Page 79 of The Duke’s Bloody Bargain

Cara’s composure cracked for a second. Her aura flashed ash-grey with confusion. “I don’t understand why you want to help me.”

Alex frowned. “And I don’t understand why you don’t understand. It’s very simple. I take care of my courtiers. And I do feel responsible for not having listened to Irene and Darius. Also, I hope that what happened is going to make you think about your faults too. I don’t mean to preach to you, but if we want the Dark Court to thrive, we must work together.”

I was impressed, and so was Cara if the flash of colours in her aura was any indication.

She hung her head. “Certainly, this whole affair was a blow to my ego. But I’m more surprised by your kindness towards me…” She lifted her head. “From all of you, than by anything else. I’m many things but not ungrateful. I appreciate what you did for me. I owe you all my life.” The muscles in her throat worked as she swallowed. Dark blue sorrow glowed in her aura. “If you’ll excuse me.”

She left the room, but I caught a glimpse of her tears.

Darius clicked his tongue. “Not even I could have performed such a spell.”

I took Alex’s hand. “I’m so proud of you.”

He gave me a shy smile that brimmed with love.

29

BLOODY CURSE

Alex

When I’d interrogated Graves, getting coherent information out of him had been as easy as conversing with a drunk foreigner who didn’t speak English. He’d stuttered, contradicted himself, and repeated the same things a few times while shaking.

I didn’t blame him. He’d been tortured by Rothbart, and his sister was potentially dead, but when I’d finished talking to him, a splitting headache had hammered my skull so fiercely I’d believed Rothbart had let us find Graves on purpose to use him as a weapon.

Then we had to transport Lucy’s body to the mansion and prepare a plan to attack Rothbart while trying to find Bethlen. Easy.

A surprise attack was our best option. And if what Graves had revealed was true, Rothbart could be hiding in different safe houses scattered around London.

They were an old inn, an abandoned hotel, a hospital in disrepair, and the natural history museum of all places.

We had to attack all the safe houses at the same time to catch him off guard. The moment we entered one of his nests, he would realise we were chasing him and flee.

We had split into groups. My group would search the museum, or rather, what lay underneath it.

A system of tunnels stretched underneath the Waterhouse Building, and only Rothbart and his minions knew all the secrets of the hidden passageways. The maze had two openings to opposing streets around the museum, which he could use to escape in a moment.

Knight and his werewolves would attack one of the safe houses, and they’d eagerly agreed to help me after what had happened to Lucy. Or rather, Knight had been eager and his werewolves had followed suit.

Myrtha and Darius were with Irene and me, and of course a golden fairy in his silk suit and perfect hair—an earl of the Fairy Court called Lord Ebeneezer Morquen.

We’d split up further so that each entrance was going to be covered and controlled.

The location of the attack was a source of worry—two different exits, distant from each other, the museum was too close to the city and too big—but Irene’s presence was my main concern.

She was going to face the man who had destroyed her family, which would be devastating for her. On top of that, I didn’t want her to get hurt.

One thing was certain, tonight Rothbart was going to die.

I tugged at my buckskin gloves, hiding in a dark corner of Cromwell Road from where I kept an eye on the exit assigned to me. “Are you sure you want to stay? I understand if you want to leave.”

Irene’s face was half hidden by her scarf. “I am sure. I want to be with you when you find him. I want to stare at him without fear. I want to be with you when we stab him together.”

“And we will.”

Morquen cleared his throat. “That doesn’t sound particularly romantic.”

I shot him a glare. “Thank you for sharing your opinion. I hope you’ll refrain from doing so in the future.”