He pivoted on the slick marble tiles. “Yes.”
And that’s when I saw it.
The tremors of the lights above. The glass prisms strung on the chandelier shifted, casting shooting stars about the hall. The heavy wrought iron fixture jerked and descended a few inches.
It would fall.
The chandelier would drop and crush the duke.
There was no time, no one-word warning to shout.
I ran as fast as I could and hit the man at top speed. The blow sent him reeling forward, and I fastened my arms about him to keep him moving away from the danger.
Snap. Snap. Rip. That had to be the pulley ropes.
I couldn’t tell. My face burrowed deeper against the duke’s shoulder. I kept pushing us forward.
We crashed to the floor, my head hitting the marble. The world behind me exploded. Glass bits shot at us, stinging my fingers, lacing into his hair, cutting his smart uniform. The world blurred as our momentum turned us over and over.
My arms stayed locked about him.
Dust covered us.
The thunder of his heart, my heart, became distant.
I stopped breathing.
CHAPTER 18
THELASTLETTER
Ibeat my hands and tried to awaken, but I was trapped. He passed beside me. His haunted hazel eyes were so close to my face.
A chill covered my skin as I followed Colin.
He locked himself in a room. I heard shouts, threats, murderous threats.
When I opened the door, he turned to me, his face twisted, ghastly twisted in grief. Then, I heard Colin. His voice was faint but growing louder. “Your fault. Your fault, you killed me.”
Shaking, sobbing, I opened my eyes.
A candle burned, but everything was a blur. I blinked until I could focus.
Breathing made everything hurt.
Nothing seemed right. I was a ship too far from the shore. Tangling in a bedsheet, I swam upstream, swinging my arms until I sat upright.
I wasn’t dead or caught somewhere in between, was I?
Not with aches like this. I had to be among the living.
But where was I?
A window dressing in fine muslin and sheers sat open, blowing cold air into the room.
This wasn’t the bare servants’ quarters in the attic.
Rubbing my jaw, I studied the walls, the jonquil yellow paint.
