I’d braced myself for impact, rearing an arm back to smash my fist dead in her face, when a singular boisterous bang filled the room.
Liza stilled a mere three feet away from me, mouth ajar.
The light in her eyes dimmed out right before my very own.
And then she collapsed.
It was then as she laid on the floor that I noticed the bullet hole to the side of her head, a pool of blood quickly spreading beneath her.
Stunned at the rapid turn of events, I glanced at Suki first, wondering how she’d gotten her from that angle, but she shook her head and motioned to Rome.
When I turned my gaze on him, I found him with his arm extended firmly, gun pointed right where Liza once stood.
“Finally,” he breathed.
Relieved.
Releasing such a profound sigh, I felt myself doing the very same.
He was going to be okay.
“Thank you,” Vic then said weakly on the floor, literally throwing himself at Rome’s feet. “Thank you, fucking thank you!”
Rome regarded him for several moments, unspeaking, unmoving.
And then he lifted the pistol, aimed right at the center of Vic’s, and pulled the trigger.
The monsters had been slain.
The King had been saved.
And he walked out of that asylum hand in hand with his Queen, as they returned to their rightful places within the kingdom.