Page 41 of Adversary to the Villain

Gideon looked for his own defuse button. “Well done, Captain. Perhaps a rest? I’d be happy to assist in getting the blood out of your hair.”

His quip went unanswered, though; he merely watched as her mien of strength melted and she slumped against the wall, head hanging. “We’re not done.”

“Certainly not,” Gideon replied, tentatively reaching out to rub her arms, trying to bring back some warmth to the coolness in her voice. “I’m afraid you and I won’t be done until one of us is dead.”

As she rubbed a hand against her chest, Keeley’s gaze appeared far away, a pain in the gold of her eyes. “Lyssa is safe. She’s with your sister.”

Gideon’s head fell back, bumping into the wall opposite her, but he barely felt it for the relief coursing in his veins. “There is bad news to follow, I presume?”

“Do you consider every prisoner in the dungeons below running loose in the manor bad?”

“Wait. Maverine had those two in hisdungeons?” Gideon gaped. “Damn it.”

“You’re upset he imprisoned them?”

“I’m upset that I fear I like him a great deal now.” Gideon delivered this news somberly before breaking into a wide smile, hoping he might be rewarded with her eyebrow twitch.

But Keeley decided to shock him instead.

She took two long steps forward—and kissed him.

He froze beneath her lips, eyes flying wide, then drifting shut when the kiss turned more urgent, her lips moving against his with a surety he was certain he’d never have again.

When she pulled away, he couldn’t stop scanning her face, the shine of her eyes, the tilt of mischief at her lips.

This was far superior to an eyebrow twitch.

At the sounds of clashing steel coming from the end of the hallway, she turned toward the melee, wiping her weapon on the dead captain’s shirt. As Gideon called, “Keeley,” she ignored him.

Until her voice echoed down the hall, reverberating in his soul when she replied, “That was on purpose…for the record.”

Lightning struck hard against the earth again, and chaos rained down, along with the storm. But Gideon just grinned, touching a hand to his mouth, before running in the direction of the danger. Of death. Of her.

Chapter 19

Becky

“He was a man, and then he was a frog.” Becky repeated the words again, aloud, for she still could not believe them.

“I know, lovely Rebecka,” Blade told her, large arm around her shoulder, holding her protectively as they ambled up the stairs toward the offices. He took the opportunity to caress gentle fingers over her skin.

“You’re eager, aren’t you?” she observed, embarrassed that she sounded breathless.

“To hold you? Of course.” He looked at her with bemusement, like her observation was as obvious as stating the sun was hot.

Her cheeks burned, and a smile pulled tight on her lips until it slipped free. Blade, for his part, looked at her like she’d given him a gift he had not been prepared to accept.

“That. That is a priceless thing, isn’t it?” Blade’s amber eyes softened, darkening slightly when his gaze found her lips. He only snapped from his reverie when Rebecka cleared her throat, immediately regretting it when the moment ended.

But it needed to.

“Do you think Tatianna and Clare found him yet?”

“He’s in frog form,” Blade said, picking up a candleholder to light the eerily empty space. “It could take all night to find him. Perhaps weshouldwait to tell the boss… Clare seemed to think it was the best course, and what are we going to say? ‘Guess what, sir, we found Kingsley! Except he was human! But now he’s not— What’s that, sir?’”

Blade paused for an exaggerated moment.

“‘Is he still human, Gushiken?’” Blade mimicked the boss’s voice so closely that Becky bit her tongue to repress a surge of laughter threatening to break free. “‘Why no, sir. What a wild assumption. He’s now a frogandlost.’” The final word was punctuated by a wave of Blade’s hand. “Again. He’s lost again. Yikes—we do not have a good froggy tracking record, Rebecka. Why don’t we allow Clare to take it from here?”