God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire) (25 page)

The tension eased, and I picked up my fork and went back to tackling the two desserts that sat between us on the table. He’d left me most of the crème brulée. As disappointed as I was not to be ravished, it was nice to chat. Finally, a conversation that wasn’t
rife with drama. He had a lot of interesting stories to tell. When I asked about the Great Insurrection he said, “I don’t want to ruin the evening by talking about that bloody day.”

I understood. My only frame of reference was what I’d read in my history books, seen on the box or heard from Church or my father, and even then the two of them never relayed anything personal.

“Do you know anything about halvies selling their blood to aristos at Freak Show?” I asked later, as I ripped open packets of sugar and dumped it into my third cup of coffee.

“Fuck.” Vex shook his head, expression tightening. “You saw the room, didn’t you?”

I nodded, appreciating that he hadn’t lied. “Have you ever been in there?”

“Once.” He lifted his mug. “I didn’t stay long.”

I stirred my coffee, not quite meeting his gaze. “Have you ever been on the other side of the glass?”

“Christ, no.” He didn’t sound offended, though, which was lovely. “Feeding isn’t a spectator sport as far as I’m concerned.”

I managed to look him in the eye. “Have you fed from halvies?” Obviously wolves had to be more careful with their bite, but it was possible for them to take blood without doing much harm. Anything else was often treated by law as attempted murder.

Faded eyes met mine without flinching. “Yes.”

He didn’t offer excuses or apologies, and I liked that. He simply sat there and let me do with the information what I would. I smiled. “Well, you are ancient, so I reckon odds were in your favour.” Especially since he’d been around long before such things were considered taboo.

Was I making excuses or simply being open-minded?

He laughed at that. “It’s a wonder I don’t crumble to ash I’m so decrepit.”

My grin grew as I popped another bite of creamy goodness in my mouth. “I’ll make sure I carry a broom from now on.”

Finally, we finished eating. Vex paid the bill despite my insistence that I could cover my portion. He was old-fashioned that way, I supposed. We walked outside. Instead of getting into his motor carriage, Vex insisted on walking me to where I’d parked the Butler earlier. He even carried the box of pastries I bought from the dessert case.

“Thank you for tonight,” I told him as we stood beside the motorrad. “It was lovely.”

A faint smile curved his lips. “I don’t think lovely’s a word with which I’ve ever been associated. Thanks.” The smile faded. “Xandra … certain parties seem to have an extraordinary interest in several halvies, and you’re one of them. Your sister Dede is another. I’m trying to suss out why.”

I frowned. Where did that come from, and why was he telling me this now? “There’s nothing special about me.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, the leather of his long coat pulling taut across his shoulders. “Don’t be daft. You’re a very unusual woman – in the best sense. The old man wouldn’t have set his sights on you if you weren’t.”

“Church?”

He nodded. “He’s always taken a keen interest in you.”

“He saved my life.”

“Did he.” It wasn’t a question, but not quite a statement either.

“I don’t think I like what you’re saying.” I moved to pull away, but he reached out and grabbed my hand.

“You don’t have to like it.” Vex’s gaze and grip were firm. “You just have to be smart and careful. You owe yourself and the people who care for you at least that much.” I could have reacted badly to such darkly spoken words, but they had the opposite effect – they convinced me of his sincerity. This was a man who had a reputation
for being heroic in every sense of the word. He had fought in the Great Insurrection and was a favourite of Queen V, despite being a wolf. He could very well be working on Victoria’s behalf. For all I knew, Ophelia could be a spy he had planted in Bedlam.

What did that mean for Dede? I stopped my imagination there – wild speculation wasn’t the answer.

“Apologies. I feel as though the ground is shifting beneath my feet.”

“I don’t think it’s going to get any steadier. You have my support, for what it’s worth.”

I met his gaze. It was open and frank. There was nothing about him that suggested I shouldn’t trust him. And yet, he was still holding out on me – I could feel it. I reckoned he felt the same about me. “Thank you.”

We stood there a moment until he checked his pocket watch. “I have to go. I’m following up on some information. I’ll ring you when I get back from Scotland?”

It took me a second to realise he was asking permission. Big bad alpha wasn’t certain if I was still into him. Cute. “You do that, my lord.”

He kissed me – rather possessively I thought, all weak in the knees – and stood there watching as I drove away. A girl could get used to such chivalry, even when she could take care of herself. I drove home with an odd sense of contentment in my stomach, despite the feeling that Vex had made me feel like I’d dropped even further down the rabbit hole.

I ate the pastries – glazed and still warm – on the sofa, and washed them down with three cups of piping-hot tea in front of the box while watching three quarters of the latest
Mr Jones
series – a programme about a time-travelling alien who continuously saved the aristocracy from threat of annihilation in very confounding and amazing ways.

I hated having to be on bereavement leave. Right now I could be working, at a party or a ball, or maybe the theatre. Too much time alone equalled too much time in my head, and that was not a good place for me, even on the best of days.

What was I going to do about Church? He had seemed strange the last time I saw him. He didn’t want me to trust Vex. Vex wanted me to trust him. Dede wanted me to keep my mouth shut. My mother wanted my blood. Ophelia wanted … well, who the hell knew what that hatters bitch wanted? Why weren’t my records in my file? Who had them? What was so special about me that those details needed to be hidden?

My brain was starting to hurt from all this pointless thinking. Thinking did nothing. Action was the only thing that would truly yield results.

After taking my empty dessert box to the kitchen and dumping it in the bin, I toddled – yes, toddled – off to bed. My kit was strewn across the carpet as I undressed, moving between the bedroom and the adjoining loo. Dawn hovered on the horizon and I was exhausted. I grabbed a light cotton shift to sleep in and pulled it over my head.

Face scrubbed and teeth brushed, I climbed between the soft, cool sheets with a sigh, eager for thoughtless sleep. I heard Avery come in as I burrowed into my pillow. A few minutes later her soft footsteps came into my room.

“Xandy? Are you awake?”

“Barely,” I replied, lifting my head. “What’s the matter? I thought you were staying at Em’s.”

“I reckon she deserves a reprieve from my weeping and wailing.” She was smiling, but there was a wealth of sadness in her tone – and her expression. “Thought I’d come home and see how you’re holding up.”

She was breaking my heart. “I’m … all right.” When she
lingered in the doorway I knew the question she couldn’t quite bring herself to ask, and peeled back the blankets. “C’mon, then.”

The relief on her face was devastating. If I saw Dede again I was going to be sorely tempted to kick the little brat’s arse from here to Brighton for putting her family through this awful, cruel charade.

Halfway across the floor my sister stopped. “Ow.” She lifted her foot and pulled something free of it. “Found your earring.”

I hadn’t been wearing earrings tonight, but when I did, I always took them off and set them in my jewellery case on the dressing table. “Let me see.”

Simultaneously she slid into bed and handed me the earring. The faint light coming in through the windows was enough for me to study it fairly closely. It was one of mine, but it only took a second for me to realise where I’d seen it recently.

In Dede’s ear at Bedlam. She had been here. Why? It couldn’t be a coincidence given my run-in with Ophelia. I’d thought it had been dodgy, the way she insisted on hanging about.

I didn’t want Avery to see my reaction – neither the surprise nor the anger – so I rolled over to place the earring on top of the night-stand nearest me. “Thanks.”

I rolled back on to my side to find her facing me – an almost mirror image, complete with hand beneath her pillow.

“I can’t believe I’ll never see her again,” Avery whispered, her voice breaking slightly. There was no question who she was referring to.

“I know,” I replied, because it was the only thing I could say at the moment that was true but wouldn’t reveal all. Hopefully she’d think my hollow tone was from grief and not the fact that it was all I could do not to jump out of bed, go find my sister and come aboard her like a cinder that’s found its way on to the rug from the fireplace.

I stayed awake for a long time after I knew Avery was asleep. I watched her, admiring how peaceful she was. I envied her ignorance, even her grief, which I was abysmal at faking. I thought I would prefer that pain to the truth, and this gut-gnawing rage that wanted to take my head clean off my shoulders. There was only one thing that could be done about it. I was going to have to go back to Bedlam after all.

It would be rude of me not to return the earring.

Righteous indignation and hurt kept me awake for longer than I cared to admit. The sun was on its steady rise by the time I finally fell into a deep and oddly peaceful slumber. I didn’t stir until half past three. Avery had already got up, the spot in my bed where she’d slept long cooled. Yawning, I stretched and sat up, the smell of bacon and fried bread coaxing me from my little nest.

And then I remembered that Dede had snuck into my house – for whatever reason – while Ophelia followed me to Freak Show to make certain I didn’t go home and catch Dede in the act. And accused me of murder.

A girl simply could not ignore such offence. It meant going back to Bedlam, but it would be worth it to use Ophelia’s head to alleviate some aggression. Besides, it wasn’t as though the place held any fear for me any more; my mother obviously wasn’t hatters. The whole lot of them were mad, to be sure, but not in
that
way.

But first – food. I’d go to Bedlam later. Let the filthy bastards think they’d fooled me.

I pulled a kimono over my shift and padded barefoot down the stairs, following that heavenly scent. “When did you learn to cook?” I demanded as I approached the kitchen, only to find it
wasn’t Avery at the stove at all, but Emma. Avery was at the table reading a copy of
Good Day
.

“My mother,” Emma replied with a wide grin. “Good morning, sunshine. Hope you don’t mind me barging in.”

I smiled back. “Sweetie, you can barge in whenever you want if you promise to cook something while you’re here.”

She laughed, and Avery glanced up from her reading with a small smile. “Oi, don’t be flirting with my girl.”

“And you’re lucky to have her.” I went to fetch a coffee mug from the cupboard. “Any good gossip?”

“Actually …”

Something in her tone made me pause in the middle of filling my cup. Cafetière in hand, I turned to her. “What?”

She flipped a few pages back and turned the magazine so I could see it. I moved closer, still clutching the cafetiére.

Staring up at me was a photo of me and Vex taken outside Freak Show. I hadn’t even noticed a flash bulb. It was the night I’d first met him at the club. We were looking at each other like hungry … well, wolves. Beneath the picture was the caption
Sought-after bachelor Lord Alpha “Vexation” MacLaughlin leaves Freak Show with Royal Guard Alexandra Vardan. Is the Duke’s daughter what’s keeping him from courtesans and a mate?

“I spend one night with him and I’m to blame for the fact that he’s held off on marrying and breeding? Fuckers.” I tossed the magazine aside.

“It’s a good photo of the two of you,” Avery commented, picking the damn thing up again.

“They said it themselves, he’s sought-after.” Emma offered me a plate piled with eggs, meat and dough fried in bacon fat. “And you’re the first woman he’s been seen with publicly for a long time.”