Blood and Blade (Goddess with a Blade #6) - Lauren Dane Page 0,59

“Thank you. Truly. For your sacrifice. I know how hard it is for you with him. That you did it for me and my parents is something I’ll forever be grateful for.”

She ducked her head but he scented her blush. “You’re welcome. I like your parents and I’m rather happy they weren’t executed and I like our life. Well, the parts of it where no one is trying to kill us. So if you weren’t Scion, it would be very different. Really I’m just selfish.”

When he first met her he’d have agreed with that statement but years and countless selfless acts later, he knew the truth. She was the opposite of selfish.

“What have you been up to today?”

“I updated my files with everything we found out in London. I forgot that Theo told me a bunch of stuff about Lyr so I added that as well. I don’t know if any of it is very useful but we have it.”

“Information is always useful, even if you don’t know it just yet,” he said.

“Someone super wise must have told you that,” she said of one of her favorite phrases.

“Let’s go to dinner and then I’ll bring you back here and head to work. We haven’t had a proper date in some time.”

Her brows rose. “Really?”

“Yes. Fleur will have a table ready for us. I know you like the food there.” It was a Nation run restaurant with all the stars, ribbons and medallions it could count. He had fond memories of a spectacular fight they’d had in a back office before it had gone the other way and they’d had spectacular sex on the desk in the office where they’d been quarreling.

“It’s cute you’re sentimental about the place you bent me over a desk.”

“So romantic and poetic, darling.”

“I know. Okay, give me half an hour to change clothes and get ready.” She kissed him quickly as she dashed out.

He made a call to Alice, who told him to leave all the arrangements up to her. Which he did. As he was already dressed for his day, he then called his parents and left a message they’d get when they woke up for the evening. He’d call again before he went to his rest. It’d be after dark in London by that time so he could give them an update then.

It was mainly business details anyway. The mansion and town house were both in areas in high demand and the properties had been off the market for several generations so he didn’t think they’d have any trouble whatsoever selling them quickly. An appraiser would be out to take inventory of all the art and furnishings to get a value on those.

That money, thirty percent of it overall, would go to Warren as the Scion of Europe. Farrelley had gotten shirty with Clive until Clive reminded him that all the mess he’d cleaned up happened on European lands and territories, which made it Warren’s responsibility in the first place so he should say thank you, take the restitution and clean his act up.

Warren had accepted the offer rather quickly after that.

Both Warren and The First would end up several million pounds richer after this whole thing settled out. More than fair, Clive thought. Especially as Rowan and Clive’d handled the executions of the offending parties themselves.

And the invitation to the Yule Ball and New Year’s Eve dinner would have his parents very excited. They already liked Rowan a great deal, but this would make his father shift from like to adoration.

Clive understood that because he rather adored his prickly wife too.

Chapter Sixteen

Because she was relaxed—as much as she ever got—and in love with her husband, Rowan tried to ignore just how pleased and slightly breathless all the employees and the other Vampires having meals in the restaurant were to have their Scion in attendance that night. The maître d’ nearly passed out with delight at the sight of them approaching the entrance. Their server, a rather cranky and slightly scary Vampire who appeared to be in her early fifties but was over a hundred and fifty, nearly smiled as she’d approached their table with a decanter of bloodwine and sparkling water with lemons for Rowan.

To his credit, Clive took his position and responsibility to all the Vampires under his hand very seriously. He ruled with an iron fist when he had to, but he held his territory without the same sort of entitled assholery his predecessor had oozed until Rowan had executed