isn’t happy about that. With Leo in the grave and Titus true-dead and mostly eaten, he had two choices: challenge Grégoire and Edmund for Europe—and they might actually be better with edged weapons than he is, considering the fact that he hasn’t actively dueled in centuries—or come here and take over Leo’s lands from a woman who hasn’t forcefully claimed them.”
“Kidnapping Ed and coming here was not a strategy I expected. Or even understand,” Eli mused.
“The Dark Queen has been silent,” Bruiser said, thinking it through. “She hasn’t raised an army or claimed more territory. She hasn’t made a show of strength. It might appear that she’s injured from the Sangre Duello and healing human-slow. Therefore, she may look like the easier conquest. He may think she is still licking her wounds, making it easier to claim her lands.” He propped his chin on a hand, the beard hair making a soft scrunch, a sound that was new in our relationship. I loved his beard. So did Beast.
“If Jane looks weak . . . Alex,” Eli said, “what’s the MOC of New York doing?”
New York had been paying tribute to Europe for centuries. If he was part of the attack in some way—
“New York lost a challenge from Rosanne Romanello of Sedona,” Alex said, glee lacing his tone. “He’s headless. Rosanne is composing formal letters of fealty to Jane, writing as the MOC of Sedona and New York. The letters will be hand delivered by messenger in a week or so, according to proper Mithran protocol.”
And no one told me. I had walked away from my responsibilities and they had let me. Eli should have slapped me upside the head and forced me back to work.
Bruiser’s brows drew together, making vertical lines on his forehead. “Once Shimon has the Americas and Edmund firmly in control, then he could turn his attention back to Europe, which by then would be headed by Grégoire. But a Grégoire without a Dark Queen backing him would be easy prey. Grégoire, for all his grace and charm and fighting ability, is not a ruler. His grief over Leo’s passing has made him into a dueling, fighting machine. Creating alliances takes a heart of stone, and Grégoire’s more a lover and a dueler than a politician.”
I’d seen Blondie duel when his emotions were involved. There was no mercy. He’d strip the flesh from his opponent before he’d stand and talk.
Alex stared at Beast. “Jane? You listening?”
The last Son of Darkness is in this hemisphere, I thought.
Ed in cage. Taken, Beast thought, thinking with me instead of thinking about deer and bison.
And if the SOD Two is in this hemisphere, he’ll be attacking my people. People that I left in the lurch when I abdicated. I nodded Beast’s head and she sat again, wrapping her tail around her paws. I remembered the sound of my primo’s shields tearing. The sound of his voice as he screamed. The silky feel of his blood as it ran across his flesh. As he was ripped away from me. That had been a psychic attack on Ed. It would take a megastrong vamp to rip him away from me.
Alex said, “I’m still looking but I haven’t found SOD Two entering the U.S. Not anywhere. And it’s hard to hide a large contingent of bloodsuckers.”
“The SOD’s numbers?” Eli asked from the fireplace, where he had taken up his usual position.
Alex pounded the keys some more. “Okay,” he said. His voice rising in pitch. “Yes. A ship called The Scarlet Dragon was found floating off of Palm Beach in Florida yesterday. Abandoned. The Coast Guard boarded and found a crime scene to beat all crime scenes. Fourteen people were found drained of blood in the galley freezer, stacked up like firewood. The crew and all of the staff were among those in the freezer.”
“Assuming that Grégoire is correct,” Bruiser said, the words coming slowly, “then Shimon took the ship from wherever the Bombardier landed, and sailed here.” His syntax changed, becoming the formal, measured phraseology and tone I had heard when Bruiser was primo to the Master of the City of New Orleans, the tone he’d used when he made official pronouncements in the court. “Unless we are much mistaken, Shimon Bar-Ioudas, the Flayer of Mithrans, the younger Son of Darkness, is in the States.”
Even in Beast form, my heart froze. I had thought I was done with all