Page 159 of To Catch A Rogue

"I love you,"she replied, swallowing the lump in her throat."Go!"

As long as he was safe, then she wasn't afraid of dying.

"Damn it, Lark!"

Lark's breath came a little faster. The color was back in her world, but she needed it to vanish. She needed the darkness back, the craving. "Go!"

"Let me through!" Charlie cursed as the wall of Ravens grew closer together.

She could barely see him over their shoulders, but she could hear Blade muttering in his ear, warning him not to be impetuous.

One of the Ravens wore a glittering steel mask over his mouth and nose, studded with spikes. He carried a flame-thrower. Another had a bio-mech arm grafted onto his left shoulder. It hung almost to his knees, the steel-plated fist glittering with menace, twice the size of his real hand. And the third flung both hands out beside him, a Carillion blade sliding through the steel knuckles and extending half a foot.

All of them were armored, with heavy steel mech-suits around their waists. They dwarfed Charlie and Blade.

"Seize them," Sergey repeated.

Lark held her knife hopelessly. There was no way she could attack them from behind, and no way for the others to get past them.

Then Charlie knelt and slid a handful of golden orbs across the floor, and she caught her breath, suddenly remembering what he'd said when he showed them to her on the airship.

The orbs wavered as they rolled near the Ravens' feet, their magnetic insides sensing steel. Instantly, they split open, filigreed legs bursting out as they swarmed toward the guards. The circular sides of each orb transformed into the hard-bodied carapace of a little spider, and they scuttled up the sides of the mech-suits.

"Your little toys won't save you," one of the Ravens sneered, as three little mechwork spiders clambered up his left leg. He crushed one with his enormous fist, but the other two attacked the joints of his knees, their pincers biting into the wires supporting the kneecap and sparking.

He slammed to a halt as the entire left side of his mech-suit spasmed. His armored boot dragged across the floor, but the spiders weren't finished.

Mechwork was driven by tiny filigreed wires and conductors. Without them....

"It appears you're quite mistaken," Charlie replied calmly. "Have you ever heard the story of David and Goliath?"

Another Raven fell with a clatter as his suit stopped working.

"What sorcery is this?" demanded one of the courtiers.

The crowd drew back as two of the spiders tumbled free of the suit and turned to face the crowd, their pincers clicking. A woman hauled her red velvet skirts away from the creatures with a look of utter horror on her face.

"Sorry, Prince," Charlie said, peering past Lark with a hard look in his eyes. "But we decline your offer. Lark belongs to us."

"The girl has admitted she is a Grigoriev. Hence, she does not belong to your party. Her ties to the Empire come first, and she will face my challenge," Sergey called.

"Lark?"

"He's speaking the truth," she whispered.

Sergey stepped down from the dais, swinging his red cloak off his shoulder and discarding it on the floors. "Face me and die."

Lark spun around before she could weaken, her palm flexing around the hilt of the knife. She'd taken Lady Kirinov down, but Kirinov had wielded a short sword, and Lark had two knives then, and the element of surprise. "I accept your challenge. On behalf of my family, I will face you. But I'm not ready to die. Not yet."

She had no choice but to accept his challenge.

In the eyes of this court, Sergey spoke the truth.

With themarqueon her back, she belonged to the Russian court, before she belonged to England. Not even the appearance of Lord Barrons right now could save her.

"If she faces you, then she will not do it alone," Charlie called, drawing his own knife.

"You have no sway here," Sergey said. "So put your knife away."