Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire) (29 page)

When I was done, relieved and tidy, Vex carried me back to the bed and began unwrapping me. He also rang William, and sent a pack member off to fetch food and water for me.

Within moments William arrived – he must have been in the house, or just under it. Ophelia, Avery and Val showed up a few moments later, one by one. Val had a bouquet of bright, fragrant flowers.

“From Penny,” he said, putting the vase on the night stand.

“She’s so sweet,” I murmured. “Be a love and scratch my nose, will you?” Vex hadn’t taken the bandages off my hands yet. In fact, he’d only unwrapped one leg, and was inspecting it. He held the limb on his lap as he gently wiped away the dried blood with a warm wet cloth.

William then smeared the few remaining welts and cuts with a salve that smelled of blood and honey, and applied a light bandage over each area. I could wiggle my toes freely, and it felt lovely.

Watching the two of them fuss over me was comforting and touching. I knew they were responsible for me being alive. Maybe they had called a doctor, but I doubted it. They knew what I needed and had done everything in their combined power to make certain I got it.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “All of you.”

Ophelia didn’t tear up, but Avery did. Of course Avery did. She felt so much and didn’t care who saw. I would have hugged her if I hadn’t had a werewolf and a goblin standing between us.

“Fill me in,” I commanded of the visitors, so they wouldn’t just stand about uncomfortably weepy as I was unwrapped like a bizarre Christmas package. “How long have I been asleep, and what has happened in the interim? What about Ali?”

My siblings exchanged glances. Vex and William continued unwrapping and inspecting.

“Right…” Ophelia stepped forward. “Guess I’ll start, then. Rye is safe. He had a few deep cuts, and a broken collarbone, but he’s all right. He’s here, and wants to see you.”

I was glad. To be honest, I expected Rye to be a little odd with me. I’d saved him from that lab, and now I’d saved him again – with Ophelia, of course. He already viewed me differently – his not wanting me to know about his drug addiction proved that he was afraid I’d see him as weak. I didn’t want that deference, but I didn’t want it to turn to resentment either.

“And Bedlam?” I asked.

Fee’s expression tightened. “Most of the patients are fine, the dead have been buried and the survivors have scattered.”

“Most?”

For a second I thought I saw the sheen of tears on her lashes, but then it was gone. “Livia is in quarantine at Prince Albert.”

Livia. Was she the one that was raped by goblins? “Quarantine? What for?”

It was Vex who answered. “She was injected with a particularly virulent strain of the plague.”

“No.” God, I hoped this was just some sick joke.

Fee shook her head. “It’s true. She’s holding steady. They also injected Georgiana.”

It took me a moment to place her as well. I’d only seen them once – the night Dede took me on a tour of Bedlam. “The little yellow-haired one with the metal in her head?”

My sister nodded. “She has great healing capabilities, and the plague seems to have… changed her.”

I arched a brow. “How?”

“Well, the metal in her head came out.”

Fang me. “On its own? Through her skull?”

Another nod. “She’s also become stronger.”

My family and friends were all looking at each other as though they weren’t certain what to tell me.

“Somebody bloody well explain what’s going on!”

“She’s mutated!” Fee blurted. “She’s a full-blood.”

I gaped at each of them. “How is that possible?”

“This new plague is particularly aggressive,” Val told me. “So far it’s killed two humans, but this halfie and another human case have resulted in a transformation. The former human is now a half-blood.”

“What else aren’t you telling me?” There was unease in all their features.

“Oh, for pity’s sake!” Avery looked at all of them as though they were recalcitrant children. “The plague experts at Prince Albert seem to think the new strain was derived from your blood – at least part of it was. Or something.”

I stared at her. “Or something?”

“Look, I don’t understand all that science stuff! They made it from you, and used it along with your other bits – and Vex’s son – to make Ali.”

I whipped my gaze back to Vex. He watched me with an
expression I couldn’t quite decipher. “Of course I knew,” he said. “I had suspicions when she turned into him, but I saw bits of him in her later. The way she could shift.” He shrugged.

“I wanted to be certain before I mentioned it,” I whispered. It was a lame excuse, but honest.

Vex nodded. “I know.”

I swallowed. I didn’t think he was pissed off at me, but how could he not be? I just hadn’t wanted him to get hurt. Why hadn’t he confronted me with his suspicions?

Back to the bigger problem. “So, instead of trying to raise birth rates, these labs are trying to what? Make aristocrats?”

“It seems so,” Val replied. “Killing two out of three humans is a brilliant way to level the playing field.”

No shit.

“The League issued a statement demanding justice for the human victims,” Fee interjected. “They’ve got some of the families of the victims involved as well. The fact that there were halfies killed during the Bedlam attack has made things even more tense.”

So much for the Insurrectionists, but they weren’t the real threat. It was the Human League who wanted blood. How much more would have to be spilled before they realised we were all being played like puppets? “What of Juliet?”

Fee glanced away. “She retired to the country. We thought it for the best given the situation. She doesn’t have many friends in London right now.”

Val filled in the rest. “What she does have is an alibi for the night Father was killed, and it was obvious she knew nothing about it. She was manipulated into trusting the wrong person, who then used her to get into Bedlam so he could recover two of his lost subjects.”

I glanced at Fee, who was staring at the floor. I’d hug her if I was able. I reckoned Juliet’s removal to the country meant she didn’t want to see me, but that was fine. What would I say? “Sorry your fuck-buddy did you over, but what did you expect?”

“What of Ber—her friend?”

Vex looked up from unwrapping my right hand. “It’s all right, love. Ophelia told us who’s behind it all. Bertie’s carrying on as usual and we’re letting him, for now.”

I nodded, not the least bit surprised. He’d fooled everyone for years; he wasn’t going to slip up now. “No evidence?”

“Not a scrap.” He glanced over his shoulder at Val. “Not yet.”

“I managed to obtain a special warrant,” my brother said. “Special Branch is poised to search all of his properties tomorrow evening while he’s meeting with his mother.”

“Victoria? Does she know?”

Val nodded. “I had to go to her for the warrant.”

Good lord, my brother had bollocks the size of Big Ben. “How did she react?”

“My niece is leech queen.” William spoke in that raspy voice of his as he tended my lingering wounds. “Arrogant. But stupid she is not. Suspected already. Feared it.”

“It can’t be fun to discover your child has betrayed you.”

“We don’t know the extent of Bertie’s plan,” Vex reminded me. “We need to move and gather actual evidence so that we can stop whatever he has in mind.”

My brother agreed. “The horror shows, the laboratories and experiments. The abductions, deaths… we need to link him with those. Hard. Thanks to Ophelia’s recognition of his voice, we’re closer, though. Rye has given helpful evidence as well. We’ll get him for the labs.”

“And the attempt on his mother’s life,” I added.

“He probably killed Churchill too.” Avery spoke up.

It was just for the span of a heartbeat, but I froze. Vex and William, however, continued.

“Likely, yes,” my prince said with a sage nod. “Xandra, lady, most good it is to see you healing. Whole.”

That one amber eye looked at me with more pride and love than my father ever had. I didn’t care what sort of ointment he had on his furry hands; I wrapped my fingers – from the one unwrapped hand – around his and squeezed. “You and Vex are to thank for that.”

“And you,” Vex added, “for having the forethought to ring me first.” He didn’t look at me, but I didn’t take it as an insult. I knew how seeing me like that had affected him, because I had felt the same way when Ali mauled him.

“I didn’t want to be impulsive and reckless,” I told him softly, with just a hint of a smile. And then, “Ali. Did she get away?”

William growled. “Yes.”

Val cleared his throat – defensively, I thought. “She broke the neck of one copper and disembowelled another who didn’t get out of her way fast enough.”

“Have weapons, do you not?” William demanded, pausing to look over his shoulder. “Silver. Poison. Not used.”

“I fired on her.” My brother’s face was dark. I had to hand it to him for not backing down from William. “How did she manage to escape
you
?”

A long, furry finger jabbed in my direction. “My queen needed blood.”

“Ah, that’s bloody convenient then, isn’t it?”

“Enough!” Vex’s snarl reverberated in the room. He looked from William to my brother. “I’ve had just about enough of the
two of you. You both did what you thought was right, now shut the fuck up. Xandra is alive and that’s what matters.”

“The wolf is right.” William bowed his head to me. “Your prince apologises.”

Smiling, I patted his furry head. “I love you,” I told him. I looked at my siblings. “I love you all.” Then, to Vex, “And you… I don’t ever want to open my eyes and not see you.” That was as personal as I was going to get with an audience. The gold shimmer in his eyes made my chest tight.

Ophelia grinned at me. Avery burst into tears and turned to Val, who blinked profusely as he hugged her back.

A knock on the door interrupted the overwhelming emotion filling the room.

“What?” Vex demanded with an uncharacteristic scowl.

The door opened, and Argyle poked his head in. “Begging your pardon, Lord Alpha, but Her Majesty Queen Victoria is here.” He sounded rather… shocked.

Vex and I stared at each other. This was unexpected.

“Send her up,” Vex told him.

“Here, sir?” I swear Argyle’s voice cracked a bit.

“Aye. I’m busy, so she can either come here or wait in my study, whichever she prefers.” He went back to my bandages.

Argyle looked as though he might choke, but he disappeared and the door clicked shut.

“What do you suppose she wants?” I asked. “Attention,” William answered with a snort.

Vex slowly peeled away a piece of gauze that had become stuck to my skin by blood. “We’ll find out soon enough, no doubt.”

He was right. A few minutes later, the door opened, and Victoria walked in, no fanfare, no announcement.

Outside of the palace she seemed smaller. She really was
tiny as a sprite, but what she lacked in size she made up for in sheer presence; the room seemed to shrink around her. She wore black, complete with hat and veil, which she pushed back to reveal her face.

“Good evening,” she said.

My siblings bowed and curtsied. Vex bowed his head. The only one who spoke was William. “Child,” he said.

Victoria’s cheeks flushed. Good lord, she actually curtsied to him. What the hell was that all about?

Oh, right. Her world was about to get all knobbed up too, wasn’t it? Her son had tried to kill her, presumably so he could take that throne he had claimed to want no part of. And then what? He was going to unleash another plague?

I opened my mouth to say something, but… I had nothing.

“Xandra, I am most happy to see you recovering from your terrible ordeal.” Victoria sounded sincere. “I want you to know that every able body in service to the Crown is out searching for the creature who did this to you.”

“Thanks.” A little lame, but it would have to do. “And thank you for coming to call.”

“Yes, well…” She shrugged her shoulders. “I thought it for the best I come to you, given the circumstances. I received this earlier today.” From her reticule she withdrew a small black box; she came forward to offer it to me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“A rather gruesome gift,” she replied. “One that I believe means as much for you as for myself.”

Intrigued, I opened the box. It was the hinged kind, used by high-end jewellery shops. It opened to reveal a bed of red velvet, in the middle of which was a severed finger wearing a signet ring.

It was my father’s.

To her credit, Avery did not scream or burst into tears. In fact, her face took on a hard set, as though the bones beneath had turned to stone.

“Why would someone send Vardan’s finger to you?” she asked.

Victoria glanced at her, then back to me. “Because he wants me to know that he killed your father, and his own.”

“Who?” I asked. Was it too cruel of me to make her say it?

The tiny queen drew herself up straight. How did a woman not even five feet tall manage to look so imposing? “The jeweller the box came from was one of Albert’s – one of my favourites. Only a very few people know that.”

“Is Bertie one of them?” I asked.

Victoria nodded, clasping her gloved hands in front of her. “Yes. I suspect he sent a similar trophy to your mother in the country.” When I arched a brow, the hint of a smile curved her lips, but it wasn’t one of pleasure. “Quite clever of her to hide
her little uprising in a madhouse. You know, the previous goblin queen was much more forthcoming with information.”

She’d played this card with me before – trying to rattle me with talk of a previous queen. “There have been other queens of England before too, ma’am. Do they have anything to do with the fact that your heir is a psychopath? You know, when they lock him up, the first thing they’ll ask him about is his relationship with his mother.”

Vex sighed. Or perhaps it was a growl – a long, low growl. “Am I surrounded by children?” he demanded, his brogue heavy with annoyance. “There are more important things afoot than pride and petty disagreements. With Juliet gone and the Bedlamites leaderless, the League is the only advocate the humans of England have, and they don’t want equality, they want to
destroy
us. Our own kind conspire to unleash a plague that will kill countless humans and mutate others, not to mention the effect it will have on half-bloods.”