“I don’t want to fail anymore.”
A wicked smile cut through Nicolas’s face, and his eyes dropped to where her hand still rested on the grip of her gun. “Then you won’t have a problem getting rid of your obstacle.”
Jade’s brow furrowed. The same shouting deep in her mind tried to break through, making her realize she didn’t like this idea. She didn’t want anything to happen to Theo, but it seemed to extend from something more than simply not wanting his blood on her hands.
“He will only continue to bring you down,” Nicolas whispered, his fingers trailing from her chin to her neck and then her shoulder. “Kill him now, and you won’t have to worry about him standing in your way any longer.”
She followed his command, raising the gun to Theo’s chest, no thoughts in her head but Nicolas’s.
“Jade!” Theo cried as she took aim.
Nicolas whipped his head toward Theo. “Silence!”
For a moment, Jade knew she shouldn’t do this, and her hand holding the gun started to drop. But Nicolas brought his attention back to her and the thought vanished.
“You are a member of the military, and as such, you are loyal to the true line of succession. You are loyal to me.” Nicolas’s murmur hummed in her mind. “As a captain in the military of the kingdom of Marran, you are duty-bound to protect the heir.Iam that heir, Jade. There’s no denying it. No matter what, you serve me.”
Again, he spoke the truth. Jade lifted the gun again and steadied her hand. She pointed it squarely at Theo’s chest.
“That’s it,” Nicolas purred close to her ear. “If you want to be queen, he cannot live. I am all you need, Jade.”
All she needed. She would be queen. She would rule.
“Let her go!” Theo’s strained cry grabbed their attention. “He’s in your head, Jade!”
What did he mean? It didn’t make sense.
“Do it!” Nicolas roared.
Jade squeezed the trigger almost automatically, but at the same moment, she understood what Theo had tried to tell her. She jerked the gun to the side as the bullet left the barrel, flying toward Theo and striking him in his shoulder instead of his chest. He fell to the floor with a scream of pain.
The sound shattered the control Nicolas had regained on Jade. Until he returned his focus to Theo, and then Jade’s own mind came back to her, like he had trouble holding both of them at the same time. But he could do it, more than she’d ever heard of a sorcerer to be capable. All of this was coming straight from him. She was no match for his magic.
Jade turned on Nicolas and pressed the gun against his heart.
A fogginess settled on her mind. She could identify it now at least, but it was still a challenge to overcome. Which meant she couldn’t let him live. As long as he was alive and close to her, she would never be free of his influence. He could have her do unspeakable things, as he’d nearly done just now. She wasn’t safe near him.
“Are you really going to kill me, Jade?” The smoothness of his voice didn’t betray the grief in his eyes. Like he knew he’d lost her.
Jade worked past the guilt and pity building in her heart, though she couldn’t determine whether it came from his influence or if she genuinely regretted what she was doing. Nicolas hadn’t deserved the tragedies in his life, but neither did that excuse him from those he was responsible for.
“I don’t have a choice,” she answered, fighting to maintain control of her mind, sensing the weight of his magic on the edges of her consciousness.
The shadows of lamplight cast on the angles of Nicolas’s face made him appear even more menacing as his eyes narrowed and his mouth curled into a snarl. “So be it.”
In a flash, he grasped the gun pressed against him and twisted it, wrenching Jade’s arm up. She cried in pain as he strained the muscles and tendons in her arm. Her body turned along with her arm to relieve some of the strain, but she managed to maintain hold of her weapon. Nicolas pushed her to the ground, and Jade rammed into a chair on the way down. When she whipped her head back up to locate him, she found him at the lamp, the room’s only light source. She lifted her gun, but before she lined up a clear shot, he extinguished the lamp, and the room was plunged into darkness.
“No!” Jade cried, not prepared to accept defeat. She wouldn’t lose the assassin this time. She couldn’t.
Theo groaned in pain somewhere near her, and all of her thoughts refocused. Jade scrambled back to the bedroom and retrieved one of the lamps inside, bringing it to the main room and setting it on the floor beside Theo. She kneeled beside him to examine his wound.
“Oh, Theo.” Her words came out in a distressed whisper. “I’m so sorry.” He’d taken her bullet right under his collarbone, and even in the dim light, she could see how much crimson blood stained his dark gray military uniform. It had fanned out from the wound and ran down the front of his jacket.
“You’re losing blood fast,” she said, recalling where Nicolas had kept his medical kit and retrieving it. She pressed clean cloths against Theo’swound, and he hissed, but his blood soaked them too quickly. “We have to get you back to base.”
“You . . . have to . . . go after him,” he said through sharp intakes of breath.
Jade delicately placed her hands on either side of Theo’s face, her eyes staring intently into his. “I’m not going anywhere without you.” She leaned in to kiss him, firmly and sincerely, then brought her gaze back to his. “Let’s get you out of here.” She scooped her arm around Theo’s back, lifting him up so that he propped against her left shoulder.
