Page 74 of Dukes Are Forever
"Adele, you've met the rest of the Company of Rogues at various times," Malloryn said, gesturing to the eleven strangers who were seated around the table. "And it appears everyone here is aware of my wife's identity, considering the vast interest we've all taken in her ever since the wedding was announced."
That was definitely sarcasm.
Adele shot him a sideways glance. "Vast interest?"
"A delight, Your Grace," said a tall, handsome blond youth who seemed of an age with her. "The duke's referring to what happens when a company of spies discovers their leader is getting married. I'm Charlie Todd. I brought you brandy the other day."
"Oh, yes. He of the inferior set of glassware."
Charlie darted a glance toward Malloryn. "Should I know what that means? What's wrong with my glassware?"
"You don't have any glassware," said the young woman at his side.
"To your left is Obsidian," the duke continued, "then Kincaid, Ava, Byrnes, Ingrid, Lark, Jack, and you'll recall my butler and chief of security, Herbert. You made quite an impression upon him the last you met."
The twinkle in his eyes made her want to stomp upon his foot.
"I'm terribly sorry, sir," she said to the impeccable butler. "I was somewhat out of sorts the other day when I accosted you."
The butler tilted his head toward her. "Quite all right, Your Grace. The duke has a habit of putting anyone out of sorts on the best of days."
"It's lovely to meet you," said Byrnes, in the sort of voice she immediately found suspect. "Officially."
His face seemed familiar. "You were at my engagement party."
When the vampire had attacked and everything had turned into utter chaos. Adele's mother had been on the verge of ending the engagement right then and there, and if not for Malloryn's friendship with the queen, she may have.
Byrnes patted the hand of the tall, statuesque brunette sitting beside him. "One of Balfour's first attempts to kill your husband. Ingrid and I lured the vampire away, and then we blew up Tower Bridge. I can still hear Malloryn's lecture ringing in my ears."
"I thought your hair was black?"
Byrnes ran a hand through his silvery-blond locks. "Slight run-in with an insane enemy agent who wanted to transform me."
"Byrnes and Obsidian are evolved blue bloods," Malloryn told her. "We call themdhampir, and they're what occur when a blue blood enters the Fade and doesn't turn into a vampire."
The Fade was the final, irreversible end stage of the craving virus, when one usually devolved into a mindless, bloodthirsty vampire. Nobody had escaped that fate. "But how did—"
"Nearly twenty years ago, a Dr. Cremorne began performing illegal experiments upon blue bloods to see if he could halt the tide of the Fade. He managed to create an elixir that could transmute it instead," said the blonde woman at the end of the table in an excited tone usually reserved for university lecturers who'd been granted a captive audience. "It didn't reverse the Fade, but it created an evolved blue blood instead of a vampire.Dhampirare—"
"Thank you, Ava." Malloryn hastily cut her off, Adele noticed. "I'll explain it in more detail later, if you wish. Suffice it to say,dhampirare faster and stronger than blue bloods, and almost impossible to kill. Balfour has several of them working for him. We have two. And one last guest to introduce."
"We do?" This from the hard-eyed man he'd referred to as Jack, who wore a breathing apparatus slung around his throat.
Malloryn glanced toward the door as a woman entered, as if she'd been waiting for her cue. "Ah, Mrs. Herbert, how good of you to join us."
The woman was tall, brunette, and had the sort of face one would skip over in a crowd. "My pleasure, Your Grace."
Adele's eye did not skip over her.
Her mouth dropped open. "Clara?"
"Your Grace." Her maid tipped her head toward her regally.
It took a moment to sink in.
"My maid is one of your spies," she said to Malloryn through gritted teeth. "When were you going to tell me?"
One of his eyebrows arched. "It slipped my mind."
