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I exchanged a glance with Cain.
After escorting Twilight back to her suite, I’d come straight to my office and buried myself in my work. Better that than dwell on how she was willing to give me her body…and nothing else.
Cain and I had been going over the plan he’d worked out for temporarily taking down the video cams in my father’s wing. I intended to make it look like Jules had gone insane and staked himself. Yeah, people would be suspicious, but without proof, no one could pin it on me.
“What the fuck’s he doing here?” muttered Cain. It had been years since Prosper had come to my side of the lair.
“Let’s find out.” I rose and went to my door.
Prosper was in the large natural cavern that had come to be known as my war room. It held weapons, video screens and other security apparatus controlled by me. I had three offices built in a half-circle around it for me, Talon and Cain.
Behind me, Cain shut his laptop.
In the war room, Jasper had risen from his computer station to answer Prosper. “Prince Brien is in his office, sir.”
“What can I do for you?” I stepped forward, Cain behind me.
To my right, Talon had already exited his office. He joined Cain, the two standing a little behind me.
Prosper swung to face me, his big arms folded over a navy-blue camp shirt, his TV-cop of a face unyielding. “We need to talk.”
I nodded at my office. “Come inside, then.”
He shook his head. “Not here. Somewhere we can be private.”
I considered the lieutenant.What did he know?
Behind me, Talon and Cain had stilled. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know they didn’t want me to go off alone with Prosper. But if I refused, it would make me look weak and add fuel to the rumors that Prosper and I were feuding.
I tipped my head at the hallway. “Walk with me.”
“Not here when anyone can hear us. My quarters.” He strode off as if I was one of his flunkies.
I gritted my teeth and followed. I had no choice if I wanted to know why he’d sought me out.
Prosper’s apartment was basically a cave divided into two rooms. The walls were bare rock, the chisel marks still visible. The floor was made of rough stone and the sturdy oak furniture had been built sometime in the previous century.
The only spot of color came from the faded Navajo rug in front of his living room couch. Prosper stopped on one side of the red, yellow and black rug, and I took a stance on the opposite side, facing off like a pair of fighters about to enter the ring.
The lieutenant spoke first. “I think you know what this is about.”
Still uneasy about why Prosper had come looking for me, I went on the attack. “Father’s worse. We both know it.”
“No. He’s…about the same.”
I noted the slight hesitation and kept hitting. “No, he’s not. I was only gone a week, and he didn’t even remember where the fuck I went.”
“That was just one night.”
“So you’re saying that he’s better? Then where is he? I haven’t seen him since I came back from Quebec.”
Prosper’s mouth tightened—and then he hit back. “You’re planning something.”
I lifted my brows. “Am I?”
“He’s still the primus,” Prosper reminded me softly. “And your sire, the man who gave you life. You’ll lose the hierarchy’s respect if you take him out—and set a dangerous precedent.”
Guilt sank sharp teeth into me. I shook it off to respond, “We can’t have another death like Gwen’s. The humans won’t stand for it. And the other syndicates are starting to ask questions. Régis asked me straight out how Father was.”
