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“But you didn’t.”

“Of course not,” her tone softened a bit.

“I was keeping an eye on her but acting for the Hattari. You knew my loyalty lay with them but we never wanted to act against the vampires. I never thought she’d go that far.”

“Did you see her at the lodge?”

She shook her head. “But I knew she was there. I recognized the dagger. She came back to get it when the body had burnt.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was told not to get involved,” she said, having the decency to look guilty, “but I nudged you in the right direction,” Alexandra said, “and you got there in the end, didn’t you? Tell me, how did you figure it out?”

“It was Vlas,” I said. “He said I was a real friend, not like Matteo.”

“That was Taheera’s biggest mistake, underestimating Vlas,” said Alexandra. “He’d loved her, and tolerated her infidelities, even her ambition, for years; but in the end he couldn’t allow her to take the throne. It would’ve been bad for everyone.”

“To be honest, I don’t know what he saw in her,” I said.

“You have much better taste in women,” I suddenly heard Ruby say behind me.

“Amen to that,” Alexandra said with a smile. “Congratulations to both of you. I hope you will be very happy.”

Then she left us.

Once it was the two of us alone at the house, Ruby asked me, “Tired of the wedding already?”

“Of the wedding, yes, of the wife, never.”

She kissed me and I lifted her up in my arms, kissing her back, deeply.

“Take me to bed, Lord D’Essay,” she said to me in an affected posh voice.

“Gladly, Lady D’Essay,” I said with a bow of the head, whisking her off straight into our bedroom. As I lay her down on the bed, she whispered to me, “I can’t wait to get out of this dress. Will you help me?”

I was only too happy to oblige.

*****