The wait gave him a chance to take stock of the current situation. What the hell had he been thinking? Was this foolish quest so important that he would risk hurting Sabine? He’d betrayed her.
The hell with Marcus and his submersible boat. He stormed from the room and then out the front door of Solomon’s. He had been so damned focused on his own desires that he might have lost the only woman he’d ever loved.
“Tell me where the elixir is or I’ll kill you. I’ll kill the final guardian eventually, but then perhaps I’ll kill the rest of your aunts simply for my own amusement. Then I’ll come back here for your lover,” Spencer threatened. “Don’t test me in this, Sabine. Certainly you’ve seen what I’m capable of.”
She’d be a liar if she said that his threat didn’t give her pause. The niece in her longed to save her aunts at any cost, and the woman in her burned to save her lover. But her aunts weren’t at the shop. They’d been packed into a carriage and sent to the home of a member of Max’s club for protection.
She backed up farther. Only a little more and her fingertips could brush the spear.
“I know it’s in this house. I will find it.” He came at her and slammed the back of his hand across her face. His ring slammed hard into her cheek.
The force of his blow nearly knocked her over. But she kept her footing.
He cocked his head to the side. “Fitting that my ring will probably leave a scar on your perfect skin. If you live long enough for that welt to heal.” Momentarily he looked down at the ring.
This time she was ready and ducked when he came at her again. He was faster than she was, though, and he managed to strike her twice more. Her eyes teared up as the pain of his blows rocked through her.
“I don’t enjoy hurting women. You are weaker and less intelligent creatures, bred to rely on men for protection. But I will make an exception for you, since you are the dove. Tell me where the elixir is,” he said, his voice softer now, “and perhaps I’ll be lenient with you.”
He wrapped his hand around her throat and squeezed. Pain spiked through her temples, searing her brain as she lost oxygen. A moment more of this, and she’d be dead. Or ready to tell him everything.
“Or perhaps not. I can search this bloody house, but it will be so much faster if you just tell me,” he yelled.
Images of Madigan and then Phinneas settled on her. They had not given up, and they had died horrible, painful deaths. That was what waited for Agnes if Sabine did not stop him. With renewed strength, she twisted away from him. She gasped for air. Her lungs burned as she inhaled a large breath.
Finally close enough, she reached for the spear, but Spencer knocked her out of the way before she could grab it. She stumbled and fell to the ground, but managed to get to her feet before he was upon her again. Her neck ached and her eye was already swelling. She knew blood dripped from her face onto her dress.
She was going to die. The thought surged through her, nearly crippling her with fear.
She loved her aunts, and they had been so wonderful to her when she’d lost her mother. She thought of her people, back in the village, their smiling faces and simple ways. Mostly, though, she thought of Max. Out of all those people, her one regret was not being able to tell Max that she loved him.
Despite his betrayal, she knew that he, above anyone else, needed to hear those words. He needed to know that he mattered to someone. And Agnes needed protection. If Sabine didn’t stop this madman, he would single-handedly destroy everyone Sabine had ever loved.
Spencer had pinned her in so that she was caught between him and Max’s desk. But she wouldn’t run from her destiny, not anymore. She could see things clearly now. Agnes had said that Max was her destiny. But what that meant was that it was her destiny to save him. To save them all.
She charged him, tried to grab his pistol, but of course he was stronger. He captured one of her wrists and held tightly while she continued to fight him with her other arm. She lashed out, making contact with whatever body part she could reach, and desperately tried to inflict some measure of pain. But she knew her blows were nothing but whispers to his stronger flesh.
She threw her body against him, and his balance wavered. Behind Spencer, Sabine could see the spear. Suddenly she knew what she must do. That was her answer. There would be no way for her to escape his clutches to retrieve it herself. But she could force him back into it. It would require all of her weight to pierce his flesh, and she, too, would be impaled. She would die, but she was the dove. This was what she was born to do. To protect Agnes and her other aunts. To protect this country. And to protect Max.
And as if her heart had beckoned him, Max appeared in the doorway.
“Get the hell away from her,” Max yelled before he moved in their direction.
Without another thought, she threw her weight into Spencer with renewed strength, pushing him back onto the spear. His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her with him and she felt the blade bite first into the flesh of her abdomen and then come out her back. Her knees nearly buckled from the intense pain.
Spencer’s eyed widened with his own pain. “You will die before me,” he snarled as he coughed and struggled for breath.
Sabine felt the world around her grow dim. She could vaguely hear Max in the background calling her name. But Spencer’s eyes were the last image she saw as her world faded to black.
“Sabine? Can you hear me?” Max cradled her head in his lap and called to her. Fear gripped his heart in a vise so tight he could scarcely breathe.
Her breath was uneven and shallow, her chest barely moving, and the raspy sounds coming from her throat were not promising. He’d ripped his shirt off and pressed the linen firmly against Sabine’s wound to try to stanch the bleeding, but his efforts seemed futile.
“Damnation, woman!” he yelled. “What the hell were you thinking? I didn’t need saving, and even if I did, my life wasn’t worth sacrificing your own.” He talked, not caring who was listening.
About five minutes before, her aunts had burst into the room. They now stood in huddled silence as he smoothed Sabine’s hair away from her eyes. The lovely brown strands looked just as lustrous even as she lay dying in his lap.
“She’s gone,” Calliope whispered from behind him.