Blood Kin (29 page)

“No.” I wasn’t going to have this argument again. “No going to the Veiled Court.” Not unless we absolutely had to.

For one thing, as
hai-salai
, Fen and I could be pulled into a world of family obligations and duties from which we might never escape if we let anyone from either of our fathers’ families gain a hold over us. And for another, the Veiled Court itself was perilous, if the tales are to be believed. Much safer to deal with the Blood here in the City than the Fae in the seat of their power.

The Fae guarded their lands ruthlessly. It was difficult to gain admittance to Summerdale, let alone the Veiled World beneath its hills. The Fae could hide themselves, disguise themselves, and make the very earth change around you to confuse, trap, or kill you. And that was before you started to deal with their politics and their impossible-to-untangle webs of Families and obligation.

“Well, unless Cormen is going to make a late appearance, I suggest we turn our attention to other things,” Fen said.

“It’s early yet,” I pointed out.

“Or he may be upstairs already,” Fen added.

“I don’t suppose your serving girl was forthcoming about who is controlling access to the upper levels tonight?” I said.

“No.”

Of course not. Luck couldn’t be with me tonight. I needed to think.

“If we’re settling in for a long evening, then I’m getting a drink,” Fen said. “Anyone else?”

I considered asking for lemonade but doubted they served any such thing here. “Champagne,” I said eventually, hoping that a little alcohol might take the edge off the frustration building in my gut. Guy asked for whiskey and Fen went to fetch the drinks.

Over the next hour we drank enough to keep up appearances and Guy and Fen both danced with me, but my father still didn’t arrive. More people joined the festivities, making the room grow warmer as the press of bodies—human and Blood and Beasts—warmed the air.

But amongst the myriad faces and conversations I didn’t see or hear anyone or anything useful to our cause. Leaving me with a growing sense of unease that not even Guy’s arms around me as we danced could dispel.

Eventually, feeling the need to do something before I started screaming in frustration, I excused myself from our table, on the pretence of going to the retiring room. I moved restlessly through the crowd, trying to work out my next move.

Soon enough I reached the staircase to the upper levels. I drifted past, acted uninterested. How hard would it be to slip upstairs? I had one of my freshly made invisibility charms in my bag. With so few Fae in the crowd, it would almost certainly be safe to use.

But that left the problem of the three male Blood guarding the mouth of the stairs. As I watched out of the corner of my eye, a human couple approached the three and were firmly rebuffed.

From the protesting conversation, I gathered that only those with tokens were being admitted upstairs tonight.

Three Blood actively on the watch for interlopers was too chancy a proposition, even with an invisibility charm. They could smell me or hear me and I’d be caught.

I craned my head, trying to locate Guy and Fen through the crowd. I could just see the top of Guy’s blond head back at the table. Both he and Fen were watching the dancers. Not looking for me. Yet.

Time to think of another approach.

My head had started to ache from the heat, and the sticks of my fan dug into my palm through my glove. As I hovered around the staircase, trying to work out what to do, movement on the staircase caught my eye. The man—Beast—descending was someone I knew.

Christophe Favreau.

He was frowning as he straightened his cuffs. Two younger Favreaus—neither of them Henri unfortunately—trailed behind him wearing angry expressions. I turned away, heart beating fast.

What was Christophe doing here? He didn’t like Ignatius. His disgruntled expression suggested nothing had changed that fact.

What had just happened upstairs? What might still be happening?

I’d never know if I didn’t get up there myself. I turned my back on the main staircase and moved deeper into the Assembly. There must be other staircases. The ones the Trusted and the servers used.

I spotted a serving girl, dressed in filmy white gauze like the rest of them, not far from me. Time to see where she went.

I trailed her a little way, ready with a story of overindulgence and confusion if I was confronted. Soon enough, the serving girl vanished between a thick set of black velvet curtains.

I looked down at what I was wearing. If I moved behind the scenes, there was no way anyone would mistake me for a servant. Nor a Trusted. The Blood tended to dress female Trusted as scantily as the servers. No, I was clearly a guest.

On the other hand, the Trusted and the servants were generally human. Far less likely to detect me if I used the invisibility charm.

Now or never.

I yanked the charm out of my bag and activated it.

Then I stepped cautiously through the curtains and set off once more.

Behind the velvet, Halcyon was far less sumptuous. The wide hallway had black-painted walls and gas lamps bare of the elaborate decorations of the public rooms. I hugged the wall and moved forward cautiously.

The kitchens, I reasoned, would be toward the rear of the building. And, presumably, the servants’ stairs to the upper floors would be close to the kitchens so that food and drink arrived promptly when required.

The hallway turned a corner and I caught a waft of roasted meat in the air. Good. I was headed in the right direction.

As I got closer, the halls got busier. But most of the servers using them were laden with trays of drink and food, or were returning empty ones, and they kept to the middle of the hall except when they passed each other. I was safe enough if I kept to the edges and moved carefully, keeping my breath silent and easy.

It seemed to take a long time to reach the kitchen, though I knew it to be only a few minutes. I poked my head around the corner of the hall where it branched in either direction. Straight ahead was the kitchen. Two big doors stood open, giving me a perfect view of the many cooks hard at work. To my right, two servers moved away from the kitchen, their trays laden, and I saw them enter another doorway. That had to lead to the stairs to the upper floor.

I craned my neck in the other direction before I moved off, checking for threats. The left branch of the corridor was shorter, ending in a heavy door that was ajar. In the doorway, a male Trusted in the clothing of a guard was talking to someone. Just before I turned away, the Trusted moved a little and Henri Favreau’s angry face came into view before the Trusted moved to block my line of sight again. Relief poured through me. I hadn’t killed him. But just as rapidly, curiosity replaced it. Why was Henri trying to come through the back door?

“No, sir, I cannot admit you,” the Trusted said.

Now, here was a conversation I needed to hear more of. The upper floors could wait a few minutes.

I had hear-mes in my purse. I moved as fast as I dared down toward the door, bringing one of the charms out as I did so, taking care to keep it close.

I stopped a few feet away, not willing to chance coming any closer. The Trusted wouldn’t scent me, but Henri just might. But my hear-mes have a decent range. It was close enough.

The Trusted had one arm against the door frame. Brave man to stand against a Beast, but the Trusted are fiercely loyal to their Blood masters.

“No, sir,” he repeated.

“Let me in, you insolent moron. I have a token.”

“I have express orders not to admit you, sir.”

“To hell with that, I got shot. I am
owed
.” Henri’s voice rose indignantly.

“Then I suggest you discuss that another time,” the Trusted said. His tone was still scrupulously polite but steel-edged. Henri was going to have to go through him to get in, that much was clear.

“My lord won’t thank you for causing a scene,” the Trusted added. “You should leave.”

“I . . .” Henri’s voice sputtered and then died as the Trusted drew a pistol from his belt. “All right,” he said in a low, furious tone. “But this is not the end of it.”

“I’m sure you’ll be more than welcome on another occasion, sir,” the Trusted said. He stepped back and slammed the door closed, affording me another pleasing glimpse of Henri looking outraged before he disappeared from view.

I shut the hear-me down and pressed myself back against the wall as the Trusted came back up the hallway.

“Idiot,” he muttered as he passed, and I fought the giggle that rose in my throat.

I waited a minute longer, half expecting Henri to pound on the door and demand admittance a second time, but the corridor stayed quiet. I looked down at the hear-me.
Proof
. Proof of a connection between Ignatius and Henri.

True, no names had been used, but Halcyon was clearly under Ignatius’ control tonight. The Trusted had referred to his “lord.” Tonight that could only be Ignatius. Henri’s voice could be identified from the recording. Hopefully it was enough to tie them together.

I should take the charm back to Guy and Fen. This was the start of the proof Guy needed. But if I left now, I doubted they would let me come back to try for the upper floor. And I still needed to know if Cormen was here.

I didn’t yet have the proof
I
was looking for. Was he involved in whatever it was Ignatius was up to? More important, was he still in the City? Did he still have Mama and Reggie hidden here somewhere? If he did, there was still a chance I could discover where. And with a Templar knight at my disposal, surely we could get them back?

If I could steal them back, send them somewhere safe, then everything else became simpler. Even if I couldn’t avoid giving Cormen what he wanted, my family would be all right.

I couldn’t lose this chance. Guilt curled through me, but I pushed it away. Guy could wait. I put the hear-me back in my purse and continued back the way I’d come.

I had to wait another few minutes for the stairs to be clear of servers, but eventually they emptied and I ran up them as lightly as possible. At the top of the stairs was a small foyer with curtained doorways leading left and right. I paused, trying to guess at the layout from what I knew of the building.

Left, was my best guess, so I stepped through the curtains carefully, shrinking away as the fringed velvet brushed over my skin like tiny ghost fingers.

The hallway beyond was dimly lit and I couldn’t hear anything. In fact the whole upper floor was eerily quiet. Too quiet. Almost . . . dead feeling. Which either meant nothing was happening in this part of the floor or that Halcyon had excellent aural shields.

I suspected the latter. I considered my options. Go with instinct or try the other way. I decided to stick to my original decision and moved farther along the corridor. Up here, the floor was covered in a thick carpet of black with fine traceries of white.

The walls were papered in a dark red with little vignettes bordered in fine black lines forming a diagonal pattern enclosed by flourishes that looked unpleasantly thorny. I didn’t look too closely at what the images actually depicted. Nothing terribly pleasant, I would imagine.

I moved cautiously, nerves stretching to catch a hint of sound. Up here, the air smelled like the Blood. A mix of the incenses they favor and blood and other smells I didn’t want to identify.

I was definitely back in their territory, not the more human world belowstairs.

Which meant, I realized, that I needed to turn off the invisibility charm. My stomach twisted uneasily, but I knew the instinct was right. Dressed as a guest of the Assembly, I might pass in unchallenged up here—after all, if reaching this level required a token, there would be no reason to suspect me if I looked as if I belonged. But if a Blood smelled or heard me while I was invisible, then my purpose here would be crystal clear.

I doubted I would survive such a discovery.

Still, it took me quite a few seconds to convince my suddenly frozen fingers to reach for the invisibility charm and deactivate it.

Fortune favors the brave,
I reminded myself, trying to calm my racing heart.
Sweet Lady, be with me tonight.

I had only walked a few more feet before I turned another corner and ran into one of the Blood.

He looked at me with cool gray eyes, one white brow lifting. “Lost?”

“No. I was just returning to the party,” I lied.

“Really? Then in that case, let me escort you.”

A cool hand clamped around my arm before I had a chance to react.

“That is most kind of you.” I managed to keep my voice calm with an effort. There was no way for me to break free of a vampire’s grip, but perhaps if he thought me unconcerned, he would let go. “I would hate to miss the entertainment.”

The vampire looked down at me, face neutral. “Is that so?”

“Yes.” I smiled up at him, then faked a stumble. He caught me, then, as I had hoped, let me go.

“My apologies, my lord. My shoe.” I bent for a moment, tugged at my shoe beneath my skirts. When I straightened I made sure I was a little farther away from him. Not that I could react fast enough to block a vampire.

“If you would be so kind, my lord.” I inclined my head at him and gestured for him to lead the way.

My fingers gripped the strings of my bag tightly. I couldn’t help tracing the edge of the flower that masked my alert charm. If I triggered it, Guy and Fen would come.

The question was whether they would be fast enough.

Not yet. Not before I’d found anything.

The vampire seemed to come to a decision. “Follow me.” He turned on his heel, moving too smoothly, in that eerie way the Blood do, and led the way down the hallway.

There was the same dead silence as we walked. The carpet muffled my footsteps, and the Blood made no noise as he moved, which only made me more unsettled.

The smell of incense grew stronger, heavily spiced with cloves and sandalwood and smoky herbs. It made my nose twitch as if some part of my brain were trying to tell me that there was another smell being hidden by the smoky odor. A less pleasant smell. Blood maybe. Or fear.