Page 66 of Sleeping With the Vampire

“So did I!”

It felt good to laugh, to hold her in my arms and feel her body against mine. I wanted it to stay like this but I knew it couldn’t.

Finn was hovering at the door, and we parted, reluctantly.

“Apologies, Sire, but… Lord Ferney is here to see you.”

I said to Izzy, “Why don’t you go down to the kitchen and get some food? There will be something there for you.” As she left, I called out to her, “Wear the necklace!”

Jock came in, looking weary.

“They’re up at Loughlin’s Vale,” he said. “I received a call last night from one of our scouts.”

“How many?” I asked.

“Around thirty of them.”

“Get your best fighters,” I said. “We’re leaving right away.”

Jock paused. “I don’t think you should go. You’re not strong enough yet.”

“What would that look like?” I asked. “If I can’t even face my own son? It will be bloody, this battle. I need to show that I am up for it.”

“Are you?” Jock’s voice was low.

“Of course.”

But I wasn’t sure at all.

Ragnar joined us. He watched Jock leave.

“Do you think Sunil is with them?”

Ragnar shook his head. “He’s gone back to the Capital. Sunil isn’t a fighter, he is a schemer, looking out for himself.”

“How involved was he in all of this, do you think?”

Ragnar shrugged. “I don’t think he wanted to betray you, for him it was about rising to power in the Citadel. He liked being the go-between. But he told me Tempesto was becoming unpredictable, I think he saw the writing on the wall.”

“And Layrr and the girls.”

Ragnar looked away. “I knew. I warned him to stop it, that it would get him in trouble. He ignored me.”

“Did you know about the drug blood?”

“Anyone could see it was changing him.”

“I didn’t!”

Ragnar chose his words carefully. “You were hardly home the last few weeks. Even before, you were busy negotiating that deal, the property development in Ginnerlong?”

I remembered that. Progress was slow, there were issues with the land and building regulations, I kept having to deal with the authorities.

“Then when the queen was killed, it was like you could only deal with one thing, your focus was off. Layrr saw the gap, taking more chances. He took more of the stuff, he was becoming impossible.”

I had missed all of this.

I went down the stairs to prepare for our mission. In the kitchen, I heard laughing and voices chatting. It was Izzy, talking to some of the castle staff. I saw Robbie and his sister were there, sitting at a bench, close together, joking.