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We covered a lot of ground, winding like a centipede through a warren of hallways and crossways, this-ways and that-ways. Until my head was spinning and I didn’t have any idea where we were. But I guess the boys did, because the fluttering suddenly intensified, and then we were spilling out of a tight passageway into a huge, sunny room.
It actually wasn’t sunny, of course, but it gave that impression. It was big, with high ceilings and chandeliers that rivaled Radu’s, and a nice, soft yellow paint job. There were coordinating draperies over faux windows that didn’t exist because vamps hate windows, and mirrors to reflect the light around, and a lot of healthy-looking plants spilling over their containers onto gleaming white-and-yellow-veined marble floors.
The flora wasn’t so much a surprise after I spotted Caedmon, over by a wall, arguing with Louis-Cesare.
I couldn’t see them very well because the consul’s huge guards had stopped in front of me, making a very serviceable wall. One that towered almost two feet above my head, which one of my entourage was still trying to comb out. I pushed him away, and peered through a gap in the wall at the action, the sound of which floated clearly across the room, because the acoustics in here were pretty great.
And because neither man was bothering to lower his voice.
“—could have been anyone!” Caedmon was saying. “There are other vargar—”
“Who would have reason to hurt the consul?”
“Yes, in fact!” Caedmon’s voice snapped like a whip. “Or have you forgotten that my dear brother-in-law just tried to kill her two weeks ago—along with the rest of her court?”
“And now his wife is here to finish the job.”
Caedmon made an explosive sound of mingled anger and disgust. “My sister came to warn you of her husband’s intent, else he likely would have succeeded! Yet now she turns around and tries to kill the queen herself? Are you mad?”
Louis-Cesare glared at him. “Non, m’sieur, nor am I stupid. Everyone knows your sister wants her son on the throne instead of her husband—”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“—and coups begin with discrediting the former leader, do they not? Had Aeslinn’s attack on this senate succeeded, his stock would be high—too high for her to successfully supplant him. But with him discredited and a stockpile of these superweapons at her command—”
“You are mad.”
“—she could dislodge him and put her son in his place—”
“And promptly lose the war, having just crippled the Senate! She is not insane, vampire!”
“I agree, m’sieur.” Louis-Cesare was doing his haughty Frenchman routine, and he did it well. He was six foot four, but Caedmon still had something like eight inches on him. Yet he somehow managed to look down his nose at him anyway. “She is not insane. She is diabolique. Murdering the consul would throw the Senate into disarray, leaving her time to carry out her coup without having to worry about our invasion—”
“And afterward? She doesn’t want the gods back any more than we do!”
“Even more of a reason to overthrow her husband, then. He is the one trying to bring them back, is he not?”
“Among others! He is hardly the only true believer, and if you continue to attack highborn fey, you’re only going to add to their numbers! You understand nothing of the situation in Faerie—”
/> “And why is that? We ask you for information, and you refuse it—”
“Perhaps I don’t trust you—imagine that!” Caedmon’s eyes widened in pretend surprise.
Louis-Cesare’s narrowed. “We are supposed to be allies, yet you tell us nothing and now your sister has tried to kill our consul—”
Caedmon was looking genuinely angry now. “For the last time, she had nothing to do with it!”
“Yet Lord Mircea saw evil intent, quite clearly, in her mind—”
“Where he had no reason to be! She isn’t one of your creatures, vampire!”
“He had every reason, and do not change the subject—”
“I’ll pursue any subject I damned well please. Or I would, but we are leaving your hospitality.”
The last word had another of those inflections, one that made it sound like he’d said something else altogether. Something that started with f and ended with u, which made it really weird that Louis-Cesare was smiling at him.
It wasn’t a nice smile, but still.
