Page 51 of Bishop's Flight
“Oh, good call. I’ll let you go.”
“Call when you find anything useful.”
“Already making a list, boss.”
Carwyn hung up the phone and turned to Brigid. “Lee was in the panic room, so he followed protocol.”
He saw the worry in her eyes ease. “Good.”
“Miguel is at the house.” Carwyn turned to Bernard. “It’s good timing. Lee finally got past Lucas’s security in his computer this afternoon. I told him Miguel might be useful going through the device.”
“Good idea.” Bernard led them through the first set of locked double doors and down the carpeted hallway leading to Rose’s office. “I’m sure you noticed the increased security.”
“Someone tried to break in?”
“Uh… not exactly. We do have a bit of a situation though.”
Brigid asked, “What happened?”
“The Sokolovs—not Zasha, Oleg’s people—may be on the move against us?”
Carwyn frowned. “For God’s sake, why?”
“I spoke to Oleg early this week,” Brigid said. “From what I could tell, he had nothing to do with this. In fact, he was quick to praise Rose and Agnes’s leadership of the city. Said it made it easy to do business.”
Bernard grimaced. “He may be singing a different tune today.”
“Why?” Carwyn had a very bad feeling.
“Because last night, an hour before dawn, Rose ripped the head off one Sokolov soldier and nearly killed another.”
Carwyn froze. “And by ‘ripped the head off,’ you mean—”
“Not a metaphor,” Bernard said. “The roulette wheel will have to be completely replaced. I don’t think anyone will be able to bet after the image of an eyeball spinning around and landing on red 19.”
“Agnes is cross with me.”Rose’s lower lip trembled. “She screamed at me, Carwyn. She said that ‘my little temper tantrum’ might have cost Lucas his life.” Pink tears welled in her eyes. “Do you think she’s right? Is Lucas going to die because of me?”
“Rose.” He held her hand, ignoring the smatter of arterial spray that she’d missed on her neck. “We don’t know that.” She’d obviously taken a bath because she was in a feather-collared housecoat and a pair of slippers. Her hair was wet and slicked back into a smooth bun at the nape of her neck. “I know Agnes is upset—”
“I love her so much.” The pink tears fell. “She’s the best thing in my life, Carwyn, and I know… Honey, I make her put up with so much. My tantrums. My little whims. I don’t deserve her, and now I’ve gone and done this.”
Carwyn sighed. He knew Rose wasn’t the most stable of vampires, but he wouldn’t have expected this. “Has Agnes contacted Oleg?”
“She said she was going to reach out when she’d made sure all our properties and people are secure.” Rose pouted. “It’s not like it was unprovoked. Do you know what those animals were saying?”
“I didn’t hear anythin’ about them.”
Her fangs fell, and Carwyn was quick to squeeze her hand again. “Rose, don’t tell me if you’re going to get upset again.” He put a heavy warning in his voice.
Her fangs stayed down, but the fire in her eyes cooled. “They were calling him a pet. Joking with each other that they should buy me a puppy and name it after Lucas so I wouldn’t mind losing the human so much.” Rose blinked. “As if he was just another human. As if I hadn’t changed his sister’s diapers and dried his tears when he missed his mother and read him stories at bedtime.”
Carwyn wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have done the same thing in Rose’s place. “Those were cruel words. They shouldn’t have ever said that.”
“But now it might cost Lucas his life.” Rose’s lip trembled again and her tears kept coming. “How will I tell Anna? How can I live without him, Carwyn? We can’t lose him.”
He would speak to Oleg himself if he needed to. This was not an unprovoked attack by a fickle vampire ruler. This was a reaction to a direct insult to her clan in a moment when that clan was under threat.
“Brigid and I are doing everything we can to find him. Lee got into his computer tonight. We’re hoping that will give us more ideas about how—”
