Hello...
I'm still alive. I am sorry that I haven't updated this series in a LONG time. Life is hard. I present this offering as an extension of my apology. I hope you guys enjoy. I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for all the amazing support this fic has received. Thanks and please let me know what you think!
P.s. I absolutely adore this song. I think it represents Mr. Ambrose and Lilly really well.
Characters don't belong to me. They are the creation of the amazing RobThier
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His breath was caught in his throat, as he saw a glint in her eyes.
Rikkard simply couldn't help it, as his mind flooded with images and memories of that one night.
He was quick to remind himself that they were in public. There were hundreds of eyes watching them, judging their interactions with scepticism and sharp looks as he continued to lead her through the steps, absentmindedly.
She seemed to glow in the candlelight, standing out from everyone else, as she stared up at him with those deep, dark eyes. There was no point in denying it to himself that he, indeed, was quite drawn to her. Something about her, he couldn't seem to define it...she captivated him unlike anyone he has ever known.
For a brief moment, he was tempted. They were so close. What would it feel like if he leaned a little closer? To brush his lips with her's?
An eternal battle waged war in his head. It pounded away at his conscience and made his head whirl. A voice in his head screamed at him to pull away and distance himself, while another whispered from a distant corner drove him forward to close the gap. He was almost certain he could drown in the dark depths of her eyes if he didn't look away. And he didn't want to look away.
Suddenly the doors to the ballroom swung up loudly, superfluously announcing the entrance of another guest.
Rikkard's heart leapt to his throat, as he was jarred from the hypnotic lure of her eyes. All of his senses came rushing back to him, causing a pang of pain to spread across his forehead. Quickly blinking himself out of the trance, he quickly shifted his gaze from her dark orbs across the room. The partygoers chattered away at the impromptu entrance; the gossip spreading like wild fire.
Rikkard swept her around the dance floor to try and pinpoint the origin of the commotion. Out of the crowd he spotted demure man strut through the doors with his head held high.
He was sure his heart must have stalled a beat in his chest and he almost choked on his quick inhalation of air. The dense fog in his mind dispersed and his nerves were alert and ready for action. His mind snapped to attention sifting through the crowd to make out what was going on. That had to be their target! There was no other possibility. Now, the only thing that was left was to grab him and take him in for interrogation.
As Rikkard continued to watch the door, he felt her tense in his arms. He briefly glanced down at her only to find her eyes focused on the door like everyone else. There, marching in through the door at the man's side came forth a slender woman in a pale blue dress. A thousand questions flew through his head. Would his arch-nemesis factor a woman in his plans? Did she know anything? Was this woman important to the success of his endeavour?
"Patsy?"
He lurched out of his thoughts and gave her a sharp look. Squinting over the crowd, she wore a troubled mask as a frown tugged at her lips.
"What?" he hissed, trying to keep his countenance placid.
Her eyes flicked back to him.
"Patsy. She is one of my best friends, but what is she doing here so late?" her voice drifted off as her eyes flickered between him and woman across the room. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought, as she began putting the pieces together.
Rikkard felt the blood drain from his face, and she seemed to notice. He tensed at the revelation of her possible connection to the target.
"No! There is no possible way!" Her eyes were wide with denial. "She can't be involved with this! She would never keep something like this from me. She was never-" she abruptly secluded into her own thoughts with a fazed, almost guilty, look on her brow.
Unceremoniously, she began pulling away from him. Rikkard bit back a grunt of discomfort as her heel sharply dug into his foot in her attempt to escape him. "I must speak with her! She has to explain everything at once!"
Tightening his hold on her waist, Rikkard drew his focus back to the problem at hand. A chilling sensation passed over him as the remnants of warmth left his body. A flurry of possible scenarios flew before his eyes; he could not let her anywhere near the target.
"Let go of me at once!" she growled with fierce determination in her eyes, that just moments ago were so warm and inviting, but were now shallow and hard set.
He stared down at her with firm resolve. "No, I forbid you from putting my plan in jeopardy," he told her with just as much authority as he could muster at the moment without drawing the attention of the people around them.
She did not shrink away from him, but instead he saw her jaw set in her stubbornness. "We can't follow through with this plan of yours if it puts her at risk!"
"There is too much at stake," he spoke in a harsh whisper, "this target is very important."
Her nostrils flared in anger, but just as she opened her mouth, to give him what he was sure to be some sort of snappy response, he interrupted her, "That is an order. Defy it, and you will find yourself relieved of your position promptly."
She did not say a word, but her eyes held a dark promise that he was going to get an earful later. Drawn deep into his thoughts again, Rikkard was left to wonder how a single pair of 'lovely' eyes could wield so much control over him.
The music came to a slow end and she stepped away from him to curtsy, but he knew better and grabbed her arm before she could storm off. He guided her away from the rest of the crowd, making his way closer to towards the outskirts of the room.
"Listen to me," he leaned down and whispered in her ear, "notify me immediately if you spot Warren. I must speak to him immediately before we run out of time."
With a double take over his shoulder she exclaimed with panic cast across her face, "Oh, not again!"
"What?" His confusion was sharp in his voice.
"Smile and pretend to laugh at what I say!" She looked up at him with a brilliant fake smile.
What absurdity was this? She was smiling up at him like some sort of maniac. Just as he was about to demand that she cease such foolish behaviour, he heard a shrill voice over the crowd that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Lillian!" That shrivelled old crow reappeared from a child's nightmare with a vicious toothy grin.
Rikkard felt a sharp elbow dig into his side. A hiss of pain escaped his lips only for him to look down to find her smiling up at him expectantly.
Just as he was about glare his discontent at her, the ground beneath them trembled as an explosion was set off in the other side of the house.
The crow squawked along with the rest of the strutting peacocks in the room.
Then, before anyone could recover from the shock, another explosion tore through the far end of the room, bathing the room in an excoriating bright light. The people standing closest to the epicentre were either levelled or thrown back several feet. All of the windows shattered at once and the initial wave of impact sent three of the chandeliers crashing to the ground, leaving the rest of the light flickering haphazardly. Rikkard staggered back as the ground continued to shake violently. He felt a pair of familiar hands tightly grip his arm for support as the heat tore through the area.
His heart raced as he quickly tried to assess the situation. Two explosives had been planted in the facility prior to the social event, probably to create a distraction. Causing such a degree of chaos is pointless unless...the target!
"We have to go," he said pushing her towards a nearby door, still not taking his eyes away from the ballroom. They have been compromised, and they need to disappear before they become targets themselves.
"What? Wait!" she cried and tried pulling away from him, but he was determined to get her through the door.
There was a small sound, it was quiet enough not to catch anyone's attention in the chaos, but he knew better. He would recognize it from anywhere. Suddenly, he could imagine just how the next moments would play out, as the images flickered before his eyes. With his chest tightening, his gaze sporadically flew around the room. Any sort of clue, a gleam in the light, a sudden movement, anything!
There was a familiar voice that sounded far off in the distance, and a pair of hands that gripped his arms trying to shake some sense into him. Unable to draw his eyes away from the crowd, Rikkard shrugged off the grip and grabbed her forearm.
With a hiss of exasperation, he finally looked down at her. It stunned him to see the shock and worry in her eyes. Worry for what? For whom? Shaking those thoughts out of his head, he continued to urge her, "We are leaving, NOW."
He manoeuvred her in front of him to ensure that she kept walking, but she just had to argue with him now of all times!
"WAIT! My sis-"
The first ear-splitting gunshot gutted the room, echoing its cruel intents off the walls, causing heightened panic to spread amongst the ton.
His instincts reacted before he could, with a quick shove they were both pressed against the wall.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Three more shots tore through the room. Three more attempts at a life. And three more chances to get hit. Then chaos erupted, spewing from every corner of the room.
Just like he predicted, the entire room was in an uproar. Women shrieking, as if that helped, and men trying to get their families away as fast as possible. It was the perfect escape opportunity for any shooter. Rikkard caught a glint of revolver's barrel before the man disappeared into the crowd.
The sound of her staggering breath tore his attention away from the rest of the room. Looking down, big traumatized eyes looked back up at him.
He didn't feel panic or distress, like everyone else, all he knew was numbness. However, seeing the fear in her eyes awoke things inside him that he hadn't even known existed in the first place.
Another gunshot cracked through the air, but this time the bullet flew by his shoulder. It was quickly followed by another that lodged into the wall above his head.
Breaking into action, he grabbed her hand, which was cold to the touch, and began pulling her through the door that led further into the host's home. He knew that Karim would be waiting somewhere outside, and the faster they got away from all of this the better. Having planned an escape route prior to this forsaken event, Rikkard all but dragged her through the hallways of the excessively decorated house. The power went out, which made the dim hallways very difficult to manoeuvre through.
Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he saw her trying to scan the now the darkened hallways. "Hurry up!" he growled over his shoulder.
"They are following us! I can hear footsteps," she gasped as she grabbed her skirt in her free hand.
BANG!
A bullet soared from the darkness behind them followed by a series of shouts and heavy footsteps that were getting closer and closer.
His heart pounded in his chest and he tightened his grip on her hand. He felt her hesitate in her step as another shot was fired at them. Throwing a glance over his shoulder again, he tried to urge her on. Her face was wrought with worry and distress in the midst of all of this chaos, but he felt her faintly squeeze his hand in a strange form of reassurance.
He could feel the beginnings of panic begin to set in his chest. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hit in the crossfire. "Down the stairs," he said as he tugged her along.
The marching footsteps got louder and almost immediately a single voice rung out in the vaulted stairway. "Oi! He's here!"
They couldn't have reached the bottom of the stairs faster as another volley of bullets embedded themselves into the steps.
Frantically running through the dark hallways, Rikkard couldn't breathe. The only thing that suffocated him more than the shadows is the fear that she would get hurt. That a stray bullet would lodge itself in her back... that her bright eyes would lose their spark.
Tearing through the kitchen, Rikkard could see the faint light from the street lamps outline the back door.
Suddenly she tugged sharply on his arm as she stopped, taking her hand from his.
"What are you doing!" he growled in disbelief as he watched her frantically knock over several pans on the table.
"Obstructing their path!" she cried back as she knocked a chair over.
The stomping footsteps were getting closer and closer down the stairs. With a growl of frustration, he kicked over a heavy cupboard that blocked most of the door. Grabbing her hand again and dragged her towards the back of the kitchen, to the backdoor.
With a heavy shove, they both were brutally embraced with the bitter cold breeze of the night.
Panting hard, Rikkard scanned the empty courtyard to find the gate that he had noted earlier in the blueprints.
Everything became a blur as blood rushed through his ears and his thoughts congealed into a mess. He could scarcely recall finding the gate, making their way into the adjoining street, and losing their pursuers in a maze of alleys.
They stopped in the shadows when Rikkard's lungs burned and her lips turned blue. He couldn't feel his fingers, or any other part of his body much rather, but she was in a worse condition. However, as cold as she might have looked her eyes were wide with adrenaline. There was a worried scowl on her face as her breath clouded in the cold air.
She tore her hand away from his grip; he had forgotten that he had been holding it in the first place. It felt so natural.
"Who-who are these people? Why are they trying to kill us?" She questioned, the streetlights casting dark shadows on her face, as she stood leaning against the brick wall trying to catch her breath.
"Come," Rikkard said, tugging at her hands again. "We need to keep moving. Karim is waiting for us down the street."
She continued to resist him with a scowl. "No! Not until you explain. I want to know why I put my family- my sisters- at risk. Who knows what's become of them now!" Words tumbled out of her mouth, as she looked up at him with worried eyes, laced with fire. She seemed to continue to pale as the cold bit at her skin.
The loud thunder of gunshots echoed in the frostbitten night. Rikkard fought hard to hold back the nervous flinch that had built up in his chest. He didn't think he could talk even if he wanted to.
She shivered and tightly wrapped her arms around herself as a brisk breeze funnelled through the narrow alley.
Maybe he should have put more thought into this aspect of the plan. She would freeze to death by the time they reach the Karim. With a huff, he tore off his coat and wrapped it over her shoulders. He felt a twinge of pain in his chest knowing that he was never going to get this coat back. It had served him well for ten years.
She stared at him with wide eyes, in shock at his abrupt decision and her question was, thankfully, forgotten.
He was acutely aware of the sting of the cold, but he has survived worse with less.
She slipped her arms into the sleeves and seemed to swim in the garment. Rikkard watching as she clutched it to herself, but it wasn't enough. Her lips were still blue.
In the low light, fire seemed to blaze in the depths of her eyes, chasing away the frost that was growing around his heart. He was almost certain that the cold, or her dark eyes, caused his mind to lapse in its judgement. Moving, almost by instinct, Rikkard took her face in his hands.
He kissed her.
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