Page 81 of Black Widow

“Where would it have taken her?” Clarke had calmed down enough to come to his side. It helped that Crispin had pleaded with him to help with thesearch.

Gideon spared a second to analyze that moment between the two men. It seemed so obvious now—their sudden close friendship. And he hadn’t seenit.

Clarke had always been discreet about his relationships, and now Gideon knew why. He had always assumed his friend had a lover or two tucked away somewhere over the years. Before this, he would have guessed those lovers had beenfemale.

Where was my head? Why didn’t I seeit?

“Later,” he said aloud, giving himself a littleshake.

“What?” Clarke stopped to look athim.

“I’ll congratulate youlater.”

“Oh.” His friend’s eyes were wide, and he might have flushed but it was hard to be sure in the lantern light. “Yes, we’ll talklater.”

Clarke’s uncertainty was baseless, but the need to reassure his friend was distant and hard toreach.

Amelia. Gideon could feel himself growing colder as hope ebbedaway.

The sudden punch in the shoulder snapped him to full consciousness. He stared at Clarke, who scowled at him. “You’re losing faith.Don’t.”

“But whatif—”

Clarke held up a hand “I said don’t! For God’s sake, this is Amelia we are talking about—she brought you to your knees. A single monster doesn’t stand achance.”

Gideon snorted and found the strength to take a deep breath. “Have the men who followed it comeback?”

“Not yet, but they will soon. And then, we’ll have themboth.”

He nodded, continuing to trudge through the scrub brush before turning to the cliff. “We need to get down to thebeach.”

How else would the monster move without being seen? It had to be walking along the deserted beach. If something of Sir Clarence was still in there, he wouldn’t want to beseen.

Clarke understood his reasoning withoutexplanation.

“Let’sgo.”

Chapter 32

Amelia’s knees ached.She tried to stand up and walk, only to bump her head on an unseen stone ceiling. So she crawled and crawled until she could feel the space around heropening.

By that time, her knees were scored and likely bloody, but she couldn’t see them. The monster had attacked after she’d prepared for bed, and though the thick material of her sleeping gown had offered some protection, it hadn’t been enough. Her hands had alsosuffered.

It could be worse.She could be trapped alone with thebeast.

She had woken alone, no pair of glowing eyes staring down at her. Amelia tensed at every imagined sound, expecting the golem to jump out at her. Had it abandoned her here todie?

All Amelia knew was it wasn’t here now—it might not even return. She had to find her own way out of thedark.

Fighting tears, she stiffened her spine. I’ve done it before, Amelia told herself sternly. She had made her way out of a stark and unhappy childhood, finding some measure of happiness with her best friend. It had been a pure but loving marriage. Then when she had lost Martin she had mourned him, finally reaching a place where she could live a life full of love and happiness with Gideon, the man she had adored almost her entirelife.

Martin would have approved.In fact, he would have gloated and said, ‘I told you so’ a dozen or sotimes.

True, she had more or less fallen into the relationship of her dreams, but it took some courage to forget the scars of the past and accept love, didn’tit?

No one, not even a monster, was going to take that fromher.

Her brave words fell to dust a few minutes later when she made her way into a big cavern where part of the ceiling had collapsed, letting in themoonlight.

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