No! He surged up and launched himself at his foe. He slammed into him, got his arms around his waist, and tackled him to the ground.
“I dinna care whether ye are Fae or the Devil himself! Ye are not having my boy!”
THIS WAS ALL HAPPENINGso fast. Maddy watched with her heart in her mouth as the two of them began pummeling each other. Rodric was inhumanly fast. He writhed and struck with the speed of a snake but somehow Deryn was able to match him, blocking his blows, and then throwing his own.
All, to stop Rodric reaching Rory.
Oh Lord, Rory! She had no idea how Deryn and Rory had got here but all she knew was that the two most important people in her world needed her help and here she was trussed up like a pig at market!
Her wrist was bleeding from how hard she’d been yanking it, trying in vain to get the hand-cuff off. It was doing no good. She’d not been able to get free.
Think, Maddy!she told herself.Think! There has to be something you can do!
But her thoughts were skittering with panic and she could not seem to think straight. Where were the damned police? She felt sick with helplessness. There was nothing she could do unless she could get free—
A sudden thought flashed through her mind. Unless she could get free. She did have a way to get free! Why had she not thought of it before?
Reaching up with her free hand, she grabbed a hairpin and pulled it out of her hair. It was still bent out of shape from when she’d used it to escape her room in Torryn Keep and she had no idea if picking the lock of a fifteenth century door would even remotely resemble picking the lock on a pair of twenty-first century handcuffs, but she had to try.
Doing her best to ignore the fear that was fluttering in her belly and the scuffle that was going on just paces away from her, she inserted the end of the hairpin into the lock on the handcuffs. To her enormous relief, it fitted.
Come on!she thought desperately, as she fiddled around, trying to remember everything Cian Sutherland had taught her about how to pick a lock. Nothing happened. The cuffs remained stubbornly closed.
The bed suddenly shifted as Deryn and Rodric slammed into it and she almost lost her grip on the hairpin. Rodric swung a fist at Deryn’s face, so fast she could barely track the movement, but Deryn somehow managed to dodge at the last minute, stepping to the side so that the blow went past his chin.
But he couldn’t keep this up forever. Whereas Rodric looked not in the least affected by their dual, his face showing no exertion and not a hair out of place, Deryn was beginning to tire. His steps were a tiny bit slower, his reactions infinitesimally more sluggish.
She had to help him.
Inserting the hairpin again, she fiddled around in the lock, trying to feel the mechanism just as Cian had taught her. Still nothing happened. She was beginning to despair when she felt something give. There was a tiny click and the handcuffs sprang open.
She pulled her wrist free and jumped to her feet. Her thumping heart sent adrenaline racing through her system so she barely felt the pain of her bleeding wrist or the fear of what was happening. Over by the door, Deryn was blocking Rodric’s exit and now there was a line of blood dripping from his face where he’d taken a blow.
Rodric had his back to her as he glared at Deryn. “Get out of my way or I will make ye suffer before I kill ye.”
“Never,” Deryn replied. “Ye are not getting past me.”
Maddy looked around desperately for something to fight with. Her eyes settled on the bedside table.
“Ye have lost, man of the Order,” Rodric snarled. “Ye are alone. There’s nobody coming to help ye.”
Deryn’s eyes found Maddy’s over Rodric’s shoulder. He smiled at his enemy. “Is that so? I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with ye there.”
Maddy grabbed Rodric’s whisky bottle from where he’d left it on the bedside table. Channeling all her rage into her arm, she swung the bottle around in an arc, screaming a wordless cry of fury and outrage. Rodric turned just in time to realize what was happening. His eyes widened in surprise an instant before the whisky bottle smashed over his head.
He dropped like a stone.
For a second Maddy just stood there, staring at the still form of Rodric MacKay, chest heaving, unable to believe what she had done.
But in the next instant, she gave a cry, and slammed into Deryn’s chest so hard he grunted and took a step back. Thenhis arms were going around her, holding her tight, his scent enveloping her, and the terror evaporated like smoke and she knew everything was going to be all right.
“You came for me,” she muttered against his chest.
He kissed the top of her head. “Of course I did. I will always find ye, even if I have to cross time to do it.” He pushed her to arm’s length and looked down at her. “Are ye all right, love? Did he— “
She shook her head. “He didn’t touch me.”
Deryn blew out a long breath of relief. He stroked his thumb across her cheek. “Thank the Lord for that. Here, there’s somebody waiting for ye.”
