without anyone seeing.We can part ways at the bottom.That makes me even, no?”
Lena rubbed the small of his back, coming out from behind him.“Will?”They had to get out of here without anyone seeing them.
He nodded to Rosalind.“You go first.Where I can see you.”
Twenty-eight
Opening the door to Leo’s steam carriage, Will helped Lena into it.Violent shivers shook her body and her eyes were distant.When he’d asked her what was wrong, she’d tried to summon a smile and a shrug.Before he could chase her thoughts down, Blade and Honoria appeared.
Blade and Leo had gotten Honoria out, then Leo had gone back in to help.Smoke poured from the building and the tower guards were frantically trying to assert control.
Time to get out of here.Before people started pointing fingers.
Blade helped Honoria into their own carriage.There was barely room for two more and Will wanted to be alone with Lena for a moment.He hadn’t had a single chance since the explosion, and the urge to drag her into his arms, to make sure she was all right, was driving him out of his mind.
Giving swift instructions to the driver, he eased into the carriage and shut the door.It lurched into motion, cutting out of the queue and into the streets.Will jerked the blind closed.
Lena blinked, finally coming out of her reverie.“You do realize this is Leo’s carriage?”
“The walk’ll do him good,” he replied, pushing aside her skirts and easing onto the seat beside her.“Lena.”A hesitation.“Are you all right?”
