Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire) (15 page)

I arched a brow. “Don’t want to look like a politician.”

My father laughed. “Now I understand. But you are a politician, my dear. You became one when you agreed to be the goblins’ queen.”

“Yeah, I reckon I did.” I glanced away, then back again.

Vardan folded his hands over his stomach. “If this isn’t a social call, I’m going to assume you need something from me.”

I flinched – just a little. Hard to be offended when he was right. “If you’ve been watching the box, then you know the League is firing people up, and my mother has added fuel to that.”

“She most certainly has. I wonder who persuaded her to come out into the world after all these years? I always fancied she’d end up like Victoria, forever closed off.”

I stared at him. “Well, you did have her committed.”

“For her own good. I thought she was going to harm you.”

“You thought she might out me as a goblin.”

A slight smile tugged at his lips. “That’s the same thing. I won’t lie to you, not any more. There was a time when I wanted her as far from me as I could put her, and if she had died in that place I wouldn’t have mourned her. She… could be difficult.”

“Did you love her?” I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth.

“It would be more romantic and self-flattering to say yes, but the answer is no. I didn’t love her, but I was obsessed with
her – to the point that I made myself an object of ridicule amongst my set. When she… threatened me, I panicked. Not one of my proudest moments, I assure you.”

“So you had her locked up.”

He nodded. “I’d do it all over again if it meant the world not finding out about you. With hindsight, I should have killed her.”

“For wanting to tell me that I was a goblin?”

He stared at me as though I was speaking gibberish. “My dear girl, she wanted to take you out of Courtesan House and
give
you to the goblins. She said you were a danger to the other children, but the pills I gave you made certain that you weren’t.”

“Back up a tick.” My brain was squirming trying to figure this out. “Juliet wanted to give me to the goblins as a child?”

“Yes, but then you went on that class trip, and the prince realised what you were and approached you. Churchill shooting the prince in the eye put an end to talk of simply handing you over. I was worried they’d eat you.”

I smiled slightly. “They wouldn’t have.”

“No.” He frowned slightly. “I realise now Churchill didn’t want to let you go, even back then.”

That wasn’t a topic open to discussion. Just the thought of it sent a slither of unease down my spine. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“I know how much you loved your mother. No little girl should find out that her mummy wanted to give her away. That would have been cruel. I’ve been selfish and underhanded at times where my children are concerned, but I like to think I’ve never been cruel.”

“No,” I allowed. “You rarely were.”

Was that a flinch? Would he be happier if I lied and said that he was
never
cruel? No matter. We were well beyond all that history now.

“I don’t want to dredge up the past,” I confessed. “I want to secure the future.”

He raised his hands and regarded me over steepled fingers. “How do you propose to do that?”

I launched into my spiel, “We all know that we’re on the brink of war with the humans.”

Vardan waved a hand in the air. “This sort of nonsense has been going on in Ireland for years.”

I stared at him. “The IFA has killed four aristos and a dozen half-bloods in the past two years. And they’ve destroyed several aristo properties.” There were aristos in London who had fled the Irish Freedom Army’s wrath with nothing left but their clothing.

My father smiled gently. “You’re so young. There’s always been hatred and violence, Alexandra. There always will be.”

I shook my head. “I refuse to believe that.”

“You?” Vardan looked surprised. “My child, who once looked down her nose at humans as little more than ants beneath her feet, is suddenly concerned about civil unrest?”

“They’re big fucking ants,” I responded hotly. “They outnumber us to a frightening degree, and they have weapons that are very effective against us. It would be stupid not to be concerned. If any of you left this bloody compound you’d see that. Look out of your window, for pity’s sake!” The house across from him was one of the ones destroyed in the Great Insurrection.

All trace of humour faded from his expression. “Very well. What is it you want from me?”

“If we’re going to avoid another insurrection, we need to stand together – the aristocratic factions. We need to provide a united front, and we need to do something about these labs and the things coming out of them.”

He arched a dark brow, reminding me of where I had got the habit. “You
have
become a politician after all. The last time we spoke, I got the impression you would rather chew off your own tongue than become involved with aristocrat problems – or speak to me again.”

I fought a cringe. “I don’t
want
to be political, but I don’t see us having much choice if the humans decide to attack. We have to show them that not all aristocrats devalue humanity, that not all of us are monsters.”

“Nice sidestepping of our own issues, but I suppose those pale next to this.”

“You’re my father, I’m your daughter,” I told him. “What else do we need to say? I think you’re an arse and you think I’m ungrateful, but at the end of the day
you – are – my – father
. I came to you, and no one else, because I trust you.” And it was true, at least where politics were concerned.

His eyes – the same green mine used to be – lit up, and I won’t lie, my chest tightened at the sight. My whole life I’d wanted his love, and hating him at times hadn’t changed that.

“What would my role in this be?” he asked.

“To make sure every vampire you trust is on board, with all of us standing together to quell the human threat. Make this look like your idea, not mine.”

“I can dredge up the sympathy vote, believe me, but you could easily do the same yourself.”

“Yeah, but I can’t poke around and ask the right people the
right questions.” Here was the hard part. “Your wife was one of them. There have to be some people who are in on the experiments and labs who would want to recruit you.”

A flicker of pain lit his eyes and was gone in a flash. “You have a higher estimation of my worth than I. As the father of three
special
children who have had dealings with these labs, I don’t think they’ll trust me.”

“Special.” Such a pretty word for freak.

“They will if you put the thought in their head that you support the research.” I took a breath. “That
I
support it. That maybe I’d be willing to work with them.”

His eyes widened. “They’d never believe it.”

“That creature that got free and killed the motorist is my daughter.”

If I’d punched him in the face he couldn’t have looked more stricken. “No.”

“Um, yeah. She was created using my DNA, and I’m pretty sure the rest came from Vex’s son, who was killed a few years ago. Charming, what?”

Vardan was obviously shocked. “My God.”

“Vex doesn’t know, and you’re not going to tell him.”

“No, of course not. Xandra, I’m so sorry.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like I gave birth to her.” I locked my gaze to his. “I understand now why you conspired to hide Dede’s baby. It was the right decision.”

I think he understood just how much it pained me to say it, but if those bastards had found out that my baby sister could give birth to full-blooded children, they would have nabbed her too.

“Anyway…” I cleared my throat, “if you can sell that I’ve met my kid, that I’m concerned about her, that I’m open to the
idea of working with them, maybe they’ll reach out to me.” And I could reach back and rip out their throats.

“I don’t like it.” His expression was pained. “You’d be putting yourself in so much danger. Those people managed to sneak into my house and kill my wife right under my nose.”

“I know.” I reached out and took his hand. “That’s why we have to stop them. If you help me, you’ll be putting yourself in danger as well.”

He frowned. “I’m not afraid of being ended.”

I was. “They’re not going to end either of us. We’re useful.”

“How did you arrive at that conclusion?”

“They have to know the abnormalities in our family come from you.”

“They only know about you.”

Now I raised a brow. “You don’t think someone heard Dede’s rants about having a son with Ainsley? Even with his records doctored they have to have wondered about the kid. Why do you think they took Val? Hell, they’re probably just waiting to get their hands on Avery. In reproduction or monster-making, our genes are desirable.”

“Fang me.”

“Amen,” I muttered. We were more valuable dead than alive. Hell, if Church hadn’t decided to kill her, Dede would probably still be here, albeit in a lab. And there was Vex, protecting Ophelia and other traitors to the Crown. His son had been special as well – and was killed.

Christ, they had to be practically wanking off at the prospect of Vex and me producing offspring. I mean, look what happened when they combined me with his son.

“I think they’re going to use my doppelgänger to kill Victoria.”

“And frame you?”

I shrugged. “I doubt it. I think looking like me is just supposed to get her close enough to do the job. Hell, maybe they plan to have her pose as Victoria afterwards.” That might be a far-fetched theory, but it was less fantastic than some things that had already happened.

“Can she change into other people?”

He was definitely out of the loop. “Yeah. She says they showed her pictures and she turned into those people.”

“Extraordinary.”

“Scary.” I ran a hand through the tangle of my hair. “She turned into Dede.”

He stiffened. “That must have been painful.”

“It was.” And then, because I didn’t want to discuss it, “They already tried to kill Victoria once, but I thwarted them. I don’t know what the end game is – start a war, have an impostor take her place on the throne, both. I do know this country is headed for trouble if we don’t try to stop it. Stop them.”

He nodded. “Yes. There have been mutterings for years – anarchists wanting to destroy the Crown completely, who feel Victoria’s isolation is cowardice. They want a leader who isn’t afraid of humans.”

“Do they have anyone in mind?” I asked.

My father paused. “Not that I know of. Bertie is the heir, of course, but he’s always followed in his father’s footsteps.”

“Yes, equality for all.” I didn’t really buy it. Mostly because for all his charm, Bertie struck me as the sort who thought himself without equal. Kind of like his mother.

“Bertie’s not really much of a threat. Could be they’ll want to overturn the monarchy altogether, start a new government.”

And that would get mental very quickly. “The deeper I dig into this thing, the blurrier it gets.”

My father rose to his feet. “I have something to show you. I had debated what to do with this, but my conscience tells me you’ll know.” He beckoned me to accompany him from the room.

We walked upstairs to where the family rooms were, entering the one that had belonged to the duchess. My father went to a large painting on the wall and opened it like a door. Behind it looked like the rest of the wall, until I saw him press a tiny switch in the painting’s back. “I discovered this shortly after she… died.”

The wall popped open, revealing a safe. A rather battered-looking safe.

“I had some trouble accessing it,” Vardan confessed with the hint of a blush. He turned the handle and opened the door. Inside were a few jewellery boxes, some letters and a stack of journals. It was the journals my father removed.

“They seem to be written in a kind of code,” he told me, handing them over. “The entries range from short to ponderous, but there are drawings and such that lead me to believe that they have something to do with those horrid laboratories, like the one she put you in. Maybe you’ll find some names in them.”

I watched as his face twisted with emotion. He’d actually loved her, I think. He knew she didn’t like his children, but now he knew just how much, and it hurt him. He was never going to be a brilliant father, but at least he got some of it right.

I held the books to my chest. I’d crack them if I had to dig the bitch up and make her corpse translate. “Thank you. I’ll do what I can with them.”

He nodded. “I don’t doubt it. There’s a meeting of some of the higher-ranking vampires in two nights’ time. I’ll make a point of raising the human issue.”

“Human issue.” What an understatement that was. “Thank you. Vex is going to gather the weres as well.”

“What about the half-bloods?”

“Val was going to take care of that.” Better him than me. Some halfies didn’t take too kindly to me any more, given my change in species, and besides, I had to convince the goblins that siding with the “leeches” as well as the wolves was a sound idea. Plus, I had to prepare for my first broadcast interview. Just the thought made my mouth taste like bile, but it had been the only way I could get the vultures to stop pecking at me after the Freak Show debacle.

Fucking Penny. She thought she was being smart outing me. Maybe it had made me look good to the humans, or maybe it made me look like a fraud. How many people – human, aristo and whatever else might be out there – thought I’d orchestrated the whole thing? More than I wanted to know, I was sure.

Vardan walked me downstairs as I tucked the journals into my cross-body bag. He hugged me before I opened the door. I hugged him back.

“Xandra,” he said as I stepped out into the darkening gloom. I turned. “Be careful. Whoever is behind this is very powerful if they had both Churchill and my duchess working for them. God knows how far this goes. No matter how valuable you think you are, if you threaten them, they will kill you without a thought.”

“Oh, they’ll think about it,” I said with a small smile. “Just before I eat their liver.”

To my surprise, he smiled. “That’s my girl.”