The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire) (35 page)

I smiled at his attempt at humour. “Where are you going to go?”

“I don’t know. Any suggestions?”

I couldn’t take him in. Even if Vex didn’t have plans to bring him into the pack, I couldn’t give him the kind of help he would need. Who knew what sort of damage had been done to him in that place? Fang me, I didn’t even know what they’d done to
me
.

“Yeah,” I said. I pulled my rotary out of my pocket and dialled. A familiar voice answered. “Where are you?… Fabulous. Can you meet me in Room 345 West?”

“Who was that?” Rye asked.

“Someone who can understand what you’ve been through and give you a place to recuperate. I think you’ll like her.”

We talked for a few minutes. Mostly it was me, bringing him up to speed on what he’d missed. I told him Dede was gone, and that Church had been the one to kill her. I did not tell him that I was a goblin. I didn’t know how he’d react, and he’d been through enough. And I didn’t want to see the look on his face when he found out I was queen of the very things we used to say we’d some day be tough enough to kill.

One of the guards knocked on the door. I opened it. “She’s good.”

Ophelia walked in. She was still bruised from her run-in with the Human League, but seemed otherwise healthy. She gave me a wary look. “You call me down here for a reason, pet? I was visiting my girl Annalise.”

“Ophelia Blackwood, I would like you to meet Ryecroft Winter.”

Her head whipped towards the bed. “They said you were dead.”

Rye studied her. His gaze moved from my sister to me, and obviously made the family connection. It wasn’t hard. “They were wrong.”

“Rye’s getting out soon, and I thought perhaps you might tell him why the pack would be a good option.”

“Wouldn’t the alpha be better qualified?” she asked, not taking her eyes off my ex.

I could stand back and let the two of them scrutinise each other and take the other’s measure, but I didn’t have all ruddy day, nor the patience. I grabbed Fee by the arm and hauled up her sleeve.

“Sod off,” she cried, pushing at me, but I was stronger, and I managed to reveal the rust-coloured code tattooed on to her skin. She glared at me.

Rye looked at the tattoo for a long time before raising his gaze to Fee’s belligerent one. Then he turned his left arm over so that she could see the underside of his forearm, and the similar markings on his own flesh.

Fee’s expression softened, and I watched as the two of them became kindred spirits without exchanging a word. They formed a club I would never be part of, despite my brief time in the Tower. Was I jealous? Not bloody likely. Although I had to admit to feeling a tiny bit put out that I was no longer needed

“Yeah,” Fee said. “I think I can help.”

I smiled. “Brilliant.” Then I gave Rye’s hand a sq
ueeze. “I’ll poke my head in at you tomorrow, dearest.”

Fee followed me to the door. “I heard what you did this morning. You saved a lot of lives.”

I wasn’t about to let her make me a hero. “Only because I am enough of a dolt to walk willingly into a trap. If it weren’t for Vex and William, I might still be there.”

“Well, remind me to thank them both.” Before I knew what she was about, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and hugged me. I froze. What I felt at that moment… I couldn’t describe it. My chest was tight. My throat was tight. My eyes burned. The first time I’d met Fee I’d liked her instantly, but then I’d found out who she was and what she was up to–and there was that unfortunate incident with me almost tearing her throat out.

Somewhere in this whole mess Fee had started to mean something to me, and now I knew I meant something to her. We weren’t going to be stealing each other’s corsets any time soon, but it was a start.

I hugged her back–just a quick squeeze. “I’ve got to run. Ring me later.”

Then I walked out of the room, and left behind that part of me that had never got over Rye.

Since he’d only been held prisoner for a few days, Val didn’t need to stay in the hospital, so we all congregated at Avery’s that afternoon for breakfast and to do all the talking that hadn’t been done last night.

Penny came with Val. She was different with me–skittish almost. She kept her distance, avoided my gaze. She might as well have got down on the floor and shown me her belly.

I hugged Val. “It’s so good to have you home.”

He hugged me back. Aside from appearing tired, he had shaved and showered and looked exactly as he ought. “I knew you’d come looking,” he murmured in my ear.

I smiled. “Tenacity is a virtue.”

He grinned back. “For you, perhaps.” He offered his hand to Vex. “Thanks for providing the ca”y iled. valry.”

“You’re welcome, but it’s the prince who deserves the most thanks. He’s the one who came to me.”

I owed William a substantial debt–one I wasn’t sure I could ever fully repay. Thank God for the goblins and their nosiness, or my disappearance–and Val’s–might have ended on a far less happy note.

Val’s dark eyes came back to me. “I’d like to thank him.”

There was more to that declaration than just good manners. “Honestly?”

He nodded. “I want to see the plague den, and I want you to take me. I think it’s time your old family met your new one.”

“I can arrange that.” I smiled. “But don’t say ‘old’. That makes it sound like I’m choosing one over the other.” I hoped it never came to that.

“Fair enough.” Then he hugged me again. “I’m sorry I was such a prat about the goblins and Dede.”

“I should have handled it differently. You and Avery were right to be upset.”

“It wasn’t right of us to turn our backs on you when you needed support. You would never have done that to us. It was bad form.”

I appreciated that and told him so as we walked together to the table.

Avery wasn’t much of a cook; in fact she didn’t cook at all, and with Emma gone, her ice box was next to bare. She was brilliant, however, at pastry selection. She also made a mean pot of coffee, so we all sat around the table with steaming mugs, and four boxes of sweet goodies to select from.

Val spoke first. He started by saying that he had indeed begun to look into what Penny had told him about Freak Show. After questioning Fred, one of the part-time bartenders, he was nabbed by the betties.

“Where’s this Fred now?” I asked casually, wishing the bastard was close by so I could rip his legs off.

“A cage,” Val replied. “Special Branch picked him up this morning. He claims he was working alone, that no one else at the club was involved. Apparently management was clueless. They thought the betties were coming round for a fix.”

“And that’s okay, is it?” I shook my head.

“I suppose they thought the little bastards were getting their blood from a willing aristo or halvie. There are dealers who make a living that way. I know of three impoverished aristos who manage to keep up the façade of wealth by selling their own blood. It’s not illegal, so the Yard can’t do a bloody thing about it.”

“What about the horror show?” Vex asked. “How did you find out about that?”

Val glanced at me, then down at his cup. “I found the number in a digigram on Churchill’s logic engine.”

My chest pinched. You’d think that I’d feel better about his death the more I found out about him, but it only seemed to make it hurt all the more.

“I’d intended to investigate, but of course you know why I didn’t make it.”

“I went,” I told him. He didn’t look all that surprised, and I wondered if Maine had told him. “Ainsley was there.”

That got a reaction–from both Val and Avery. After Dede’s affair with the earl, the two of them had shared my dislike of the rat bastard.

“Why isn’t he in custody?” Val asked.

“Since I freed the would-be entertainment, there was nothing to arrest him for. Besides, he’s the only one who can give us access to our nephew.”

My brother and sister fell silent, and exchanged a guilty glance. They hadn’t believed Dede about the baby. Neither had I in the beginning.

“You think he’d let us know him?” Avery asked softly.

I shot her an arch look. “If he wants to keep his liver he will. Vardan knew about it. It was his idea.” I didn’t relish telling them that, felt no satisfaction in it at all, but they needed to know what I did. No more secrets–unless I absolutely had to.

Avery covered her mouth with her hand, while Val’s brow furrowed. They didn’t say anything, and I knew they wouldn’t until the three of us had a chance to be alone.

“Nephew?” Penny asked.

I turned to her. I’d forgotten about her, she’d been so quiet. “Dede had a child with Ainsley.”

She glanced at Val, then back to me. “I thought it died.”

“So did we.” I snagged a cheese Danish from one of the boxes. “We were lied to.”

“How awful.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “Poor Dede.”

“You can’t tell anyone,” Val informed her. “Okay, Pen? No one.”

She scowled at him. “Of course I won’t tell anyone, you daft git.”

Avery took a sip of coffee. “So Ainsley’s involved in horror shows and was behind the rats nailed to your door?”

“At least one of them. I’m not convinced the Human League wasn’t involved as well. Ainsley was just trying to goad me into doing something stupid so Queen V would be rid of me.”

“You’d think she’d be trying to woo you,” Penny remarked. “Since everyone seems to have a hard-on for the goblins.”

“Eloquently put, Pen.” Val smiled sardonically. “Very descriptive.”

“It’s true,” she protested with a flutter of false lashes. She turned to Vex. “Right?”

My wolf turned a droll gaze on my brother. “It’s true. I have an erection right now.”

Laughter flew out of my mouth as my jaw dropped. I wasn’t the only one caught off guard by Vex’s sincerely delivered ribald remark; we all chuckled.

“Do you reckon Vardan knew about the duchess’s involvement?”

“No,” I said. “The night I confronted him, he was sincere. And Lady Gadling confirmed that in the Tower. She told me he wasn’t part of their scheme. I believe that in his twisted way he really thought he was doing what was best for us.”

“Surely he knows the truth now, though.” Avery looked from me to Val. “She can’t hide it from him for ever.”

I shrugged. “She might confess, but I suspect she’ll plead her innocence and get the family solicitors on to it. The law hasn’t changed that much in the last two centuries–it’s still biased towards the powerful. If she is found guilty, she’ll flee to the continent. I doubt he’ll go with her.”

“What about Rye?” Avery asked, effectively changing the subject to something more positive. I could have kissed her for it. I really didn’t want to think about the duchess right now.

“He’s in Prince Albert,” Vex told her. He had taken care of all the arrangements. “Two of my halvies are on guard by his door–boys he used to know. When I checked this morning, he was asleep. Had a bit of a spell earlier, apparently, but once he realised he wasn’t a prisoner any more, he calmed down.”

“We’re going to go by when we leave here,” I added. I’d already seen him, but I wanted to go again. It wasn’t a need to
be with Rye that drove me, but guilt. I was certain Churchill had got rid of Rye because of me. Of course, Church never came right out and admitted his motives, but I’d loved Rye and Church had wanted me. He’d tried to have Vex killed, so it seemed logical that he could easily have betrayed a boy who thought of him as a mentor.

It wasn’t my fault Rye had been handed over to those sadistic bastards, but I felt the weight of it regardless. I’d found him and he was my responsibility. I couldn’t just hand him over to Ophelia and walk away.

“How are you doing, Val?” Vex asked.

My brother nodded slowly. “Fair, considering. They didn’t do much to me. I think they figured out pretty quickly that they could use me to get their claws into someone much more… interesting.”

“That would be me,” I said.

“Obvious much?” Avery asked sweetly. “God, Xandy. It’s not always about you.” Her overly obnoxious tone made everyone chuckle. I appreciated the levity, and no
t being allowed to take on even more guilt. At this rate, Vex really would have to get me a cross and a handful of nails.

The phone rang and Avery got up to answer it. I snagged a doughnut from the box closest to me and bit into its iced goodness. Fang me, but I loved sugar. It was almost as delicious as blood–and made me feel almost as good.

“By the way, Xandy,” Val began. “Maine wanted me to let you know that the investigation into Churchill’s murder has been officially dropped. Seems there’s no evidence to support the claim and he’s been re-established as a missing person. A bloke in Vienna claimed to have seen him there a fortnight ago.”

I resisted the urge to look at Vex. “He always liked it there,” I said. What else could I say?

Avery shuffled back into the room, her face chalk-white. I dropped the doughnut into my napkin and stood up. Val rose too. “What’s wrong?”