My tongue felt like it had been replaced with a dried wad of cotton gauze, and my brain was throbbing like it was getting ready to burst. It didn't help that there was noise all around me. Screaming and the sound of things being knocked over. Someone came careening toward me, and we tumbled backward together to the floor.
It was David, the witch's second. He bled profusely from his forehead, and his hands glowed like embers. I screamed in the same instant he was snatched and thrown off of me. Thalia's face loomed over me, her mouth spread into a wide, fangy smile.
"Finally, something of interest occurs in this wretched corner of the world," she said in her clipped accent, with surprisingly good English.
She tore me from my bindings and pushed me roughly into the corner of the room. I tucked myself into a small ball, hugging my knees close, pulling the chair with me so I could shield myself from any incoming objects or more flying bodies.
Morwenna the witch was unconscious on the floor atop a puddle of blood, while Thalia and David slowly circled one another like predators ready to show down. David somehow deftly navigated himself past and around all the debris and mess. Yes, he definitely had magically advanced perception. These were strong witches.
A door had been torn off its hinges, dry wall lay scattered across the floor and crumbled from the walls in sections, random pieces of furniture were smoking and dismantled. How long had they been fighting for before I regained consciousness?
"Please—run," Thalia sneered at David. "How I enjoy the scent of blood on the breeze when I hunt."
"Thalia." Eric's voice boomed across the room. His tall frame filled the doorway. In a sudden rush, David was pinned to the floor, Thalia's slight frame caging him, holding him down.
"What is the meaning of this?" Sigrid roared as she pushed past Eric to enter the room. "Unhand him!"
Thalia, to my surprise, immediately released David. David rolled to his knees and coughed for a second before he moved and stood smoothly, his lithe frame unfolding, his hands no longer aglow.
Eric was in front of me, pushing my shield-chair out of the way. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.
"Are you injured?"
"I'm fine." I pushed past him, trying to shake myself free of the last of my grogginess.
"You!" screeched Sigrid, and she was in my face, grabbing me by the shirt collar. She shook me, rattling my head and knocking my teeth together. "The Queen should've known better than to hire you."
"That's enough," Eric snapped and seized her wrist and moving himself to shield me.
"Enough?" she spat. Sigrid's face twisted with rage, and she dropped her hold of me. "She and her guard have assaulted witches who are tasked with protecting the Queen, her subjects and her many dwellings. Tasked with protecting you. This is a punishable offense!"
"Now hang on a second!" I cried.
"Tell me what happened here," Sigrid snarled at David, completely ignoring me.
"She came in asking about the wards on the property. Specifically, about the—"
Sigrid held up her hand, cutting him off. "Stop. I've heard enough."
David closed his eyes and nodded, clasping his hands behind his back. I probed his mind gently, somehow Sigrid had managed to pull him under her influence.
"She is examining the palace wards. This has little to do with the current investigation," Sigrid said to Eric. "She is poking her nose where it doesn't belong."
"You don't know that!" I said.
"Of course I know that," she snarled. "I'm the state's investigator. You have endangered the safety of the monarchy. You could be tried and put to death for such an act!"
"What?" The word flew from my mouth in a shriek.
"No such thing will occur," Eric declared, rising to his full overwhelming height.
"Does she choose to forget the contract?" Thalia said to Eric. The human is not to be harmed. Yes, well, a little late for that. "Your Queen allows such insubordination among her subjects?"
"I'm not harmed," I said. "Not yet, at least."
"You were unconscious and tied to a chair when I found you," she said flatly, folding her arms across her chest. Eric's head snapped in my direction, his gaze intense.
"Is this true?" he asked.
"I'm fine, really. Nothing I can't shake off." I rolled my achy shoulders and flashed a winsome, though false smile. Thalia's expression darkened.
"Fix this," Eric growled at Sigrid. He exuded the threat of violence, and she scowled back at him, full of hatred.
Sigrid pulled Morwenna to her feet and somehow roused her from unconsciousness. The witch's head was lolling. She moaned in pain.
"Stop," Sigrid commanded and the witch lifted her head, her eyes glazed with glamour.
She pulled Morwenna to David's side and swiftly glamoured the two of them into forgetting my visit altogether. "You were robbed this evening," she told them. "I arrived with the Queen's consort just in time to stop the perpetrators and deal with them satisfactorily. Other than this damage, there is no loss of property or goods."
She stalked back across the room to me and caught my eyes with an intensity that would've burned me to a crisp were it possible. I felt the familiar prickle and pressure of glamour behind my forehead. Her influence proved trickier to deflect than most vampires; either she was especially good at glamouring humans or especially determined.
"You can't glamour her," Eric said.
"Stay out of it, Northman," Sigrid sneered. "I can do whatever I like with her in order to protect the monarchy."
From behind Sigrid's shoulder, Eric shrugged and simply smirked. She'd completely misunderstood his meaning.
"You will return to the palace with your guard and forget ever being here," she said, eyes boring into me. "You have been sightseeing all day. It was… pleasant. We will meet in the palace drawing room in one hour. Now, leave."
Sigrid practically spat at Eric as she passed him on her way out of the room and then she was gone, her void rapidly disappearing from my mental range down the street.
"Idiotic fledglings," Thalia said and Eric laughed, a dry sound. The laughter shocked me. Or maybe I was in shock. I wasn't trembling, but I knew I ought to be. Thalia placed a hand to the small of my back, and in a surprisingly gentle motion, led me from the room. I reached down to grab my purse off the floor as I passed the witches. They were moving about the room, tidying up and chatting quietly between themselves. The presence of two vampires and one banged up telepath either went unnoticed or unacknowledged by the two of them.
Once out on the main street, Eric turned to me. "Is there an explanation for this?"
"Not yet. At least not one that will make sense."
I expected a cold, angry response, instead he raised a quizzical brow.
"I had no idea they were Queen's witches," I said with a huff. "I came in only to ask them a few questions about wards." I gasped and turned to Thalia. "The tablet!"
Thalia unzipped her leather jacket to reveal the tablet computer tucked into the top of her black jeans. I blew out a sigh in relief.
"Leave us," Eric said to Thalia. "I have transport to get us back to the palace."
Thalia didn't bother to look at me before speeding out of sight, eliciting shrieks from passers-by and stirring up the leaves on the ornamental birch trees that lined the street.
"Thalia knew you were here?" he asked. "I was surprised to find she beat us here."
"Why are you here?" I said, countering with a question rather than answering.
"The witches called the palace. I happened to take the call. So... Thalia?" he prompted.
"I left her a note with the list of stores I was visiting in order today," I said with a sigh. "I then sent her a text message after leaving each one so she would know if I got stuck in any of them or ran into any trouble." She would've known to come straight here when there was no SMS to say I'd left Akashic Tarot safely.
"Clever."
"That's me," I said drily.
"Though…" he countered. "Not that clever. You did spend half the day tied up."
I scowled at him and he chuckled. Eric nodded to the right, and we walked down the street in that direction.
"I argued with Freyda against bringing you here," he said casually after some moments.
I gave him the side-eye. That surprised me. I figured it was all his idea. That maybe he'd somehow known of my financial troubles and wanted to throw me a bone out of pity. Two birds, one stone and all that. That thought alone had actually been nearly enough for me to reject the idea of working the job to begin with. It was not a nice feeling to be considered a charity case, but holding the moral high-ground was next to impossible when you had a team of staff relying on you and a checking account quickly approaching a balance of zero.
"Well, she clearly didn't heed your advice," I said sourly. "She must be desperate."
"She is determined when she wants to be."
"You can say that again," I muttered.
"Jealous?"
"Oh, that's rich. Are we even allowed to be alone together?" I sniped back. That was one of the many conditions Freyda had put in place before Eric left Louisiana. "Or do I need to call your wife to request a chaperone?"
"Sookie." I distinctly remembered that holier-than-thou tone. Ass.
"The question was rhetorical. I don't actually want to hear any explanations," I said. I continued down the street.
The streets were busy with a hubbub of folk walking around, music from small bars, late night cafes filled with patrons. A woman sat on the wide footpath adding the final touches to an enormous chalk drawing on the pavement. I paused to admire it. The drawing gave the illusion I was about to fall into a deep crevasse. Impressive. I fished around in my purse and placed some dollar bills into her collection tray. I glared at Eric until he did the same.
She thanked us, and Eric and I continued our slow walk.
"Do you know anything about the missing gold?" I asked him.
"No. No more than the fact it's missing."
"And that it was propping up her state?"
Eric smiled a fraction. "Well, unfortunately for the Queen, it seems she was under misapprehension that she would be marrying into wealth. Her financial position has not been great and there was little change with our union. Instead, I have been attempting to advise her in financial matters. But as you saw earlier, the vampires here aren't especially receptive when it comes to accepting advice."
I was about to snicker but the full meaning of his words sunk in.
"Wait, what do you mean 'misapprehension'?" Eric was exceptionally wealthy.
"Ah." Eric smiled fully now, looking very pleased with himself. "It would seem she wasn't made aware that I had made prior arrangements with my progeny to divide my wealth to them upon leaving my youngest child."
Cheese and rice. My eyes boggled. Pam and Karin now held all of Eric's assets and money?
"That's the same look Freyda gave me when she found out," Eric said cheerfully.
"That's sneaky, Eric."
"Yes, I am an excellent vampire."
I laughed a little then. It was a very vampire-like and Eric-like thing to do.
"Do you know about the money laundering?" I asked. I crossed my arms over my chest, tucking my fingers under my biceps. The temperature had dropped with nightfall, my fingers tingled with the cold.
"I had suspected as much," he said, his brow furrowing.
"Where's the money coming from?"
He shrugged.
"Are you kidding me? Don't you care? That could be drug money, or money from human trafficking. Or any sort of proceeds of crime."
"The Queen has listened to my counsel and has instead chosen to approach the management of her finances in a direction quite different to what I've suggested. I have no say other than to give her a show of support."
"Oh, right," I said bitterly. "You must be such an honorable husband to stand by her side while she commits multiple felonies."
"That is what marriage means for vampires. We are duty bound by the contracts we sign."
"Oh yes, y'all are all 'honor' and 'duty' and then stabbing each other in the back the second the other's turned away."
His eyes flashed and he pursed his lips, an expression I remembered from when we used to argue. He was holding his fangs back.
I resisted the urge to snap out another barbed comment. Believe me, there were many I had stored. Instead I moved the conversation back on track: "I think the loss of the gold is related to the money laundering."
"How so?"
"I don't know… Doesn't it make the most sense?" Wealth acquired through illegal channels, disappearing through those same channels.
"Perhaps."
"Do you have anything to do with it?" I asked, and he shook his head. It was a simple response. I believed him.
"Careful where you stick your nose," he cautioned. "Keep Thalia close for the remainder of the trip."
"I don't need your advice, Eric," I said, anger rushing up with a force from the pit of my belly. "I don't need you looking out for me."
"Have I given you the false impression that I was?"
I rolled my eyes at him and retrieved my phone from where it had been buzzing in my purse.
"What?" I said, picking up the call.
"Hey boss… Uh, everything okay?"
I took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Yes. Just a long day. What's up, Kennedy?"
"Sam wanted to take a few cases of beer he's low on at Merlotte's. Can we do that? Our next shipment's not till next Friday, and I'm not sure how to mark it in the spreadsheet."
"Just write a note and stick it on my pin board. I'll sort it out when I get back."
"Uh, there's already a lot of notes waiting for you on the pinboard," Kennedy said. It was noisy in the background, and I realized with delay that it was actually Friday night. My first Friday night off in … years, maybe.
"That fine," I said. Eric touched my elbow lightly, and we came to a stop beside a dark town car parked at the corner. "Just make sure it's written somewhere, and I'll sort it out when I'm home."
"Righto, boss."
I hung up and stowed my phone back in my bag.
"Remember your glamour," he said quietly into my ear as he opened the car door for me. I shivered at the coolness of his breath.
The car had plenty of legroom and a suited driver who only acknowledged us with a single nod before pulling away from the curb. I sighed and stretched out as far as my legs would allow. I tipped my head back against the headrest and rubbed my forehead. What a day. I was also hungry enough to eat a horse. Saddle and all.
"Sookie," Eric began. I opened my eyes. He was facing me, his blue eyes as dark and dimly lit as the streets we drove through. "There are things I wish to say… I want—"
"To say nothing," I interjected, lifting a tired hand. "You want to say nothing, Eric."
He clenched his jaw, before giving a slight nod. And for a rare moment, Eric looked as gray and tired as I felt.
We rode the rest of the way in silence.
Sigrid was waiting for me in the drawing room, pacing the Turkish rug. Thalia, who had been waiting for Eric and I on the driveway, trailed in behind me. Eric had disappeared into the bowels of the palace somewhere virtually the moment the car had drawn to a stop. Fine by me.
"Where have you been?" Sigrid snapped.
I shrugged, working to keep my expressions and mannerisms passive and in keeping with my supposed glamour. "Sight-seeing. It's been a nice day."
"We're not paying you to vacation here," she said. She slammed her palm down onto the table in anger.
I tried to look a little vague and confused, the way victims of glamour often did when they were trying to rationalize their irrational behavior and beliefs against their own sense of logic.
"You're right. I apologize. I'm not sure why I thought that was a good idea…" Thalia handed me the tablet, which I accepted with a faux-vague smile and I sat down at the table. "But I do have an idea about how to narrow down our suspects." I scrolled through the images of the human party guests attending the next evening.
Her eyes hardened. "And how is that?"
"Remove Dylan from where he is being… held and bring him to the party tomorrow as a donor. Or maybe even as a guest. See if any vampires or human companions react to his presence."
"Fine," Sigrid said and began walking to the double doors. "You're dismissed for the evening. The Queen has requested my help with another matter. I will see you here tomorrow an hour after dark." She turned and left the room, leaving Thalia and I to ourselves.
Aha. I was on to something. I shared a small, satisfied smile with Thalia, which she returned.
"You are more perceptive than even your ability would account for," Thalia said as we walked alongside one another back to our suite. "But you are not to leave the palace during daytime and without me."
"Careful now, or I'll think you're getting soft on me." I playfully nudged her in the side with my elbow. Her expression soured.
"I am here to perform a task. One you make exceedingly difficult to do."
"You know, your grasp of English is better than it used to be."
She scowled at me.
"Have you heard of bronze bull?" she asked, and I shook my head in response. "In my time, criminals would be placed inside life-sized, hollow sculptures of bulls forged from bronze. A fire would be set, heating the bronze until it was so hot the criminal would cook to death, his screams echoing through Sparta like the bray of dying bulls."
"Okay..."
She grabbed my arm tightly and tugged me to a stop.
"Leave the palace without me or my permission again," she snarled, her face and fangs far too close for my liking, "and I'll introduce you to the bronze bull I have in my courtyard at my nest in Shreveport. Do you understand?"
My mouth ran dry. "Yes, ma'am."
Thalia's eyes wrinkled with satisfaction though her face maintained its usual icy mask.
"Good."