Assassins in Love (37 page)

Instead, she went for Liora’s throat.

Liora didn’t expect it, but she managed to get her knees between them and tried to buck Rikki away. Rikki was bigger, but not stronger. Still, she had leverage.

She couldn’t reach Liora’s throat, so she grabbed her face on either side. Liora’s eyes widened. Rikki pulled her head up just slightly so that it wasn’t against the ground.

Liora kicked and thrashed, but Rikki held her down. Then Rikki twisted her head so hard to the right that she was sure everyone in the Guild heard the crack.

Liora went limp, her neck snapped, her eyes open.

Rikki let her go, then stood up, wiping her hands on those ridiculous loose weave pants. That pistol of hers looked mighty tempting, but she didn’t grab it.

She hoped Misha would help her get out of here, but she wasn’t sure he would, now that she had killed a woman he had once cared for, and had probably even loved.

No matter what the man said, he was capable of great emotion. And that emotion would probably be turned against her now.

She took a deep breath and turned around.

Both Misha and the director of the Guild stood behind her. The director’s sari had a burn hole along the left side where that last laser shot had hit her.

Rikki’s heart was pounding, and her own wound ached. But she knew better than to look at it. She didn’t want to know how bad it was until she got out of here.

Misha looked at Liora, then at Rikki.

“I should have seen it,” he said.

Rikki waited. Everything would depend on the next few minutes.

“She usually didn’t even give me the time of day,” he said. “And suddenly she was talking to me, acting jealous, trying to goad me. It fit.”

Rikki blinked, feeling awkward, feeling very tired. The shock was setting in.

Misha wasn’t talking about her. He was talking about Liora.

“We need medical attention,” Kerani said. Still, she extended a hand to Rikki. “You saved my life today.”

Rikki took a deep breath.

“My people missed it all,” Kerani said, sounding both sad and surprised. “We’ll need to investigate this.”

“You better pick your investigators well,” Rikki said. “I’m sure that Giles Fauchet’s man is involved.”

Kerani nodded. Very slowly. Too slowly. Rikki frowned. Why would someone nod slowly? It made no sense.

Just like the darkness covering the sun made no sense.

Oh, she was tired.

She closed her eyes, and thought she had better ease herself to the ground.

And that was the last thought she had for some time.

She woke on a cool bed under cool sheets. She felt like she had been sleeping for a long time. She recognized the muzzy feeling, the deep unsettled feeling of having lost consciousness against her will.

She expected to be in a hospital, but she wasn’t. She was in a gorgeous hotel room, with paneled walls and windows overlooking the city of Prospera.

Shouldn’t she be in a hospital? Or was that a long time ago? Way back in her past, in her childhood, when she had been in a hospital alone.

Only she hadn’t been alone then, and she wasn’t alone now.

Someone was holding her hand.

She turned her head.

Misha sat beside her. He looked haggard and too thin. When he saw her, he smiled.

“Welcome back, beautiful.”

She frowned. “Back?” she whispered.

“You were unconscious for a while. Healing, the doctors said. But the wound wasn’t serious. The doctors let me bring you here.”

“Nonsense,” she said, meeting his smile with her own. “You people didn’t want me to stay in the Guild.”

His smile widened. “That too.”

The memory of that last day had come back. “Did your director make it?” Rikki asked.

“Barely,” he said. “She nearly died. But as you guessed, we have good medical facilities in the Guild, and there was time.”

She looked out the window at the city below. She rubbed her eyes, but the view didn’t change. “I’m a bit surprised to be here.”

“Why?” he asked.

“I figured someone would blame me,” she said.

“Liora and Fauchet tried that. It didn’t work.”

“Still,” she said. “I would have thought—”

“Kerani spoke up for you. She’s the one who made sure everyone knew what had happened. She is amazed you fought for her, Rikki, when you didn’t know her and weren’t a Guild member.”

“And had a past affiliation with the Rovers,” Rikki said.

He nodded reluctantly. “That too,” he said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you saved Kerani. You stopped a plot to overturn the Guild.”

She licked her lips. They were dry. “I didn’t stop any plot,” she said. “We—you and I—we just revealed it.”

“Whatever,” he said and put his other hand on top of their clasped one. “Fauchet confessed. Liora’s dead. And Kerani is still with us. Thanks to you.”

“And you. Thanks to you.” Rikki swallowed against a dry throat. “Thank you for getting me out of the Guild.”

“My pleasure,” he said. “I promised you a hotel room.”

“You promised me room service,” she said.

“I promised you a different kind of service,” he said.

“Is that what you’re here for?” she asked a little more seriously than she planned. “A bit of service, and then you’ll return to the Guild.”

“No,” he said. “I’m staying with you. I’m not leaving your side. Ever.”

“Even if I told you to go?” she asked.

He looked so fierce. “Even then.”

She smiled. “Good. Because I want you here.”

“Good,” he said in the same tone. “Because I realized something these last few days, Rikki.”

She had to turn her head to see him better. The tousled hair, the blue, blue eyes. She had come to trust that face. She had come to trust him.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“I love you,” he said. “You were right, what you said to Liora. I didn’t think I could love anyone. But I love you.”

Rikki felt warm, suddenly, and safe, for the first time, maybe ever. He had told her he loved her. So she could tell him how she felt too.

But wouldn’t it sound like she was parroting him? Like she was just saying it?

Then she decided she didn’t care how it sounded, because it was true.

“I love you too,” she said. “I knew it in my apartment. But I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Because you didn’t trust me,” he said.

She shook her head. “Because I didn’t trust myself.”

He grinned, and the look made all the exhaustion leave his face. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

“You’re extremely trustworthy, Rikki,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s why your friends targeted me.”

“First,” he said, “they weren’t my friends. And secondly, they targeted you because I complained about you. You kept crossing my path. They figured they could use it to show that you were going after Kerani and you were using me to do so.”

“Devious people,” she muttered.

“Yeah,” he said. “But no match for you.”

“I’m devious?” She could be, she supposed. She preferred not to be, though.

“No,” he said. “You’re brilliant. And it was my mistake that I hadn’t realized just how brilliant you are. Forgive me?”

“As long as you don’t expect me to join the Guild.” She sounded like a petulant child, but she didn’t care. “I don’t like it, Misha.”

“I know,” he said. “You don’t have to join.”

“Which means we can’t be together,” she said softly.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because you can’t leave,” she said. “The Guild, it’s part of you.”

He nodded. “It is. It’s where I grew up. But people leave home all the time, Rikki. And I want to be with you. If you’ll have me.”

Silly question. She smiled at him. “Only if you promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?” he asked, looking oh so serious.

“Room service.”

He smoothed the hair off her forehead, and then he kissed her. Hard. Passionately. And that woke up all of her.

“Your wish is my command,” he said and proceeded to fulfill his promise. Several times—and in a variety of fun and interesting ways.

Kris DeLake is one of writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s many pen names. In addition to writing as Kris DeLake in romance, Rusch also writes romance as Kristine Grayson (who specializes in paranormals) and Kristine Dexter (who prefers romantic suspense). In mystery, Rusch writes as the Edgar- and Shamus-nominated Kris Nelscott. In science fiction and fantasy, Rusch is known by her real name. She’s a bestselling double Hugo winner in science fiction. To find out more about her work, including her popular nonfiction blog, go to
www.kristinekathrynrusch.com
.