Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire) (18 page)

“She doesn’t know what she’s doing,” I replied. Only then did I realise how utterly stupid I’d been. “I thought I could help her.”

Victoria snorted – not very ladylike at all. “You thought you could be a hero, that’s what you thought. Queen Xandra saves the day.
Again
. You do realise that because of your actions, we have a monster with a taste for human meat running loose in the city?”

I nodded, duly chastised. “I do.”

“Well?” she demanded when I said nothing more. “What are you going to do about it, you who must fix everything and everyone whether they want it or not?”

My temper flared. “You’re putting this on me? I’m not the one people want to kill.”

“Oh, of course you are!” she snapped back. “You have power, and everyone who has power has a target on their fucking forehead! She’ll come for me and she’ll come for you. Stop whining about it and tell me how we’re going to fix this!”

We stared at one another. Vex, bless him, ate a sandwich. I’d no doubt he was simply waiting for this pissing competition to end.

Bertie cleared his throat. He sat beside my mother, who was strangely quiet, watching Victoria and me with barely concealed amusement. “Pardon me, Xandra, but what did you mean when you insinuated that people want Mother dead?”

I glanced at him, then immediately back at Victoria. Taking my attention off her was as intelligent as ignoring a poisonous snake. “At the jubilee, when I took a bullet for
Her Majesty
” – it didn’t hurt to remind her of that fact – “the assassination attempt was orchestrated by Churchill. He was also involved with the group behind the laboratories. I got the sense that he wasn’t the only one who wanted you gone.”

Victoria arched a brow. “It took you months to come to that conclusion?”

William bristled. “Respect, leech.”

I put my hand on his arm and scowled at the tiny woman. “Oh, come on. You’re not so out of touch that you don’t know people would dance at your funeral.”

Her other brow joined the first. “Touché. But what has that to do with the killing machine running amok?”

I crossed my legs and leaned forward. “What if these experiments haven’t been about me?”

“Oh no. Surely it has
all
been about you.”

Bitch. I drew a deep breath. “I think it started out as a reproductive issue, but then it quickly turned into a lesson in building the perfect monster. Why? To kill you. Now, who would want to kill someone as revered and adored as you?” If sarcasm were saliva, I’d be frothing at the mouth.

She was unmoved. “Why now?”

“Why not?” Vex retorted, finally joining in. He leaned back in his chair, arm draped over the back. “While you’re busy dealing with a new queen” – he gestured at me – “and trouble from the Human League, you’d be distracted just enough for someone to take your head and blame it on the humans.”

“So.” I jumped back in. “Who has the most to gain by wanting you dead?”

We all turned our heads. My mother gave a little jump. Guilty conscience? I frowned.

Bertie placed his hand over his chest. “Me? Is that the best you can come up with?”

I shrugged, my attention taken from my mother. “You’d be king.”

“Yes, and then someone would want to kill me too! You’d have to be insane to want to rule this cluster fuck of an empire. No offence, Mother.”

The royal family were much coarser than I’d ever thought. Such language.

Victoria inclined her head. “None taken, dear boy.” Then to me, “There seems to be someone who wants me gone every decade or so. It never comes to anything, so why should I expect otherwise now?”

I stared at her. “Because now they’ve engineered a being capable of doing it without raising any alarms.”

“You truly believe it was made to be my assassin? I have trouble believing that. It seems a little… much, don’t you think?”

Bertie nodded. “True. If these aristocrats with the laboratories wanted Mother dead, they could achieve such an end simply by paying her a visit. I’m certain they could manage it with a bit more civility.”

The skin between my brows itched. Civility. Like what they gave the duchess? I glanced at my father to find him watching the Prince of Wales with no expression. His gaze flicked to mine, and I could see he’d had the same thought.

“Maybe they want to put the blame on someone else,” Vex suggested, saving my theory so deftly that I could have kissed him.

“The girl – the creature – it has the power to shift,” William added. “Could wear any face to spill blood.”

When William and Vex were on the same scent, I knew enough to follow. I didn’t like where this trail led. There was a heaviness in my stomach when I turned to Victoria. “It’s true. She could walk in here looking just like me, or someone else. She could make it look like I killed you.” I should have known that wearing my face would serve more of a purpose than getting close.

“She could start a war,” Vex announced, putting a fine point on my paranoia with his matter-of-fact tone. “Not just with the humans, but within the factions themselves. And with Hanover connections to most ruling families across Europe, that war wouldn’t be limited to just Britain.”

We all shared a grave gaze. What would we do if war broke out? Not just civil unrest, but a continental conflict. England hadn’t been to war in… fang me, a century and a half, maybe two. Wellington had led us to victory, but he was long gone. We had no army, no navy – or at least not much of one. We relied on claw and fang to keep us safe. On half-bloods. We would be no match for armed humans. Oh, we’d kill a few, but they’d drive us underside. And if our aristo factions were set against one another…

What if the Americans showed up? From what little I knew about them, they were a well-armed country, determined to preserve their way of life, and that way was
not
our way.

Why would anyone want to instigate such a thing?

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Victoria said softly. There was a steely edge to her voice that relieved my anxiety. “We do not know what this creature is about. I do not care what it is about. It is a danger to our way of life, to our safety
and to
my
empire. I want it destroyed by any means necessary. I want this contained.” Her gimlet gaze slipped to my mother. “I want the humans mollified. I will have order. I will not allow any more bloodshed. Do whatever you must to make certain that happens.”

That was a dismissal if ever I heard one. Not much of a meeting, but then she’d only asked for it to let me know I’d been caught hiding Ali and to lay down the law. She might as well have grabbed us all by the back of the neck with her teeth and mounted us, she’d done such a proper job of asserting her dominance.

“One more thing,” Vex said, stopping everyone as they began to rise. We sat down again.

“Well?” Victoria snapped, clearly peeved.

The alpha wasn’t the least bit cowed. “We discovered a human corpse in the same lab where the creature was held. When I had it examined, I was told that he had died from a previously unknown strain of plague.”

I didn’t think Victoria could get any paler. Apparently she could. “Are you certain?”

Something about her tone set off warning bells in my head.

“Yes,” Vex replied, and from the inside pocket of his coat he withdrew some folded papers – copies of the lab report. He handed them to her.

As she scanned them, Victoria’s jaw tightened. “This is the second incident. Three days ago, sanitation workers found a body in the sewers that had died from the same thing. Fortunately their gear saved them from infection.”

“Second?” I cried at the same time as everyone else. One infection in a lab was one thing, but a second found outside of a laboratory was unsettling.

I wasn’t worried about catching the plague, even if it was a new strain. Those of us of plagued blood had a strange immunity to it even as it changed us into something more. No, I wasn’t worried about me, but it might affect halfies and humans, and if it went like last time…

We all looked at each other. “What do we do?” I asked. Revealing it to the public would be disastrous – it would drive the populace into a panic – but keeping it a secret was wrong and dangerous.

“We wait,” Victoria decreed, voice firm. “If more cases show up, we’ll release what we know to the public. Meanwhile, is that corpse at Prince Albert Hospital, MacLaughlin?”

Vex shook his head. “No, but it can be. Just tell me who to deliver it to.”

Her Nibs nodded. “Thank you. Another case to study will facilitate our team’s search for treatment.” She sounded so convinced that I believed her. That was the mark of a strong leader, someone who could inspire such certainty in her people. I might not like her, or really trust her, but there was a lot I could learn from the harpy.

I looked at Juliet to find her watching me with a stricken expression.

“I bid you all good evening,” Victoria said, rising. “As you may assume, I have people to whom I need to speak immediately.”

We all rose. My mother practically lunged out of her chair towards me, grabbing me by the arm with deceptively strong fingers.

“My children,” she said.

I covered her hand with my own, prising her fingers loose with as much care as I could. “Will be fine, I’m certain.”

“Ophelia.” Juliet glanced away. “She hasn’t spoken to me in days. We had… a disagreement. You will look out for her, won’t you? Protect her?”

The more time I spent in this world, the more I came to marvel at the shades of grey from which it was made. No one was completely good nor completely evil, and people I loved proved themselves capable of being monsters, while those who seemed so black astonished me with all their patches of light.

“Yes,” I promised. “I will.” I meant it too. I would do everything I could to protect my sister.

Juliet’s shoulders sagged. For a moment, she almost looked like a frightened mother ought. I watched her leave with a heavy heart. I savoured the sensation, because I was jaded enough to know my sympathy wouldn’t last long.

As we were leaving, Victoria asked me to stay for a moment. Vex said he’d wait for me in the foyer.

I stood my ground as the tiny little vampire – the Blood Queen – approached me. “Going to take another round at buggering me?” I asked.

She frowned. “Don’t be crass. It’s beneath you.”

This from the woman who could make a fishwife blush. “I don’t know what my mother is up to, so don’t ask me. Although I hear she might be getting a little slap and tickle.”

Victoria gave me a look that seemed to say “Bitch, please.” “Juliet Claire is not half the woman her grandmother was. She’s no concern to me.”

Now I frowned. “Her grandmother?”

That severe little face slackened in surprise. I’d have taken satisfaction in it if I hadn’t had a horrible feeling she was about to deliver some very interesting news.

“Eliza Prentiss. Surely you know the name.”

A punch couldn’t have taken the breath from my lungs any more effectively. Elizabeth Prentiss had been one of the leaders – if not
the
leader – of the Great Insurrection. A hero amongst humans, a great villain amongst the aristocracy. And she was my great-grandmother.

Albert’s fangs. No wonder Victoria distrusted me. No wonder I made the perfect science experiment – the perfect scapegoat. I was just a regular little hodge-podge for everyone. A little rebel, a little aristo, a little goblin. Before, I’d thought predictability was akin to vulnerability. Now, I was convinced it was ignorance of your place in the world that led down the road to having your head cleaved from your shoulders.

“You honestly didn’t know?”

I shook my head. “I knew my grandmother was Alyss Claire, that was it.”

“Claire was her middle name. I suppose Eliza wanted her daughter to grow up without the scandal hanging over her.”

But Alyss was human. Why not raise her to be proud? I glanced at Victoria. “Why didn’t you just kill her?”

“Kill an innocent child?” Affront dripped from her words. “That’s barbaric. Besides, who blames a child for her mother’s mistakes?”

Who indeed
. My head was spinning. I needed it to stop, so I shook it. “You didn’t keep me here for a genealogy lesson.”

Any concern Victoria had for me dissolved from her face as her features became impassive once more. “You have a sister who was formerly Peerage Protectorate, yes?”

I nodded. “Avery. Lady Maplethrope dismissed her last month.” It seemed the lady hadn’t been aware of my sister’s sexual orientation, and when she found out, she decided she
didn’t want Avery anywhere near her precious daughter. I reckon she was worried that being a lesbian was contagious, and like all aristos, she was bent on seeing her line continue.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t against the law for her to dismiss my sister. There weren’t many laws at all regarding the rights of half-bloods, and while most would agree that Lady M was a ragged old bint, no one could make her take Avery back into her employ.

More importantly, no one could make Avery go back even if the cow wanted her.

“Is she like you, this Avery?”

I raised a brow. Was that a sneer? “She lacks my charm and grace, but she can hold her own against trouble. She’s strong, and she’s smart. She’s never had an aristo injured under her watch.”

“What about her attitude?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “She’s nicer than I am.”

“That’s not saying much, though, is it?” Victoria sighed. “You trust her?”

“With my life,” I responded without hesitation or condescension. Avery and I had our differences, but we were sisters, and we were always there for one another when it truly counted – even if we were at each other’s throats the entire time. We’d had a few moments when we didn’t speak, but we always worked it out. Being an only child, Victoria had never known that kind of relationship.

“Tell her to come to me at her earliest convenience. I wish to offer her a position.”

“Doing what?” I demanded incredulously.

Bright eyes narrowed at me. “Washing windows.” She was so cold, her words had frost on them. “I wish to hire her services as a guard, of course.”