Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire) (21 page)

I waited, heart pounding, fists clenched. My father’s throat convulsed and he began to drink. I think I could have bloody wept at that moment.

Ainsley gave him as much as he could, then Vex donated, then Avery. By the time he had taken from all three of them, Vardan had healed enough that I knew he would survive.

I sat by his side as dawn neared.

“You need blood,” Vex said, handing me a cup. He leaned his shoulder against the wall. We were in one of his guest rooms, far away from the chatter going on downstairs, but I could still hear it.

“Thanks.” I took a sip. AB neg, slightly warm with a hint of cinnamon. The comfort drink of bloodsuckers.

“William wants to speak with you.”

“Now?”

He nodded. “He says it’s of some importance.”

It probably was. I didn’t want to leave Vardan, though. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was worried about something happening to him, or whether I just wanted to be the one he saw when he opened his eyes. His hero.

He wasn’t going to open his eyes any time soon.

I drained the cup, licked my lips and rose to my feet. “I don’t know what day it is.”

“Thursday. I think.”

These last… what, two or three days? If that?… felt like an eternity. But then, that had become somewhat commonplace in my life ever since Dede first went missing and led me down this twisted path. There were moments of normality, of quiet, but when trouble hit, it threw one hell of a bloody party.

Vex put his arm around me as we walked down the corridor to the stairs. I leaned into him, brazenly taking advantage of his strength. Of course, I was standing on my own by the time we reached the bottom. There were still a few goblins around despite the hour – Vex kept his home sufficiently dark for them – and I didn’t want them or anyone else to see me weak.

Avery approached me. I noticed she had her own cup of spiced blood. She needed it after the amount she’d given Vardan. “How is Father?”

“Resting. Did you call Val?”

She nodded. “I told him Father was healing. He’ll be here as soon as he can get away from work. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” If I said it with enough conviction, that would make it true. “William wants to see me. Would you mind sitting with Vardan while I speak to him?”

“Of course not. I was going to ask you if it was all right for me to see him.”

I hugged her. She could be a proper pain in the arse when she wanted, but I loved her. “Thanks. I’ll be up as soon as I can.”

“Take your time.”

There were people everywhere, though not as many as there had been an hour ago. Most had gone home, Ainsley amongst them. It was just as well he was gone, as I didn’t know what to think of him any more. He was pompous and a bit of a knob, but he really had loved Dede, and he had helped save my father, so I had to give him some credit for that.

My life had been so much easier when I saw everything in black and white. Honestly, it seemed as though lately the entire world had been washed in shades of grey. Melodramatic of me, I know, but it fitted my frame of mind at the moment.

My father’s attack had been a message. They knew what we were doing, and they knew I’d enlisted his help. This was them telling me to stand the fuck down – just like when Church killed Dede.

Had they learned nothing about me from that? Of course not, because no one knew I’d eaten Church’s black heart. They might have thought twice about baiting me in such a manner again if they knew about that.

William was waiting for us in the downstairs loo. He sat cross-legged upon the commode – lid down – reading a copy of
Gentleman’s Edition
magazine.

“Looking to see what this season’s style of cravat will be?” I enquired.

The goblin didn’t miss a beat. “An article on baldness, I was reading. Your prince is thinning in the front.”

I smiled at his dry tone. If he was losing fur, then I was turning into a morning person. “What are you doing in here?”

Vex closed the door, shutting the three of us into the small room together. I hopped up on to the vanity while Vex leaned back against the door. With one finger he hooked the switch and turned on the fan. The gentle hum of whirring blades gathered speed above our heads.

“Privacy,” the prince said, tossing the magazine into a nearby rack. “A bit at least.”

“Why?”

A furry eyebrow rose slightly. “Vardan’s blooding. It was done by the abomination.”

I already knew that. “I smelled her on him.” It was one more reason for me to kill her. I should have done it when I had the chance. My life was full of should haves. When was I going to learn from them?

“Left by her was this.” He handed me a piece of paper he withdrew from inside his patched and shabby frock coat.

I took the bloodstained note and opened it. In my father’s blood was written in crude letters
THEY MADE ME
.

So I was right. It had been a message. “Didn’t take them long to strike.”

“It’s like they’re watching us,” Vex remarked. “Responding to our every action before we even finish it.” We exchanged a glance, and I knew I wasn’t alone in suspecting a traitor.

Worse, I knew he also shared my suspicion that the traitor was pack.

The paper crumpled in my clenched fist. “How can anyone force a creature like her to do anything she doesn’t want to do?”

My wolf shrugged. He was scruffy and tired and delicious. “They could have any sort of controls in place. Someone who can design such a creature is going to make certain he or she can control it.”

True enough. I hated the idea of someone controlling her, but at the same time I was relieved. It made it much easier not to put all the blame on her. I wanted to make her saveable, even when I knew she wasn’t.

“We still don’t know who ‘they’ are, though.” I rubbed my forehead. “Anything on CCTV? Was she picked up?”

“Black motor carriage. A Daimler. The licence placard wasn’t entirely visible. Val’s running it.”

“A Daimler? Brilliant. Any aristo or halfie wannabe pretentious arse in the city who wants a fancy outfit owns a bloody black Daimler.”

William cleared his throat – it sounded like a growl. “There’s more.”

“Of course there is.” I ground the heel of my hand into my skull. My brain ached. “What is it?”

“Tracked the girl. The scent led to the leech house.”

I stopped rubbing and peered at him from beneath the ball of my hand. I didn’t care how ridiculous I looked. “Buckingham Palace? You’re telling me you tracked her scent to Buckingham fucking Palace?”

He nodded. “There then vanished.”

“Could she have gone there to get Victoria?” I looked from him to Vex and back again. Neither of them appeared convinced.

“Inside, she went not,” William replied. “Leech queen says she knows naught.”

I could hear the distrust in his gravelly voice. I looked to Vex. He shook his head. “I talked to her myself. She insists she’s had no visitors. She even called the Royal Guard in to do a sweep.”

A few months ago I would have been one of them. “You
think she’s been lying to us this entire time?” She was in on it? That made no sense, and yet part of me was ready to believe it.

“No trust for leeches,” William remarked. “Never.”

I turned to Vex, my voice of reason. “Why would she go through all the trouble of making it look like someone was out to get her?”

He raked a hand through his thick hair. “Buggered if I know. I’ve known the woman more than a hundred years and she’s never been this duplicitous or manipulative.”

“She is a Hanover leech!” William jumped to his big feet. “Nothing but manipulative.”

I understood the goblins had been dealt a raw deal as far as the aristocracy went, but William’s hatred of Victoria always seemed much more personal.

“William, why do you hate her so much?”

One amber eye turned towards me, hard and bright. “Unfair that our lady was named for leech queen. Most unfair.”

I scowled. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

To my left, Vex sighed. “She doesn’t know, William. Did you not pay attention in your history classes, sweetheart?”

I glanced at him. “Some.” True, I hadn’t been the most diligent of students, but I had tested well enough, and I was strong – a trait that served me better than intelligence. I’d kick my own arse if I thought it would do any good now.

“Victoria was born Alexandrina Victoria. You were named in her honour.”

Bollocks. “I’m not the only one to have been named for her.” Neither of them was looking at me any longer; they were looking at each other. “All right, one of you needs to fill in the blanks for me here. I’m in no bloody mind to play games.”

“Tell her the rest,” Vex demanded, arms folded over his chest. “Or I will.”

William growled – a frustrated sound rather than one of aggression. “Do it. I will not.” He looked away. “Cannot.”

Vex nodded. His gaze was full of sympathy as he looked at the goblin. It was just as sorrowful as he turned to me. “William was born the Duke of Clarence. Does that ring any bells?”

The Duke of Clarence? Of course I knew that title. That was… Oh.
Fang me
.

“You’re her uncle,” I blurted.

“The younger brother of George the Fourth,” Vex added.

I couldn’t believe it. William met my gaze as I stared at him in astonishment. He nodded as my brain struggled to put it together.

“You’re the fucking King of England.”

“No.” William’s voice was low, but there was an edge to it that warned me he wasn’t going to discuss this any further. “I am not.”

I’d gone and put my foot in it this time. “Apologies, my friend. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He raised his hand to my cheek – the pads of his fingers were rough, calloused. “It is not you that upsets your prince.” He dropped his hand. “King I never was. King I will never be.”

He moved to the door. “Dawn approaches. I must go.”

I watched him leave. The door clicked shut behind him.

My spine sagged. “Knobbed that up, didn’t I?”

Vex did what he always did when I got my head up my arse – he came over to where I sat on the sink, wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. “He should have told you a long time ago.”

“It explains so much.” My voice was muffled by his shirt. “I should have figured it out on my own. Albert’s fangs, I thought I’d paid attention in history class!”

“To be fair, your professor might have skipped over William. Many tend to. Not good manners to mention the goblin heir to the throne.”

Good point. Of course they’d leave him out of the school books.

“He’s not the one trying to kill Victoria,” Vex said, misinterpreting my silence. “If he wanted to do that, he could have done it a century ago.”

I lifted my head to finally meet his concerned gaze. “I know.” None of this was the goblin’s style. He could be secretive and stealthy, but he wasn’t sneaky. He wasn’t cruel.

And he never, ever would have let them take me to one of their labs and violate me.

“Other than you, William’s the only one I trust implicitly.” There were things I would keep from Avery and Val – and had done – but only one thing I kept from Vex, and that was about Church’s death. And William? I’d trust him with my life. In fact, I had done just that the night I walked into the den and asked for his help finding my sister.

Vex lowered his head to mine and kissed me. It was better than any pill, any good news. For those few moments I felt as though the world wasn’t such a bad spot after all, and that everything was going to be all right in the end.

He pulled back, giving me a lopsided grin. “If we stay in here any longer, I’m going to have my way with you.”

I grinned. “Best idea I’ve heard in forever.” Of course, we didn’t have time for it. I had to check in on Vardan first, then I’d have to address the fact that Ali might be holed up in Buck
House, and I’m sure there were a dozen other things I needed to do.

I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him between my open knees. “Now.”

His expression turned suddenly serious, and after relocking the door he helped me out of my trousers and dropped his own. It was quick, intense and wonderful – exactly what I needed. Both of our spines and shoulders were a lot more relaxed afterwards.

We left the loo to some good-natured ribbing – people wondering what we’d been doing in there so long. They hadn’t seemed to notice that William had left ahead of us, otherwise I’m sure that would have led to some highly inappropriate jokes.

Halfway through one of my witty comebacks, a scream echoed through the house. “Xandra!”

My heart caught in my chest. “Avery.”

I shot forward, Vex right behind me. I practically leaped up the staircase, landing near the top, then ran down the corridor and burst through the door of the room where my sister and father were.

Avery stood over Vardan, trying to quiet his flailing limbs and arching body. He was having some sort of fit.

I immediately joined her, and only just escaped a punch in the face.

“What happened?” I demanded as Vex arrived at my father’s feet.

Avery shook her head, eyes wide with terror. “He said he hurt, so I gave him some of the medicine on the night stand.”

My head turned so fast my neck made an awful cracking sound. There on the small wooden table was a brown glass bottle with a dropper top, labelled as “pain eliminator”.

Eliminator as in the ultimate pain destroyer, death? Because that bottle hadn’t been there when I was with him, and I’d only left him for a few minutes, and now bloody froth was spilling out of his mouth.

I’m sure I looked just as terrified as Avery as I turned to Vex. “He’s been poisoned. What do we do?”

My wolf slipped off my father’s legs. “We have to get it out of him. Sit him up.”

Avery and I did as he ordered, holding Vardan so he sat upright. Vex prised open his mouth and stuck a finger inside. Vardan lurched once, then again, and finally retched over the side of the bed on to the carpet. I didn’t like the colour of it – blood mixed with something black and oily.