The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire) (23 page)

What the hell was her problem? She didn’t like Vex because Ophelia was part of his pack? Did she blame him for Fee being abducted years ago and used for experiments? I didn’t flatter myself into thinking it had anything to do with my relationship with him, though it probably didn’t help that two of her daughters were loyal to him.

I took her by the arm, squeezing just enough to make my point. “If you ever put him in that position again, I’ll take it as an insult, and I have no problem with kicking your arse. And I am just an animal–a born killer–remember?”

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t push me. She nodded. “Fine.” No apology or anything. What happened to the sweet woman I remembered holding me as a child?

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” I told her. I had things to do–like go to a horror show. “You’ve said what you came to say and I’m not interested.”

I walked down the corridor to the front door and opened it. Beyond the shaded step the late summer sun was starting to mellow.

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“War is coming, Xandra,” Juliet said as she paused on the threshold. Ophelia shot me an apologetic glance from the pavement. “You’re going to have to choose a side eventually. The humans are tired of living in fear. Half-bloods born to non-noble parents deserve the same respect and chances as those with the royal seal on their birth certificate. The vampires think they’re superior, and the wolves want to dominate them. The goblins want to come cobbleside. There’s no such thing as neutrality, or there soon won’t be.”

“I already have a side,” I informed her as I crowded her out on to the steps. “Mine.”

I shut the door in her startled face.

“I’m sorry about Juliet,” I said to Vex a little while later as he ate his breakfast and I nursed another cup of coffee.

“She’s not your responsibility. She’s not mine either.”

Hmm. “Why isn’t she part of the pack?”

He cut into his steak. I eyed the pink centre with envy. “You don’t know?”

“I don’t know much of anything where she’s concerned,” I admitted. “She’s been out of my life longer than she was in it.” Blimey, wasn’t that depressing?

Vex chewed and swallowed. “After she was bitten, I let her
know the pack was there for her should she turn. She told me in no uncertain terms to go fuck myself. I tried again when it was apparent she was indeed a were, with the same result. One of my wolves bit her and she blamed me for it as much as him.”

“What happened to him?”

“He’s dead.” He bit into a piece of toast. “Why?”

“He’s as much a part of me as Juliet and Vardan. I would have liked to have met him.”

“No you wouldn’t. A were who attacks a pregnant woman needs to be put down hard and fast.”

“Were you the one who killed him?”

“Aye. Part of the job description.” He watched me over the rim of his cup, checking for my reaction. His confession didn’t inspire much more than minor disappointment that I’d never come face to face with the dog so I could kick him in the bollocks.

“I would think his death would give Juliet a little peace of mind.”

“It didn’t. I offered her sanctuary when I heard they were taking her to Bedlam. I don’t have to tell you her choice.”

No, he certainly didn’t. She went to Bedlam, climbed into a bed of crazy and was lying in it till this day. “I’m still sorry for her being such a bitch. Remind me next time I move house to forget to give my relatives my address.”

“You could always move in with me.”

I froze. “You don’t mean that.”

Vex shrugged. “At least at my place you wouldn’t have to deal with the League, the press or your mother. You’d have a little quiet.”

A little quiet. Fang me, but that sounded good. I hadn’t had
quiet in a while–and these last few days had been a cacophony of shit. I’d cut out my own tongue–and be completely happy to do it–for a fortnight of being bored out of my skull.

The dust had to settle eventually, didn’t it?

“You’re a doll to offer, but I would like to continue our relationship, and moving in with you and the pack so I can avoid trouble is not conducive to that goal.”

Another shrug. “Suit yourself.”

Was he hurt by my refusal? Christ, he hadn’t been serious, had he? And if he had been, why?

Maybe
, said a little voice in my head,
because if you move in with him, everyone else will assume the goblins have joined the weres
.

If the goblins and weres joined, they would be an unstoppable brute force. If the Insurrectionists got the gobs, they’d be a formidable covert force. If the vamps were the winners, they’d be politically buoyed by the increase in numbers. The goblins were strong, loyal and smarter than they were given credit for. Any side who won them would have an advantage. Plus, my mother knew that goblins saw themselves as removed from the aristos, and would have no problem killing vamps or weres if it was necessary.

My mother also knew that the goblins’ loyalty to me might easily extend to my family, just as Vex would know that that loyalty could also apply to my lover.

I ought to be ashamed for thinking it, but I couldn’t help myself.

Or
, whispered another voice,
perhaps he really does fancy you enough to share his house
. I opened my mouth to say something–anything–but he cut me off.

“We have to be careful tonight. Go in with guns blazing and we’ll make more enemies than friends.”

“I don’t care about friends, I just want my brother.”

Vex rested his elbow on the table. “Sweetheart, your brother’s probably not going to be there. They’d realise the risk in killing such a high-profile halvie in front of witnesses. If you want to find him, you need to be patient. Violence will get you ostracised and might get Val killed.” I must have pouted, because he continued, “I’m not saying you can’t break a few heads–just be smart about it.”
For once
, the little voice added.

I nodded. He was right, as was the voice in my head. I usually acted on impulse and had fucked things up as a result. I needed to keep calm. I wasn’t the only one with something at stake. If I lost it, the repercussions would come back on Vex as well. He didn’t need any more trouble because of me.

“My juice, is it worth the squeeze?” It was one of Dede’s old sayings that I’d started using.

He stared at me. Blinked. “I’m trying to suppress my inner schoolboy urge to say something totally inappropriate. Are you asking if you’re worth the effort?”

I nodded. “My life’s been nothing but tits-up since you and I started.”

“Being with you feels right. I can’t explain it and I’m not about to try to justify it. You’re the one who can’t seem to accept it.” He held up his hand when my mouth opened. “I know you’ve wondered if I’m with you for political reasons. That’s shit and you know it. You’ll grow out of this insecurity, because that’s what this is. I’m willing to wait. And before you ask, I’ll tell you–because I want to.”

As answers went, it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for,
but it was exactly what I needed to hear. No poetic declarations, no delicately worded half-truths. He knew me. Knew what and who I was. More importantly, he had never asked anything of me, even though I seemed to keep demanding from him.

ontHe kIf Vex wan
ted a partnership with the goblins, he would have made a move long before I entered his life. He was a sought-after bachelor. If he was with me, it was because he wanted to be. End of story. Why make a drama out of the one good and simple thing in my life?

“Thank you,” I said.

He was still smiling. His life must have been dead boring before I showed up. “I need a shower. You need to wash my back. Come.”

I didn’t wait to be asked twice. I put my hand in his and stood, letting him lead me out of the room. A little slap and tickle was just what I needed to take my mind off things. A short break before we left to go to a seedy building and watch someone being murdered.

For the sake of all in attendance, it had better not be my brother.

Later that evening, Vex and I left my house to go and watch someone be exsanguinated. It was one of the prouder moments of my life, I thought, tongue firmly in my cheek.

Someone from the pack had dropped off another of Vex’s motor carriages for us. This one was a sleek black Panther from the late 1970s. I slid into the leather seat and went over the plan for the evening in my head. When we arrived at Cavendish Square, Vex would go into the building while I skulked about outside, eventually finding my own way in. It might seem like unnecessary dramatics, but people would notice if I suddenly showed up at a horror show. Certain individuals–who Vex refused to name–had invited him to these evenings before, even though he always declined.

The point was, he’d been around long enough to know about these things and be trusted to keep his mouth shut. I, on the other hand, had not. And since the people who’d taken my brother might also be involved in tonight’s
entertainment, we decided it might be best for me to keep a low profile.

And that was fine by me. I’d rather not be seen at such an event. I wasn’t a good enough actress to keep my opinion of it from showing. I wasn’t a big fan of humans, but I wouldn’t want to see one drained of blood just for sport. I certainly didn’t want to see it happen to a halvie.

“Tell me again how these things got started,” I said as Vex steered the Panther into the street. I was still not accustomed to this much road traffic. Humans felt secure in this part of town and stayed out well after dark, sometimes by themselves. That was a rarity the further west you went. The only humans you’d find in the area around Mayfair and Wellington district were cabbies and people who worked for aristos, or in aristo businesses. I was fairly certain most of them carried silver weapons, or portable UV torches.

Here, humans walked around like they were actually safe. A few months ago I would have agreed with them. I also would have curled my lip at the sight of them. Now… well, I wasn’t about to hug one of them any time soon, but I felt a little pity for them. They weren’t safe. Not from aristos, or goblins… not even from themselves.

“I don’t know exactly when. The first one I heard of was when a young half-blood girl sold herself to the Earl of Bragstone for one hundred pounds. That was quite a sum in 1873. The money went to her sister, who was a widow with two small children. The earl was supposedly so impressed by the girl’s sacrifice ontHeTthat he invited several of his closest friends to watch while he drained her. I’ve heard that he allowed them to join in, but no one’s ever stated it for a fact.”

I clenched my jaw. “Bastard.” In those days halvies–long
before they saved the arses of many aristocrats during the Great Insurrection–weren’t worth much more than humans. The earl wouldn’t miss a hundred quid, and he probably thought it quite a joke that the girl would forfeit her life for such a sum.

Before finding out the truth about myself, and the world I lived in, I would never have believed such a story so easily. Now, I swallowed it like a bitter pill. “And they’ve been going on ever since?”

“At one time they were more commonplace. Prince Albert was instrumental in making them illegal. These days they’re extremely rare–or so I’ve heard. There might be one every six months or so. They happen more often in France and Germany. Russia had a spate of them a few years ago, before the ring responsible got shut down.”

Germany. Was that what had happened to Rye? Had Church given him over to be killed in front of an audience?

“I’m not sure I like how much you know about them,” I admitted.

He glanced at me. “Live long enough, you learn a lot about many things you’d rather not.”

“I know. It’s just… disturbing to hear you talk about it as though you were reading it from a book.”

“I haven’t any personal experience, so I regurgitate what I’ve heard.”

It occurred to me then that I was taking my apprehension out on him. This was going to be his first time at a horror show as well. Hopefully it would be the last for both of us, but the fact remained that he was only doing this because he couldn’t let me go alone. And because he wanted to help me find Val.

“I’m sorry. I’m just foul tonight.”