Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel by P. S. Power Page B

be more
comfortable out of your presence, Gwen?" It made it sound like she'd
actually wronged the woman, but, hadn't she, in a real way? If Lisa really
loved Christophe, then Gwen coming back and him asking if they might restart
the engagement... That was a pretty big deal.
    They
weren't rough about it, but the guards took the woman out, bodily, one of them
daring to pick her up, ignoring her feeble and untrained kicks. As she was
nearly out of sight, she screamed, but it had words and wasn't in pain.
    "I
hope you die. As soon as possible!"
    There
was a tickle of magic that came with the words. More than a little bit, in
fact. It hit rather like a slap, and Gwen had to wonder at the force of it.
     

Chapter
four
     
     
     
     
     
    Bethany
Westmorland, Detective, Special Service Operative, and in her own way,
humanitarian, hit Lisa Wendell in the side of the head with every bit of
strength her body could manage. Against a man the move would have rocked a
person. Given the size differences here, it took the blocky woman to her knees,
even with two large people holding her up.
    "You cursed her? A death curse at that? You stupid little twit! Hold her.
We're going to have to get the local constabulary involved, I'm afraid. We
tried very hard to avoid that for you, Lisa, but now you've left us no
choice." The men actually moved in on the women, though they looked
scared, rather than manly or stoic.
    Even
Christophe seemed terrified. He went directly to Gwen and proper or not, put
his hand on her arm, very gently.
    "A
death curse? I... Under my roof too. Yes, Clemens, lock Miss Wendell in her
room. See that she has nothing with which to harm herself with. We can't let
this get any worse than it already is. Gwen, you'll stay here, of course. I'll
call in the best experts in the field. Don't worry, we won't let this harm you.
The very top people will be here within the day, and-" He stopped as
Bethany shook her head lightly. It was very deferential, since the man was a
Duke, and she was conditioned not to challenge him too much, but Christophe was
actually smart enough to realize it meant more than her dismay.
    "Miss
Westmorland? Do you have an idea that will work better?"
    She
let her mouth go tight and then nodded.
    "Yes.
Much better, actually. It won't be fun for Gwen, but the truth of the matter is
that the very best person in the world at breaking curses like this happens to
be a Westmorland. Not that we need to bother her. Lisa just isn't that strong.
We have protocols for this. Don't let it worry you, by morning we'll both be on
our way to our next destination, and there won't be any harm done at all."
She didn't seem happy about it, and that meant she was serious when she
said they had protocols. That was pretty much Westmorland code for torture Gwen
until she can't be cursed, didn't it?
    She
made a face, but tried for a wry look. She'd been practicing that one in the
mirror too. It was one of her better ones, but there hadn't been a lot of
chance to use it yet. This seemed like the perfect time.
    "Well, that should be fun. We'd best get to it then, before I lose my nerve.
Anyway, Chris, let's actually stay in touch? I'm working for the next bit, and
that could be for months, but I'll see you at the party, if possible? If not,
you should definitely go anyway. We'll set up my new helper to handle the
Teletransport on that. Peter Westmorland. You'll like him. He's twelve."
She added that last bit so she wouldn't have to go over the whole thing about
it just yet.
    For
once someone just nodded, as if a male being anywhere near a female wasn't a
huge and vast crime just waiting to happen.
    "Peter
Westmorland. Very good, I'll remember the name. I'll be in touch with central
for that then and let them know. I can do that now, since the promotion."
He could have seemed a lot sadder about taking his father's place, and he still
had a black band on his left arm, but the truth was, the old Count had been a
pain in the ass and had