Felix gave a scornful grunt, his eyes darting around the mine as if he sought an escape route. “Oh, yes, I will. Nobody will risk hurting her.”
“What about Lord Burkett? Do you intend to abandon him to his fate?” Contempt sizzled in Gideon’s words.
Felix shrugged without shifting his gaze from Akash. “He can take his chances. He’ll get to plead his case in the bloody House of Lords, whereas I’ll be treated like a common criminal.”
“You are a common criminal,” Akash said coolly.
Felix took a menacing step toward Akash. “Shut your mouth, you black bastard.”
“Give it up, Farrell,” Gideon said steadily. “If you come quietly, I’ll see what I can do about a lighter sentence. Transportation at least leaves you your life.”
Felix flinched in horror. “To that filthy hole, Botany Bay? I’d rather be dead.” He was considerably closer to Charis and Gideon than he had been. She applied the knife with renewed energy and prayed the shadows hid what she did.
“Keep this up, and you will be,” Akash said grimly.
“You speak as though my defeat is a foregone conclusion.”
“It is.” Gideon bunched the muscles of his arms, jerked his wrists hard, and snapped the last threads of his bindings.
“Not when I’ve got Charis.” Felix lunged, but Gideon moved faster than a striking cobra and grabbed him before he laid hands on her.
“Little slut untied you, did she?” Felix grunted, fighting
to get purchase on the larger man.
For a sickening moment, the two men teetered, casting a dance of grotesque shadows onto the mine’s walls. Then they fell and struck the ground with a thud that Charis felt in her bones. There was a sharp rattle as pebbles shot across the floor in all directions.
“Damn you, Trevithick!” Felix grunted, then finished on a loud exhalation as Gideon landed a hard punch to his stomach. The sickening sound made Charis flinch back.
She couldn’t tear her eyes from the struggle. The fight was cruel, frantic. Over and over, they rolled in a clumsy, murderous battle. She desperately tried to see who gained the advantage, but darkness and constant movement made it impossible to tell.
A storm of punches and groans punctuated the ungainly violence. Charis’s belly cramped with dread, and she backed on unsteady legs to press against the cold rock.
Felix fought dirty, and he was strong and wiry, for all his fashionable languor. Gideon was bigger, but he’d been bound and beaten. Heaven knew what injuries the brothers had inflicted on him during the night.
A pistol shot rang out, resounding as the noise ricocheted off the rock.
“Gideon!” Charis screamed, lurching forward. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Her eyes went blind.
Akash caught her around the waist and stopped her flinging herself on top of the combatants. “Charis, it’s all right.”
She hardly heard him through the clanging in her ears. If Gideon was dead, she didn’t want to live. Without him, there was nothing in the world she wanted.
Akash spoke more sharply. “Charis, they’re alive.”
At last she heard and understood. She realized how tightly he gripped her against his chest. Her fingers dug into his arms with bruising force.
The bullet must have gone wild.
Her sight cleared, and her terrified gaze focused on Felix and Gideon. She realized both men still moved, still struggled to best the other. Her aching heart started beating again. She sucked rancid air into starved lungs.
Dear heaven, thank you, thank you, thank you.
She trembled convulsively in Akash’s grip. The tall body looming behind her bristled with silent tension. His support was welcome. She wasn’t sure her legs would hold her. Her mouth was dry as cotton, and her heart pounded like a mallet wielded by a madman.
She stifled her urge to call encouragement to Gideon. He needed all his concentration to defeat Felix. The now-useless gun bumped across the floor as a wildly kicking leg sent it sliding. Gideon rolled over and kicked it more purposefully, propelling it out of reach.
She straightened, ashamed of her weakness. Akash must have realized she’d regained control of herself. He released her and edged around the fight to pick up the gun.