Page 102 of Duke of Bronze
But the man beside her was no duke.
He wore a gold mask. And a smile that chilled her blood. His grip on her wrist tightened.
"Let go," she said, trying to wrench free. "Let go of me."
"Oh, our lady is trying to flee so soon?" another voice joined, slick and amused.
A second man appeared, flanking her other side.
Then a third.
"What are we doing wrong for such a pretty little thing to run from us?" said the third, his leer unmistakable, even through the mask.
Panic flared in Anna's chest.
She tried again to yank her wrist free, but the man only tightened his grip, his fingers digging cruelly into her skin.
"Don't touch me," she hissed, her voice trembling now.
The first man leaned closer, his breath fanning her cheek as he toyed with a lock of her hair.
The other two seized her shoulders, pinning her in place.
She gasped. Terror surged.
Then—
A roar split the night.
"Unhand her."
A figure in a silver mask stormed through the crowd. Colin.
He reached them in an instant and shoved the first man away with a force that sent him staggering.
Anna stumbled back, clutching her throbbing wrist, breath coming in sharp bursts. Colin turned, eyes burning, and raised a fist?—
"Colin," she said quickly, touching his arm.
He halted, barely restrained.
They were already attracting too much attention, and though the masks shielded their identities, she could feel the eyes.
The three cowards, thoroughly rattled, stumbled away into the crowd like vermin exposed to light.
Colin turned to her, his voice tight. "We should leave."
"I'm all right," Anna managed. Her voice shook, but she steadied it. "I don't wish to leave. Not yet."
He looked around, scanning the shadows.
"It doesn't feel safe any longer," he said. "When people are masked, they begin to believe they can become the devil himself and get away with it."
Anna looked up at him, her own heart still racing from the ordeal, but his presence, solid and steady beside her, calmed the worst of the tremors.
"You're here now," she said gently. "It's safe. I feel safe, Colin."
And the moment she spoke those words, she knew them to be true. From the very beginning—whether she'd been scowling at him across a parlor or laughing beside him on a carriage ride—Colin had always, inexplicably, made her feel secure. Shielded. Known.
