Chapter 4

Lauren raised a hand to knock on the heavy oak door of her sister's suite but thought better of such a well-mannered gesture and jerked the handle instead. She, nevertheless, had the good grace to make as much noise entering as possible and even scraped an out-of-place chair across the parquet with maximum racket. The bead partition separating Kenzi's small bedroom from the main room swayed and the tiny woman appeared, her lipstick smudged across her pale face like a clown's crooked grimace, a red kimono casually wrapped around her slim figure.

"What's up, Lorie?" she piped up with a small pout that made her older sister lose an iota of her resolve, "Night search? Random pee tests?"

"Where have you been over the last thirty-fifty minutes?" the blonde kept her voice neutral.

"Do you need details or suffice it to say we were getting quite steamy between the sheets with your little siren-gift, who is now sleeping it off rather noisely?" Kenzi cocked a brow, "I also wanted to ask the faexpert here if sirens should snore like that or he's got the sniffles coming."

"You do understand that lying is of no use," Lauren said softly, neatly disregarding the Kenzi-style not-really-a-question, "I can ask Hale and if your timing is off, I'll know it straight away – he won't lie to his Queen."

"Even for me, he won't," the younger girl shrugged her shoulders, "By the way, I've meant to ask why the Queen? You could've chosen any title – Empress, Tsarina, Goddess, Saint Lauren? Why something so unimaginative?"

"Because I am not the Ash or the Morrigan – I wanted a title with no reference to the divide the fae used to have and at the same time something clear-cut and unambiguous," the doctor leveled an even gaze at her sister but the snark had got through her veneer, hitting right the spot of her inner insecurity.

"Sure, if you had declared yourself President Lewis that might've been mistaken to mean they've chosen you as their ruler," Kenzi sneered.

"They don't get to choose, they get to venerate and obey me unconditionally and may I remind you that, as part of the fae world, so should you," Lauren felt suddenly drained, crushed by the enormous weight sitting on her shoulders, no small part of which was her little broken sister kicking against the only person who truly cared for her.

"Well, unlike the rest of the poor sods you've hollowed out, I am not your slave, I am human and I can't be vaccinated into swearing eternal love to you, I can't be compelled with Bo's blood," Kenzi replied with casual levity which her sister, so piqued and tired that she was running low on perceptiveness or reserve, took for real.

"You can't be compelled because you're immune," Lauren snapped and immediately bit back on her words but it was a second too late. Kenzi's head whipped up, her eyes ablaze, her jaw dropping.

"So, you've tried, you've tried your devilish concoction on humans, on me, on your own sister!" she spat out, wrapping the kimono tighter around herself with shaking hands.

"After Hale, after everything that happened with you, when I was waiting for you to heal and you wouldn't …" Lauren's voice was barely a whisper, "I was desperate, I thought if I gave you another purpose, redirect you… But the serum had no effect on you, for an as yet inexplicable reason."

"Which also means that you've tested it on other humans or how else would you know it has any effect on humans at all," the younger woman was all of a sudden a stony mask over a cold contempt.

"I did," Lauren admitted, too exhausted to deny anything, "Luise, my human affairs secretary is actually my thrall, so is the non-fae gardener."

"The one who brings you a fresh rose bouquet every morning," the dark-haired girl smirked, "And here was me thinking he simply, humanly fancied you. Bottom line, Laurie, no one loves you for who you are."

Lauren flinched as if slapped but recovered instantaneously to slip her own mask back in place.

"About an hour ago a prisoner escaped from a cell in the basement, a dangerous prisoner," she cut to the chase in her no-nonsense tone, "There is no way he could've done it himself, the unlocked back door might've been a case of negligence, but someone with a key opened his cell for him."

"And you've come to me cos I'm the only one on the inside both immune to your charms and with access to the key," Kenzi easily concluded, "What's my motive? Just curious."

"You were obviously cross with me for letting Vex torture the wolf, in fact, you are always cross with me. Motive? To spite me, another small act of rebellion, in the spirit of animal protection – take your pick," the doctor came closer to her sister and made her look up and into her eyes with a long finger under her chin, "What do you have to say in your defense? An alibi? Should we call Hale?"

Kenzi swatted the other woman's hand away from her face but her expression was not defiant, only cold and inscrutable.

"I already answered your question, if you choose to verify my words with your half-demented fae puppet, knock yourself out, Laurie," she said simply.

For the second time that evening the sisters' tiff was interrupted by the succubus as Bo knocked lightly on the door that was left ajar and made a tentative entrance.

"Lauren, my love, Bruce saw you heading here and I presumed I should interfere with some important news," Bo trapped the doctor's attention with her warm smile, "We found a staff member missing – a newly recruited assistant cook, a coyote shifter. I think he can be a spy infiltrating our ranks and the one who let the wolf escape."

"Impossible," the blonde cut her short, "If he was injected…"

"He was one of the batch who were not injected by you personally but by your medical assistant Cassie," Bo hurried with an explanation, "As you head of security I warned you it was not the best idea to delegate such a task but you were so tired and had so much on your plate that we gave it a go. And Cassie is a sweet girl with such a rare gift of seeing the future but as far as present is concerned, she is a bit … you know … out of it. I've just talked to her and she admitted that she might've injected one of the batch twice and overlooked another."

"Thus, we got ourselves an un-injected spy, right here in my own home," Lauren paled as the realization struck home, "And I've just accused my only sister of treason."

"Yeah, that was a sure-fire plan," the succubus nodded thoughtfully, "Even if the mole hadn't dug up much by way of intel, at the very least he sowed discord and got Tamsin's lieutenant off the hook."

Lauren was by her sister's side in a heartbeat, grabbing her small hands in hers, hugging her to herself. "I am so sorry, Kenz," the blonde half-sobbed into the girl's ear, "I am so sorry I doubted you even for a second."

"Yep, let's admit it – I made it so much easier for you to doubt me," Kenzi mumbled back, looping her own thin arms around her sister and catching the succubus's warm wink over Lauren's shoulders, "It's ok, Lauren, really. Now you owe me a car without a chauffeur and some cash to pad my wardrobe."

"Ever the opportunist," Bo chortled, with a hint of real affection for the younger girl and genuinely happy to see the sisters move past the terrible suspicion.

"What's wrong with the car I gave you?" Lauren smiled blinking back an unwelcome tear.

"As I've already told you, it comes with a chauffeur who reports back to you," Kenzi explained patiently, "Whatever I want you to know of my misdeeds might just as well be done in here."