Fuck. They’d been spotted.
Crack-thunk!
Heather screamed as the plaster next to her head exploded into dust.
Crack-thunk!
Jesus fuck, they’re shooting at us. Percy’s heart hiccoughed, and he reached out to Heather in an attempt to shield her.
“Don’t shoot, you fool!” the Earl of Hanley’s voice echoed. “She’s no good to me dead. Go to that building. We’ll cut them off on the ground.”
Percy urged Heather upward, guiding each step, even while his heart beat a tattoo against his ribs.
“It’ll be all right, Heather,” he soothed, calling up to her. “You’re doing so well.”
Christ, but her movements were stiff and trembling.
“Only a few more steps.”
She reached the roof’s edge, and she hesitated. “I-I don’t know if I can, Percy.”
Smoke billowed around them and burned his lungs, but with effort, he kept his voice steady. “Grip the edge with one hand and place your foot just there in that hole, then lift. I will position myself beneath you and give your bottom a push and help keep you steady.”
Heather hesitated again, but nodded. “I trust you.”
Following his directions, Heather pulled herself up as Percy pushed her arse. It was a decidedly lovely handful, but this was not the time to ruminate on it.
At last, she scrambled up the roof, and a part of Percy’s fear uncoiled.
He shadowed her movements, his muscles straining and a sweat breaking out across his brow. With one last heave, he pulled himself onto the roof.
“We made it,” Heather breathed.
Striding closer on careful footing, Percy gripped Heather’s hand in his. “Are you well, sweetheart?”
Her lips thinned, but she nodded again. “No, but I’m alive and with you, which is infinitely better than the alternative.”
Percy lifted a brow. “Not quite. We must still escape this fire and flee your affianced.”
“Very amusing, Percy,” she grumbled.
He flashed her a grin and started off along the rooftop, her hand still clutched in his. The farther they traversed, the clearer the air became. But danger followed them. The earl’s men were no doubt watching, waiting to strike the moment he and Heather attempted their descent.
So he urged her faster, racing along the row of weathered rooftops.
They were nearing the end when a loud crack rent the air, and the world fell out from beneath him.
Crack!…Thunk!
In the span of one thunderous beat of Heather’s heart, Percy was ripped from her grasp and gone in a cloud of dust and coal residue.
She skidded to a halt, her boots scraping along the roof slats. “Percy!”
There was a groan and a cough. “I’m well. The roof gave out.”
She waved a hand in the air in an attempt to better see down the hole.Blimey. “Come, I’ll help you up.”
There was a shuffle of movement, and motion in the shadows, but she could scarcely see at all through the darkness.
