Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire) (19 page)

“Of course,” I repeated – rather dumbly, I might add. “Why?”

Victoria crossed her doll-like arms over her torso. “I haven’t lived this long by being stupid, contrary to what your so very young mind might believe. I’ve felt the ground shifting beneath me for some time, long before you were born. I’m not going to make it easy for my enemies to take what I’ve worked so hard to build. I need someone I can trust watching my back. I don’t much like you, but I have a degree of disconcerting respect for you, and you seem to inspire loyalty in those around you. I need someone from outside my usual stable, someone with a fresh pair of eyes and ears who may see and hear things I cannot. I need someone I know I can trust implicitly.”

Fair enough. That was quite a list, but I had no doubt Avery could do all of it while dancing a Highland fling and balancing a teapot on her head. “I’ll give her a ring when I get home.”

A small smile curved her lips – no fang, of course. “Thank you. Now, please leave before my son takes your hanging about personally and decides to seduce you. He’s no shortage of confidence, that one.”

“Indeed,” I replied before I could think better of it. She didn’t appear offended, though. I left her after bidding her a good evening, and joined Vex and William by the palace entrance. My father had gone off for a drink with Bertie, and my mother had left as well.

I wasn’t certain that drinking with Bertie was going to earn Vardan points with the vampires we were hoping to attract. After all, the prince made no bones about his hopes that all the races in the empire could learn to live side by side. Of course,
it wasn’t as though my father could refuse if Bertie had done the inviting. Wouldn’t be polite.

The crowd out front had been cleared away by now, and it would have been easy for Juliet to leave. How had she even got in? It didn’t matter. Her comings and goings were none of my concern. I was sure she had her ways of skulking about and protecting herself. If she and Bertie had formed an alliance, he’d probably told her a private way to enter the grounds.

Did Ophelia know about our great-grandmother? Of course she did, I thought bitterly. Dede had probably known too, and she hadn’t even been related to the old woman.

No one spoke until we were in the safety of the tunnels under London.

“What did she want?” Vex asked.

I told him. Then I asked both of them, “What are we going to do?”

“We look for Ali,” Vex replied, ignoring the fact that I was referring to much more than a murderous science experiment. There was so much at stake, so much hanging in the precarious balance. “Take it one catastrophe at a time.”

“And then we do what goblins do best,” William informed me with a comforting pat on the shoulder. “We watch and wait, pretties. Watch and wait.”

Waiting had never really been one of my strong suits, so it was good that looking was still an option. It seemed like forever since Ali had bitten me in the den, but in reality it hadn’t been very long ago at all. In fact, my bone was still a tiny bit tender where her teeth had scraped against it.

“Do you reckon she has enough goblin in her to not be poisoned by my blood?” I had wondered this before.

Both Vex and William paused as we walked back to the den.

“I don’t know,” Vex said, turning to the prince.

William shrugged. “First of her kind.”

A lot of help the two of them were. I tried to remember if she’d seemed sick after biting me, but it was all a jumble of insanity in my head. Everything had happened so fast. Probably safe to assume she wouldn’t have been affected, but if she had…

“If she was, she couldn’t have got far. She went cobbleside just west of the den, yeah?” God, how could I not have had this particular thought earlier?

Vex nodded. “That’s what your brother said. He chased her two blocks cobbleside.”

“I’m going to have a look,” I announced. It probably wouldn’t do any good – Special Branch had been combing the city for her, and Val had already given chase.

But Val was a halfie, as was the entirety of SB. They had good eyes and a good sense of smell, but not like full-bloods.

Of course my wolf and my prince came with me. It was around midnight now, and there would be no going to bed for any of us for several hours at the earliest.

It was a crisp night, and the chill felt cleansing on my face. I could almost see it pushing away the scent of the underground from my hair and clothing. Some nights the cold had a dampness to it that made it feel as though it was seeping right down to your bones, but not tonight. It was dry and sharp and just cold enough that it wouldn’t snow. You couldn’t see them from here, but I’d wager that the sky was clear out in the country, with stars filling the limitless black.

I stood just a moment on the edge of the underground entrance, savouring the moment. For a few seconds there was nothing but me, London and the night. People had begun decorating for Christmas, adding to the array of lights that already lit up the city.

Releasing a sigh, I opened my eyes and drew a deep breath, searching out the scent of my kid. I had to push hard to sort her out from the million other scents that assaulted me, but I finally caught the faint trace of her on the air. It helped that I’d been able to smell her in the underground, so her scent was fresh in my nose. She’d been wounded, so that helped. She’d left her blood here, and that made the scent linger.

It was easier for Vex and me to track out in the open – with
a hat, I could pass for human. William had left us to return to the den, where he’d check in with the gobs scouring CCTV footage from across the city. A camera somewhere had to have caught a glimpse of her.

I won’t lie, I was nervous sniffing around cobbleside. Humans were so plentiful, so angry and vicious. If Vex and I were set upon… I pushed the thought away. We wouldn’t be long, and there weren’t many humans milling about this close to Mayfair.

Vex nudged me with his elbow. “Blood.”

I looked down. It was right by my feet. If I hadn’t been distracted by fear, I would have smelled it. It was just a drop on the sidewalk, smeared from the weather and feet into a long, thin strand, but it was still there. We were lucky it hadn’t snowed or rained heavily.

The meagre trail led us on almost a block past where Val said he’d chased her. That was where we found a bloody hand-print on a post, and the trail ended.

I glanced around. “Knightsbridge station is right around here.”

“We would have heard about it if she’d gone into a station. No matter what face she wore, someone bleeding profusely from a shoulder wound would attract attention.”

“True enough…” I turned to the post where her smudged handprint was. Why had she stopped here? Had she crossed the street?

A motor carriage roared by. I stepped back, grabbing the post to steady myself. My fingers fitted over Ali’s print exactly. Had she moved back from a speeding vehicle?

Or had one stopped for her?

I crouched down. There was a spatter of blood on the edge of the pavement. “Someone picked her up,” I called.

Suddenly Vex was there beside me. He glanced up. “There are CCTV cameras. Maybe the goblins saw who stopped.”

I stood. “Makes me think she might have a tracker in her after all.” I hadn’t mentioned the theory at the palace because there’d been no need, and I didn’t know Bertie or my mother well enough to reveal all in front of them.

He held out his hand to me and I took it. No sense hanging about any longer. After all, those CCTV cameras could see us as well.

“I have to call Avery,” I remarked as we walked – a bit of normal after so much madness. “Victoria offered her a post.”

He looked surprised. “Didn’t see that coming. All right. Good to have a set of eyes in the palace.”

“Always.” Our arms brushed. “Hopefully Val will turn up something.” I wanted to ask him if he was concerned about the plague cases, but I didn’t dare ask with people about.

“What do you suppose is going on with your mother?” he asked. “Odd that she’s suddenly in the spotlight.”

“I know. I don’t trust her.”

He grinned at me. “Most people trust their parents and not strangers. You have a habit of trusting strangers more than family.”

I stared at him. “Have you met my family?”

He laughed, and let go of my hand to put his arm around me. For all my rushing in and trying to save the day, as Victoria so nicely pointed out, I was more than a little scared of what the future held. Vex was something to cling to. Something safe.

I called Avery once we were underside again. She wanted to know if I was okay, and what the hell I thought I was doing running into burning buildings and chasing down would-be assassins. And then she demanded to know why she had to
hear about it on the box and not from me when she’d left me eight Britme messages and two digigrams. I apologised, briefly caught her up on all that had happened, and then dropped the bomb.

“So, Queen Victoria wants you to work for her as her private guard.”

Silence. 1… 2… 3…

“You’re taking the piss.”

I chuckled. “I wish I was.” I went on to give her details. “I feel like it’s my duty as your sister to try talking you out of it, but you’d make a lovely spy, and she needs someone to watch her back. Someone who knows the real me when she sees me.” You know, just in case Ali did try to walk in with my face on and kill Victoria.

“I’ll do it. For you, and because I want to see her bedroom.”

I didn’t even want to know what appeal V’s bedroom held for my sapphic sister, so I filled her in on what we were up to, and accepted her offer of assistance.

Meanwhile, Vex made calls of his own. By the time we entered the plague den, we had the most trusted members of the were pack that were still in London as well as my goblins working on finding Ali and whoever had scooped her up. It wasn’t much, but it was something new, so we ran with it.

Val rang to say that Special Branch were doing their own sweep as well. They had a couple of leads he was going to follow up before sharing – which annoyed me. I was to notify him if we found Ali or got the plate of the carriage that had picked her up. He didn’t specify whether they wanted her alive or dead, but demanded that everyone in our search party should be given his rotary number.

I was going over a map of the city with Ophelia when Avery
and Emma arrived. My jaw dropped at the sight of my younger sister in the goblin den. When she’d offered to help, I didn’t think she’d meant right then.

Avery and I looked a fair bit alike, but she had pink hair, and was shorter and curvier. I was surprised to see her in black trousers and a frock coat. Normally she dressed like she was the icing on a birthday cake. Emma wore similar attire, and her black-and-white hair was pulled back from her gorgeous face. Vardan had had a difficult time of it when the two of them started dating. It wasn’t the fact that his daughter was a lesbian that bothered him, but rather that her girlfriend was half black. He was from a time when if you wanted to be with a black woman, you went to Jamaica and kept one as your mistress.

Really, the ideas some of these aristos clung to were ridiculous.

Avery hugged me as soon as she was within reach. “I’m so happy that you’re not hurt!”

“She smacked me around a bit, but I’m fine.”

My sister blinked at me. “Not that. I meant earlier – when you caught that human. No one’s sure what to make of you. I thought it was going to get ugly with the League, that they might target you.”

“They still might.” I knew that wasn’t going to reassure her, but lying to her wasn’t going to do any good either.

Avery looked at Ophelia. The second she made the connection, her mouth dropped open – just a bit. “Xandy, introduce us.”

And of course I had no choice. “Avery, Emma, this is my sister Ophelia.”

Poor Fee didn’t seem to know what hit her when Avery launched herself at her, grabbing her in a fierce hug.

“It’s so wonderful to meet you,” Avery enthused.

Fee patted her awkwardly on the back, looking for all the world like she had no idea what to do. “Likewise.”

I watched them with a mixture of amusement and trepidation. Should I tell Avery that Fee had known Dede? No, not now. That would only lead to questions I didn’t know how to answer. What Avery didn’t know couldn’t get her into trouble.

Such as the fact that I’d eaten part of my mentor, fed the rest to my goblins and allowed his bones to be used in the construction of my throne, which was right there in the great hall for all to see.

Also, it wasn’t my place to out Fee like that.

Vex joined us as my sisters pulled apart. He greeted the newcomers and then informed us it was time to head out to join the search for Ali.

“You are not going by yourself,” I heard him say to Fee, as he handed her a dark hat to hide her hair.

My sister protested – same as I probably would have. “I’ll be fine. I won’t go anywhere near her.”

“No,” I joined in. “Fee, she hurt Vex and she almost ripped my arm off. You’re not going after her alone.” If the goblins hadn’t already started their own search, I’d ask William to go with her, but he had already left with Elsbeth, his lady friend.

“I’ll go with her,” came a familiar voice from behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder with a frown. What the hell was Rye doing here?

He looked good – better than he had when I found him, at any rate. He was still a little too lean and had a bit of an unhinged look about his eyes, but at least he didn’t look feral and vacant.

And here he was stepping up to fight by the side of my sister if necessary. Had he developed something of a crush
while Ophelia helped him back into this world? If so, it appeared he wasn’t alone. Fang me, the tension between the two of them was so thick I could practically put my hand through it.

Regardless, I understood that he needed to be involved in this, and we could do with all the help we could get. Rye had been a better fighter than me back at the Academy. Hopefully some of those skills remained. It made me feel better knowing he had Fee’s back. “Good.”