Page 148 of The Viscount's Seduction
“And you also.”
“I’ll be gone.”
Bakeley took a step and Sirena gasped.
He froze.Damn.
“I can cut through the spine right here,” Donegal said. “You might carry her out, but she will not—”
Boom.
A gunshot rent the air. Dunchatel’s head spun around, bright blood streaking across his forehead. He stumbled, and in that instant the stall gate flew open, whirling Sirena back, knocking the barrel over and rolling it closer to the flaming fuse.
There was more pounding as one of their men beat at the back door of the stable.
Dunchatel struggled to his feet, heading for Sirena, knife in hand.
Bakeley roared and lunged at him, but dodged back when the terrified mare reared, her powerful hooves striking the air mere inches from him.
“The fuse,” Sirena shouted.
The knife slashed, and Bakeley dodged again, drawing the villain away from Sirena.
Kicking and twirling, the horse reared. Bakeley ducked, just in time, but a shod hoof glanced off Dunchatel’s head. The man lashed out blindly, missed, and Banshee struck him again, iron slicing the front of his face with a sickening crunch.
The mare squealed, terror and anger and the need for escape, filling the small space. Banshee’s eyes rolled while Dunchatel’s blood gushed, the scent of it mixing with the acrid odor of smoke.
And the fuse was still burning.
“There, my girl,” Bakeley edged past the flailing horse. “Sirena, your song,” he called.
“Shhhh.” She coughed and cleared her throat, and began to croon.
All four feet plopped and Banshee danced from foot to foot, head nodding up and down. As the mare calmed, Sirena’s song smoothed into a long soothing murmur.
“The fuse,” Shaldon reminded him.
The gate and Dunchatel’s body hid the fuse’s lit end. Bakeley slid sideways past the horse and the gate holding Sirena and stopped.
Blood streamed, snaked along the seams of the brick floor, and reached the burning fuse before him, snuffing it out. He bent toward the barrel, and a hand clamped on his arm.
“Don’t touch it, son.” Shaldon emptied a bucket of water over everything.
Bansheetap-tappedon the brick floor, her nerves all ajumble, just like the humans around her. Sirena pulled up a lullaby and crooned, smoothing out the panic, settling the fear.
She couldn’t see a thing, all smashed tight as she was, but aye, from the way the men tiptoed and the hushed stillness around them, Banshee knew, and so did Sirena. Death had paid them a visit.
Someone came up behind her.
“Keep singing, love.”
Her heart lifted and began to fill. She held still while Bakeley sawed at her ropes, and she sang. Banshee settled more, taking a step back, and then another, into the stall, and she sang. Not calm yet. ’Twould be a long while until either of them truly calmed down.
The ropes slipped away and she fell back into her husband’s arms. “You came for me.”
“Shhh.” He pushed the stall gate, walking her forward, walking Banshee back and closing the gate.
Two other men entered the stable, a liveried footman and a well-dressed man who must be another one of her new father’s spies.
