THE UNSUITABLE BRIDE

CHAPTER TWO

Seconds after they'd emerged into the forecourt there was another explosion, this one leaving a ringing sound in Roseanne's ears. Or had that already been there? Nothing made sense and the side of her head was throbbing. Roseanne lifted a hand to it, feeling the skin that had been dashed by a projectile. Her fingers came away tacky, covered in warm, wet blood.

"I'm bleeding."

Lisa's stride didn't falter. Her hand around Roseanne's legs was firm and tight, and despite the indignity of being carried dangling over Lisa's shoulder, Roseanne felt safe. Roseanne lifted her head towards the palace, gasping at the sight of so much damage. How had this happened? Security for the event had been incredibly tight – body scans, all equipment had been passed through x-ray machines, identities triple checked by guards. More importantly, why had someone done this?

To disrupt the peace? To return the whole region to instability? A shiver that had nothing to do with the explosion ran down her spine.

A moment later, there was another noise. Not a bomb, but loud and mechanical and Roseanne flinched, her nerves already at breaking point.

Lisa said something in her own language, words that were foreign and husky, then she was lifting Roseanne from her shoulder, placing her on a sun-warmed seat. Roseanne blinked, quickly identifying the cockpit of a helicopter.

"Whose is this?"

Lisa didn't respond. Sher lips were a grim line in her face as she slammed the door shut and came around to the other side of the chopper, stepping in and taking the seat beside Roseanne at almost the exact same moment she flicked switches so that the rotor blades above them began to spin.

"Where are we going?"

"Away from here." Lisa spared Roseanne a brief glance. "Do your seatbelt."

Roseanne nodded, reached behind her for the strap, but her fingers were shaking too much to grab hold of it. Roseanne uttered a frustrated curse and a moment later Lisa's hand was stretching across her, taking the belt from its holster and bringing it across Roseanne's waist, low down on her hips. It was swift and efficient, an act brought out of a concern for her safety and nothing else. Roseanne's incredibly elevated heart rate had nothing to do with the way Lisa's fingers had brushed her thighs, and everything to do with the unfolding tragedy they were fleeing.

"Do you know how to fly this thing?" Roseanne's teeth chattered together.

Lisa's only response was to flick another switch; the helicopter lifted off the ground, sand forming a cloud around them. Roseanne held her breath, looking back towards the palace, half-expecting someone to chase after them, to tell them they couldn't leave until the investigation was complete.

"There are people in there who need our help," Roseanne said, trying to pull her thoughts together. "We have to go back."

"Go back?" Lisa shook her head. "Impossible."

"But they're –,"

Even as she spoke, an enormous plume of dust rose from the air. Roseanne looked towards the palace and lifted a hand to her lips. Half of it had fallen to the ground. "Oh my God." Roseanne turned back to her rescuer. "It's destroyed."

Lisa's face was grim. "Yes."

"But why?"

Lisa didn't respond. Roseanne dug her fingernails into her palms, her breath shallow. Roseanne reached for her handbag at her feet then realised she hadn't brought it; it was still in the palace, in ruins now, her cell phone inside.

"I have to let Jackson know I'm okay," Roseanne said, the words a little slurred from the trauma of what had happened. "He'll be so worried."

"Not now."