God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire) (45 page)

I bent down and grabbed his ankle. The bone was sharp beneath the silk of his sock. His shoes were Italian leather, now scuffed and dusty. It took a surprising lack of effort on my part to drag him towards yet another doorway – this one a large, uneven hole in the wall. He swore at me, and struggled, but was too stunned to put up much of a fight.

He’d gone down so much more easily than I thought, and it wasn’t because he wasn’t a good fighter. He was. It was just that I had the advantage of being stronger, and hadn’t underestimated him as he had me.

I dragged him into the middle of the floor and dropped his foot. I kicked him hard in the thigh before moving out of striking distance. I watched as he slowly came round and sat up. Cautiously he pushed himself to his feet, weaving slightly.

He looked like hell, his ginger hair mussed, his evening clothes ripped and dirty. Blood was smeared across his upper lip. He looked wild and furious, and very surprised that I had stopped running.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew I was up to something. He regarded me as though I was a wild animal, one he was concerned might bite.

“What is this?” he asked.

“This,” I replied, holding my hands out from my sides, “is the great hall, and you are an uninvited guest.” At the sound of my voice, goblins began to emerge from the shadows, their furry forms seemingly made from the same darkness.

Church tensed at the sight of them, and turned to flee whence he came, only to find the way blocked by gobs.

“I believe you know the prince. You shot him a long time ago. You let me think he’d tried to hurt me.”

“He jumped on you.” Church faced me once more. “Anyone would have done the same if it happened to a child they loved.”

Bitterness blossomed in the back of my mouth. “You killed Simon. You killed my sister.”

“I did what I had to do for you. For the sake of this country.”

Maybe that was what he told himself to justify his actions, but I hadn’t been a consideration, not really.

“You did what served you best,” I corrected him. “And now I’m going to do the same.”

His gaze darted around the room before locking with mine once more. “Is this the moment in our drama when I ask what that is and you shoot me in the head?”

I smiled. “Not quite.” Maybe some day I would be sorry for what I was about to do, but right now I couldn’t think of anything that would give me more satisfaction, despite the consequences.

I turned to the goblins gathered around us, starting with the prince. “I am your queen,” I began, not the least bothered by the crazy-arsed smile I got in return. I was a little crazed myself, after all. “Each and every one of you is now under my protection, as I am under yours. Every one of you is my responsibility, and my charge.”

“And your servant,” the prince amended, with a bow.

I inclined my head at him. “As your queen, I have brought you a gift, and ask only that you take it, here and now.”

“What is it, our lady?”

I held my hand towards Church. “Meat.”

My former mentor’s face drained of all colour as he realised what I’d just done – what he had allowed me to do. “Alexandra, you can’t do this.”

I whirled on him. My fingers crooked, itching to gouge the
lying eyes right out of his fucking head. “Yes. I can.” And then to my newly adopted subjects, “Eat him.”

The goblins converged like a fluid mass – a single unit. The prince led the charge. Church tried to escape, but only made it two steps before the prince was on him. He swung his fist, but the goblin deflected the blow – and then lunged.

He grabbed Churchill by the throat with his teeth. The still sane part of me – and it was a little part, but loud nevertheless – didn’t want to watch, but I refused to look away. This was my responsibility. My choice.

I made myself watch as blood spurted from my former mentor’s neck. Forced myself to look as the rest of the goblins converged. His screams rang in my ears, and I knew I’d hear them in my dreams for a long time to come, along with the sound of tearing flesh and rending bone.

He stopped screaming just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, when the taste of bile burned the back of my throat along with my own screams for him to just hurry up and fucking die. When that silence fell, it was a terrible one, for it was filled with the quiet sounds of meat being ripped from bone, along with the contented growls of feeding goblins. I watched as an older goblin handed a piece of what looked like liver to a younger pup.

The prince came to me, muzzle wet. He went down on one knee before me, lifting his arms in offering. In his hands was Churchill’s heart. “Tribute, lady.”

I stared at it for a moment; the bloody mass of muscle continued to throb, too stubborn to stop. It mocked me as it pulsed – even though it had been ripped from his chest, it refused to give up.

My fingers reached for it. It was warm and slick as my hand closed around it. I stood stock still and stupid, watching it. I felt it beat against my palm. Once. Twice. Then it went still.

I burst into tears.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

I looked up from a box I’d just set on the table. Vex stood in the doorway, two stacked cardboard cartons in his arms. “Too late now. I’ve signed the lease.”

My wolf set the boxes on a nearby chair. “You think you’ll be safe here?” He glanced around at the somewhat shabby surroundings, which I planned to restore to their former glory. The house was in Leicester Square and used to be a public house.

“Safer than I will be in Mayfair.” My new house was neutral territory, and while humans lived in the area as well, I was better prepared to defend myself against humans than aristos. And half-bloods. I wasn’t one of them any more.

Victoria had made it clear that I shouldn’t live in what she considered her neighbourhood. Well, my father had strongly suggested I move, and since both Val and Avery were pissed off at me for not telling them about Dede or my secret, it seemed a
good idea to relocate. I didn’t mind – not really. This way my siblings couldn’t be used against me, and couldn’t keep an eye on me either. Emma would take care of Avery.

I didn’t know if my siblings were more loyal to me or my father, and right now my father was the enemy. I hadn’t told him, or Avery and Val, where I was going, and they hadn’t asked. I think Val and Avery were afraid of me as well. Maybe afraid
for
me too. It was a dodgy situation, and it hurt, but it was for the best while I sorted myself out.

“Did you hear that Parliament has declared Churchill a traitor?” Vex asked, carrying in more boxes. I hadn’t even noticed he’d left the room. Everything was still a little surreal, and I was still a little too self-absorbed.

At the mention of Church, my knees trembled slightly. When it had been leaked to Special Branch that there was evidence of illegal experiments in Church’s private office, they’d searched the premises and found the files. It was also circulating in the scandal sheets that he had been in on the plot to kill Victoria. The Crown didn’t comment on the murder attempt, but a statement was released expressing “Her Majesty’s shock and disappointment” over such a favoured subject committing such “vile” deeds.

“I did hear something like that,” I replied, opening a box of books that would soon find a home on the floor-to-ceiling shelves in my library.

I was the one who’d alerted Special Branch, and leaked the story to the press. Not only did it draw attention away from me, and Dede’s death, but it destroyed Church once and for all.

It also covered my tracks. No one suspected Church to be dead. Popular opinion was that he had left the country, as many personal items were missing from his house.

Those items belonged to the goblin prince now, as did Churchill’s spine. The rest of his bones had been incorporated into
the throne being built for me in the plague den. I wasn’t in any hurry to sit on it, but sooner or later I would have to.

“Do you know anything about it?” Vex asked.

I glanced up. I trusted him with my life, but I didn’t want him to know anything that might get him into trouble one day. Still, I’d had enough dishonesty and deceit to last the rest of my days. “Yes.”

He paused, cradling a ceramic temple elephant in his big hands. “Did you kill him?”

“You already asked me that.” I shoved some paperbacks on to a polished shelf.

“Tell me again.”

I met his gaze. “I didn’t kill him.” It wasn’t a lie.

Vex frowned. “I don’t understand why the hell not. After what that bastard did … I would have torn his heart out.”

Someone else did that for me.
I swallowed. I should feel remorse, or at the very least, disgust. I felt nothing.

“He won’t be coming back,” I whispered.

Vex’s head jerked up, but there was no censure in his eyes. No revulsion. I was fairly certain he had a good idea of what happened to Church in the tunnels. “Good.” He checked his watch. “We should get ready. It’s almost nine.”

A familiar ache blossomed in my chest. “Right. I just have to change. You brought clothes with you?”

He nodded. He’d been my shadow these last few days, with me whenever I needed him, and sometimes when I didn’t. I didn’t mind his presence. Vex was one of those rare people who was content with his own company. If I needed time alone, he’d wander off and give it to me, but he always seemed to know when to come back.

We showered together. He ran his soapy hands all over me – but it was more soothing than sexual. He took care of me but didn’t
coddle. I leaned into his touch as though I could absorb some of his strength through my skin.

I was empty inside. The spot Dede had occupied was hollow and raw, as though cut away with a rusty blade. The loss of Avery and Val stung but wasn’t as crushing. They would come back eventually; Dede would not.

After drying off, I put on a little make-up, re-pinned my hair and slipped into black trousers, corset, boots and a black velvet frock coat Dede had given me for Christmas last year. Vex dressed in head-to-toe black as well. We looked like a couple of crows as we exited the building.

My hair was still candy red, but my eyes had taken on a ring of gold around the Vardan green, and my skin was paler than it had been before. The supplements were completely out of my system, allowing the me I should have been to fully emerge. I’m not sure what I thought of her, but I was all right with her for now. Some of the new impulses and behaviours were strange and a little … disconcerting, but I no longer worried about my sanity or what people thought of me. I was still trying to suss out whether that was good or not.

I looked around, keen gaze searching for any sign of an assassin waiting to strike. There was nothing. Either I was being lulled into a sense of security, or I was truly was safe. For now.

I was goblin, but still looked half-blood – except when hunger or rage got the better of me. Two days ago a halvie doctor had approached me about allowing him to perform some tests on me. I admired his nerve, so I let him walk away rather than break both his knees. I told him I wasn’t interested, but I’d call if I changed my mind. He seemed surprised, as though a lab rat like me ought to jump at the chance to run through another maze.

“Have you spoken to your father?” Vex asked as we climbed into the Swallow.

“Not since he suggested I move.” I leaned back against the soft leather seat. “I reckon his loyalty is with Queen V right now, just as it always has been. He’ll want to patch things up with her and separate himself from his abomination of a child.” There was not a smidgen of self-pity in my tone, thank you very much. Just fact.

“Nothing from Avery or Valentine either?”

I shook my head and sighed as he started the engine. “Nothing.” The boxes of things that had arrived at my new house yesterday had been accompanied by a note from Emma expressing love and regret, but not from my sister.

Warm fingers came down on my leg for a moment before moving to put the motor carriage into gear. “I’m sorry.”

To my horror, my eyes began to burn. Thankfully, no tears leaked out. “It’s all right. They’ll come round.”

“Whatever you need, you have me and my pack.”

I don’t know what I’d done to deserve him, but I was eternally grateful to whatever made me go to Freak Show that night when Vex and I met. Once, in the wee hours, I’d entertained doubts about him, wondered if he was only after what I could offer him politically, but I’d quickly pushed them away. “Victoria won’t like that.” But Vex had made it clear at our little “faction” meeting that he was with me. The queen hadn’t liked it, but she didn’t make a fuss. She was a crafty old bird. I had no doubt she had already started making plans for me.

“Victoria can fuck herself.”

I smiled. “Can’t imagine anyone else wanting to do it.” We laughed together, and for that moment I felt better than I had in weeks. I missed my family, and I missed Dede like a severed limb, but there had been some truth in what Church had said that night in the tunnels. Dede had been somewhat mad – ever since they took her baby away. She would never have Ainsley or their child,
and it would have destroyed her. That didn’t excuse what he had done, and it didn’t make me feel one ounce of remorse for taking him to his death. Some people had to die, and Churchill was one of them.