Death Game: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #3) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,24
really angry at me.”
The older woman studied me. “I’ve never known you to be unnecessarily mean. He was hurting her?”
I nodded. “Badly. Without her knowing.”
“Then he’s a fucker. If Tommy has any sense, which I know she does, she’ll come around in time. Never easy to deal with a broken heart, especially if it’s her first one.”
They were words I so desperately wanted to believe in.
“And the pure hunk of god I saw walk in here the other day looked familiar. Strutted as if he owned the place, too, I might add.”
“Who?” I asked her innocently.
She waved a hand in the air. “None of that now. We all heard the screams.”
Ugh. I choked on laughter. “Stubbed my toe.”
Her gaze darkened. “I’d like to stub my toe like that a few times.”
I grinned. “Can’t say I’d mind a repeat.”
She scowled. “You went back there with the guy who wanted you for your money? I mean, not that I blame you. He’s a tall drink of something.”
“He told me he’s not after any of that,” I replied, grimacing. “I’m not so sure. So I’m testing him. Could you do me a favour?”
“Sure.”
“If he asks you anything about how you came to be here or about the work you and Tommy do, could you lie through your teeth and let me know? He’ll assume that you work for me or are a family member, so if he’s here for the wrong reasons, I believe he’ll speak to you first. Make sure to bullshit him.”
The glint in her eye was 110 percent evil. “It would be my pleasure.” Her gaze turned shrewd. “So we can expect him around here often?”
I arched a brow. “Yes. Why’s that?”
“Just wondering if you’ll have soul-destroying sex all the time.”
Leaping up from the table, I shooed her out of the room, husky laughter bursting from my lips. “Time for Mrs Hannah to leave so Basilia can get her work done.”
“Tell me!” the woman blurted just before I got the office door closed.
7
“I got hold of all the papers relevant to Mr Ringly’s development approval,” Lady Treena said. “And everything in his file. Thought we should be thorough. There may be a past transgression we can use to stall things.”
Pretty sure Sundulus already tried that.
I sat with my grandmother’s friends around the round table.
After a few agonising hours at the last meeting, they knew most of the details of my exchanges with Kyros—everything except for one tiny thing.
They had no idea Kyros was anything other than an evil tyrant who controlled my mind. I just couldn’t bear to tell them I was considered his true mate or to see the horror and disappointment on their faces.
Whatever I saw on their faces would be what I would’ve seen on Grandmother’s face.
Dame Burke placed a stack of papers in front of me, next to the file I’d brought along for reference. It contained details of their compulsions.
Lalitta compelled Dame Burke thirty-five years ago. Not tightly—which was such a Lalitta thing to do.
I flicked my eyes over the first page.
“This is all the correspondence and rejections for his development approval request for the last ten years. You’ll notice the main issue was the concern of necessary agricultural land being re-zoned and lost to residential land. He spent an arm and a leg trying to win approval. Idiotic if you ask me.”
Which is why I believed the answer rested here. Fyrlia wasn’t new to this game and neither was Sundulus. But neither of them were human. It was a desperate hope, but all I had to bank on right now.
I skimmed through the pile and passed it to Mr Dithis on my left. He was controlled by Gina, but he was able to converse about anything Vissimo-related in metaphor. How he’d even figured that out was anyone’s guess.
“Did you spot anything amiss, Lady Treena?” I asked, consulting my other file.
Lady Treena was controlled by King Mikael himself. Her compulsion was nearly as bad as mine except she could nod and shake her head in answer to direct questions. He usually contacted her for information on council affairs via his minions, and contact had dwindled considerably after her retirement. She’d been compelled for as long as Sir Olythieu.
“No,” she replied. “And I went through it thoroughly.”
Mr Dithis passed the stack to Mr Hothen.
Mr Hothen belonged to Francesca and discovered Vissimo and Ingenium fifteen years ago. He could say pretty much anything if he was vague enough, something I attributed to Francesca’s youth.