The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire) (6 page)

“You listen to me now,” Vex said in that low growl of a voice that meant business. I went still, my gaze lifting to his. His eyes shone with a hint of gold, but I was more comforted than intimidated. “You make your decision and you stick to it. It will be all right because there’s no other alternative. What isn’t fine is jumping about like a skittish cat. Do you ken?”

I nodded. “Yes.” He was completely right, of course. I always felt better once I put my mind to something. It was the indecision that made me hatters.

He smiled and gave my hand a squeeze. “I’ll do whatever you need to help you figure it out, though I reckon you already know what you’re going to do.”

Was I that transparent? Or did he simply know me too bloody well? I opened my mouth to thank him, or perhaps whine a little, but the sound of the front doorbell echoed throughout the building.

Vex frowned. “Are you expecting anyone?”

I shook my head, already rising to my feet. “Not a soul.”

I left the kitchen and walked down the corridor towards the front of the building, past the public room and the stairs leading to the upper floors. Vex slipped into the old bar and peered through the velvet curtains. When he came back to me in the hallway, he was frowning, but not in a murderous way.

He nodded at me, and I opened the door. Standing there in the narrow covered stairwell were two Special Branch officers. They weren’t in uniform, but I knew a peeler when I saw one. They were halvies as well–all of Special Branch was. She had purple hair and his was dark green.

“Yes?” I asked as Vex came to stand behind me.

The female agent’s brown eyes widened at the sight of the alpha. It was a typical reaction–he was unapologetically gorgeous. “Alexandra Vardan?” she asked, reluctantly dragging her gaze back to me.

I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. “Quite.”

She pulled her badge from inside her short, Mandarin-inspired jacket and flashed it at me. “I’m DI Cooke and this is DI Maine. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we’d like to ask you some questions.”

“You couldn’t call Her Majesty first?” Vex asked.

Cooke flushed. I fought the urge to shoot my wolf a rather pointed gaze. This was the first time I’d ever heard him refer to me with a royal title that wasn’t a joke just between the two of us. There were so many things I could read into the remark, or wonder about it, that I chose to ignore any and all of it. Instoor of it.ead, I reached back, took his hand in mine and smiled at the officers.

“What about?”

“May we come in, ma’am?” she asked, in that tone that told me I really didn’t have a choice. I might be a goblin, but I was still bound by the laws of the land. If I didn’t cooperate, they could make my life very difficult, and it was already dodgy.

I summoned a false smile. “Of course.” As they crossed my threshold, I couldn’t help but ask, “Is this about my brother, Valentine Vardan?”

The male officer–Maine–shook his head. He had a solid, thick eyebrow that I reckoned he thought made him look stern. I thought it made him look like a puppet. “I’m afraid not… Your Majesty. We’re here to ask for your assistance in solving a rather high-profile murder.”

I blinked, still holding the do
or wide open. “A murder? Whose?”

He turned suspicious dark eyes from studying my decor to me. “Lord Churchill’s.”

In some, panic inspires confession. In me it inspired the urge to rip the throats out of these two interlopers and suck the marrow from their bones.

Instead, I frowned. Tried to look innocent despite the metaphorical blood on my hands.”Murdered? I thought he left town.”

“That certainly seems to be what someone wanted us to believe, ma’am,” Maine informed me in a tone as flat as his gaze. “But new evidence leads us to believe Lord Churchill met a rather more sinister fate.”

“Oh?” How indifferent I sounded. “What new evidence?”

Fang me, but it was as though the bastard could see right into my guilty soul with those suspicious eyes of his. “I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”

“But you reckon I can help you in some way?”

Cooke answered this one. “We’re told his lordship was last seen following you into the tunnels beneath Buckingham Palace.”

“I suppose he could have,” I lied. “I went straight to Yersinia. If Church did follow me into the tunnels, he didn’t follow me there.”

Cooke swallowed. “Yersinia. The goblin den?”

I nodded, resisting the urge to bare a little fang. If I intimidated them, it would make me look guilty–which I was, but they didn’t know that. Or at least Cooke didn’t.

“You’re certain he didn’t follow you?” Maine pushed. “You didn’t see him, or hear him?”

I turned my head towards him. “I’m fairly certain I’d remember it if he had.” Church hadn’t followed me into the den. I’d dragged him into it.

“Ma’am, you should know that we’ve found evidence that suggests Lord Churchill was with you in those tunnels.”

Fuck, fuck and fuck. “Church is an old family friend. He and I often spent time together. In fact, I spoke to him before the knighting ceremony.” That was still a sore spot. I’d been about to be knighted for saving Queen V’s life when the goblin prince interrupted and outed me as their queen.

“Was that before lorhe killed your sister?” Maine asked.

Oh, I really wanted to eat him. I trembled with it. How dare he mention Dede’s murder in such a practised, goading tone. Vex’s hand came down on my shoulder, warm and calming. “Before,” I replied coldly.

“It must have been horrible, seeing your sister cut down by a man of whom you thought quite highly.”

“It was.” I held his gaze.

“Personally, I might want revenge for something like that.”

I arched a brow. “Perhaps you oughtn’t to have chosen a vocation that requires you to carry a weapon.”

“Did you come here to make accusations, DI Maine?” Vex
asked. “Because I’m sure you’re aware that there are certain protocols involved in questioning a faction leader.”

Maine’s sharp gaze moved to Vex’s. I noticed he had a slightly more difficult time holding the alpha’s stare than he had mine. If only he knew which of us was the bigger monster. “But Lady Xandra isn’t officially a faction leader, is she?”

I felt Vex stiffen, heard a low growl build in his throat. “Not yet,” I said. Perhaps I had made my mind up more than I’d thought. “But if you want to ask me anything else, you can make arrangements for me to come down to the Yard. Meanwhile, please feel free to search the tunnels and Yersinia for any more ‘evidence’ of whatever it is you suspect me of having done.”

Both inspectors paled, but Cooke was the one who surprised me. “Perhaps we will.”

I smiled–a tight, pinched thing. “And now if you will please excuse me, I am still in mourning for my sister.”

I could smell their shame. It wasn’t enough. “Of course,” Cooke replied. “Here’s my card. Please ring if you think of anything that might be helpful in our investigation.”

I plucked it from her fingers without looking at it, and stomped to the door. It took all my restraint not to rip it right off the hinges.

I wasn’t afraid of these two, not really. They could make my life difficult, yes, but there was no way they were going to go into that den looking for Church. They wouldn’t come out alive. The goblins didn’t hold themselves to cobbleside law, and they would take such intrusion as an act of aggression unless an emissary was there to moderate things.

Besides, there was nothing left of Church to find. Even his belongings had been reduced to ash and scattered in the
sewers. I didn’t know what this “evidence” of theirs was, but it wasn’t completely sound or they would have arrested me.

Cooke walked out first, but Maine paused on the threshold. “We all respect CI Vardan, but being his sister won’t earn you any favours, right?”

I met his gaze. “Neither will respecting him.”

For a second there was a glimmer of fear in his eyes. Delicious. Then it was gone and so was he, tramping down my steps with enough force to wake the dead. Cooke shot Vex an apologetic glance, but didn’t bother looking at me. Cow. I shut the door–hard–and tossed her card on to the small table by the coat rack. Then I stomped into the bar and yanked back the curtain, watching the two of them until they got into their boxy motor carriage.

“Fucking brilliant,” I muttered as I let the velvet drop. I rubbed my forehead and turned to find Vex leaning against the wall, arms folded over his chest. “Aren’t you glad you came b’d you cack?”

One corner of his lips tilted up as he lowered his arms. “Come here.”

I went without hesitation, straight into his embrace. “If Val were here, he could find out what they have for evidence.” One more reason I hoped he wasn’t in trouble.

“It’s not much,” he said. I could feel the rumble of his voice where my head lay on his chest. “They wouldn’t have left so quickly if they had anything concrete. They were just trying to throw you off. You did very well.”

I snorted. “If you say so. I’m not going to Newgate for that bastard.”

“You won’t.” He gave me a squeeze. “They won’t brave the goblins.”

“They braved coming here.”

“Because they were told to.”

I lifted my head to look him in the eye. “What are you saying?”

“You must be worried if you’re not being paranoid.” There was a touch of humour in his tone, but he was serious. I wasn’t offended. I usually was quite paranoid. There was a stillness here that I’d never experienced before. I was a nocturnal creature, accustomed to living amongst others of my kind. The relative silence of the neighbourhood at this hour unsettled me. If I was honest, it was the humans who caused that silence that truly unnerved me. There were so many of them.

“Think about it. Who does Special Branch look out for?”

“Halvies and aristos,” I replied easily, turning my mind from humans and their silence. As far as tests went, so far it was easy.

“And who do they answer to?”

“The PM.”

“And?”

My shoulders slumped. How could I have been so dense? “Victoria.”

He didn’t give me a condescending look or pat me on the head. “It’s the perfect way for her to fuck with you and keep her own hands clean.”

Because I didn’t have enough going on without the most powerful woman in the world out for my throat. “She might send them into the den.”

Vex shook his head. “I’ve known her for a century and a half, and she’s always been a decent strategist. She knows what’s in her best interests, and risking war with the goblins isn’t.”

“But I am a goblin.”

“Are you?” His blunt gaze locked with mine. “I thought that was one of those things you weren’t ready to deal with.”

Ouch. “Well played.”

He didn’t look the least bit sorry. “She wants you gone, and if you take that crown, you’ll have power. Real power. I don’t think you understand just how much.”

He was right, I didn’t. “Do you think I should take it then?” It mattered what he thought. I was two and twenty–older than Victoria was when she became queen–but I felt like a kid, young and frightened of the world.

Fortunately for me, I was a little like a rat when it came to fear. Back me into a corner and I’d claw and chew my way out.

“I think you should forget about the goblins and Her Nibs for the moment and concentrate on what’s really important–making sure Val is safe. Let’s go to Freak Show.”

If I’d been tired before the peelers showed up, I was exh I p, I waausted now. Still, I grabbed my key, made sure I had my dagger, and followed Vex out into the night. In a few hours the sky would begin to lighten and this neighbourhood would wake up, but right now, it was that damned quiet. Oh, there was the odd human stumbling about, but most of them were home, safely tucked up in their beds where night creatures couldn’t prey upon them. Street lights and traffic lights seemed extra bright without the competition of passing head-lamps.

The night was just empty enough that I felt very insignificant and alone.

But I was neither of those things, I reminded myself as Vex opened the door to his vintage Sparrow motor carriage. It was silver and sleek, low to the ground, with tinted windows. I slid
into the plush leather seat and leaned my head against the rest. He pressed a button on the front console and the engine roared to life.

We manoeuvred through the maze of narrow one-way streets and headed east towards Covent Garden. It wasn’t very far from where I lived to the “neutral” territory where Freak Show and a host of other human- and aristo-friendly establishments did business.

“Do you believe that I didn’t kill him?” I asked, tearing my gaze away from the passenger window.

Vex shot me a glance, but quickly returned his attention to the road. “I don’t care if you did or not.”

“Yes, but what do you
believe
?” Suddenly it was very important to me to hear the answer.

His lips twisted. “I didn’t get to be alpha by being obtuse, sweetheart. I know you led him into that den knowing exactly what was going to happen. You’d never be free of him if you hadn’t.”