Silver in the Blood (34 page)

“Both of you step aside and let Mihai and me sort this out,” King Carol demanded. “You can't possibly take the throne with only a handful of wolves to support you.”

“So very true,” Mihai agreed. “Which is why I have hired an entire army of mercenaries as well!” He cocked his pistol, aiming at Lord Johnny. “And there's no need for anyone to step aside. I'll just get rid of you all right now.”

Dacia calmly moved in front of Lord Johnny.

“You aren't going to shoot anyone else,” Dacia said.

She hoped that her fair skin didn't betray her by making her blush too obvious. She hoped, too, that Lord Johnny was standing too close to see what was happening to her gown. Slowly, so slowly, the buttons that ran down the back of her gown were undoing themselves. She put her hands, lightly clasped, to her waist, and tried to slip her hand into her reticule without drawing Mihai's attention to it.

“Step away from him, bitch,” Mihai grated.

King Carol stepped forward, one hand raised as though to strike Mihai.

“You foul creature,” the king began.

Mihai screamed with rage, spittle stringing from his chin. He leveled his gun at the king, and several things happened at once, creating a scene of madness that would haunt Dacia's dreams for years to come.

Mihai shot King Carol, but Lord Johnny shoved the older man down just in time, so the bullet tore through the king's shoulder, not his heart. Dacia's gown fell to the floor in a puddle of poplin and lace, and she was standing in her underthings when Theo burst into the room at the head of the royal guards. The window shattered and men with long mustaches and bared weapons leaped through: Mihai's mercenaries. Both groups opened fire, and Mihai grabbed Dacia's waist. She shook him off, snatching a knife from his belt and letting her reticule fall to the floor as well.

“Put the knife down,” Mihai yelled, aiming the pistol at her now.

She smiled at him beatifically. “I won't stab you,” she said. She slit her corset and the chemise beneath it with one long stroke of the blade, not caring that she nicked her skin twice. “I will prefer to use my teeth.”

She cast one look toward Lord Johnny, on the floor covering the king with his own body. The young lord gazed back at her.

Dacia brought her arm up and flipped the heavy gold bracelet over her hand. It struck Mihai between the eyes and he clutched at his face, cursing. Freed of her Parisian finery, Dacia changed. When all four of her paws were rooted in the carpet, she stretched her neck up and howled.
Mihai flung himself backward, scrambling across the bed toward the open window with his pistol pointing wildly around the room.

Dacia paused, taking just a moment to relish the power, the freedom of this form. Then she locked her gaze on Mihai, and growled low in her throat.

“So beautiful,” Dacia heard Lord Johnny say as she leaped.

17 JUNE LOULOU I WILL ARRIVE IN BUCHAREST WITH TWINS TOMORROW ARE YOU AND DACIA ALL RIGHT WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER FROM YOUR WORRIED FATHER

Lou was herself again.

She was not corporeal by any means, which was fortunate, as she had no clothes. Instead she was a cloud of Smoke, hovering near the glass ceiling of the palace's central hall. She became aware of bats flying through her—an unpleasant sensation. The more so when she truly came to herself and realized that the bats were some of her aunts and cousins of the Wing.

Lou supposed that she could speak to them if they touched her, but she had no desire to. She knew why they were here, and she doubted very much that they would listen to her. She was glad she had no stomach to feel queasy, as she saw her cousins and aunt and uncles diving down at the servants and guards passing below. The servants were screaming and covering their heads with their hands, the guards cursing, and bats squealed with delight as red blood dripped from their claws.

Ignoring them, Lou gathered herself and soared through the palace, looking for Dacia.

She had barely started down the corridor toward the king's study when she found Theo tucked into the deep doorway of the music room. He was in whispered conversation with the captain of the palace guard, both their faces grim. She coiled herself down until she was level with Theo. The captain didn't notice her at first, but Theo immediately turned his head and looked at her gravely.

“Are you well, my dear Lou?”

She bobbed up and down in a kind of nod.

“I am glad. I worried when you disappeared that perhaps you were gone for good.”

His dark brows were drawn together with concern. He had removed his tie and loosened his jacket, and Lou thought that it made him look very young.

She could not answer him, so she merely swished in the air, a kind of headshake and shrug at once. Then both of them noticed the captain, whose face was chalky as he stared at Lou.

“What is that thing?”

Theo drew himself up tall. “That
thing
is Miss Louisa Neulander, and you will address her with respect, sir! Now gather your men and let us proceed to the king!”

Lou followed, since Dacia was most likely with King Carol. But they were forced to stop just as they turned the corner. The corridor outside the royal bedchamber was completely blocked by wolves. The captain and his men froze, bulging eyes fixed on the wolves, who didn't stir, even when two of the soldiers swore and another loudly cocked his pistol.

“Stop,” the captain said hoarsely. “Don't. Move.”

“My dear Lou,” Theo said softly. “The king, your Dacia, and John did not make it to the cellars as planned. We suspect the wolves are gathered here because—”

At last one of the wolves took notice, stepping toward them with a growl. It was an enormous wolf, mostly gray, and Lou looked into its eyes and recognized her uncle Horia. She made herself as dense as possible, shielding Theo. Uncle Horia fell silent, but he didn't back away.

“Could you look inside, Lou, and see if all is well?” Theo asked.

She knew that it was not all well, how could it possibly be? But she also understood what he meant: Was the king dead? Was it even worth their fighting through the roiling mass of wolves, their fangs bared and hackles raised to make them appear larger than they already were? As she slipped between them, she did not get a taste of Aunt Kate or Radu, and this cheered her immensely. Feeling hopeful, she swirled through the keyhole and into the royal bedchamber.

The situation within the bedchamber was very far from well.

Prince Mihai was pointing a pistol at King Carol, and although the king, his guard, and Lord Johnny were all armed, Lou knew it wouldn't matter. If Lord Johnny tried to shoot, Mihai would kill the king. Even if he himself died by Lord Johnny's hand, Mihai would still have succeeded in a part of his goal, at least. And Lou could sense more people . . . men . . . men with guns. But where were they?

She slipped across the floor toward the window, hoping that Mihai was too focused on the king to see her. Prince Mihai was
saying awful things to Dacia, but Lou didn't let herself hear them. She needed to find those men . . .

There!

Outside the windows, which were open just a crack, there were more armed men. Mihai's men: they had guns trained on Dacia and Lord Johnny, and the blackness of night outside hid them from those inside the brightly lit room.

Everything, within the room and without, was balanced very delicately. Lou drifted about the hem of the heavy curtains, not sure what to do. Something needed to happen to upset the balance, and it needed to be tipped in the king's favor, but how? They were all armed, but Lou was the Smoke, which gave her little advantage here. If only Dacia—

Dacia! Dacia was the one who could change this. If Dacia were to transform, it would be a distraction. And as a wolf she would be better able to fight. And as the queen of the pack, perhaps she could persuade the other Florescu wolves to stand aside.

But how to tell her cousin? How to convince her to change?

Mihai shot the guard, and Dacia and Lord Johnny huddled closer together. Lou knew that they couldn't waste any more time, and stirred herself from the curtain fringe.

Lou slipped across the floor and glided up Dacia's skirts. Straining to make herself as invisible as possible, she tuned herself in to the conversation at last, so that she would know if anyone spotted her. Just as she did, she heard Dacia's cool words.

“I am not a monster.”

And Lou knew that Dacia meant it, and that she was prepared to embrace her power. Lou pressed a ghostly kiss to her
cousin's cheek and then she got to work. The back of Dacia's gown fastened with half a hundred tiny buttons. Lou gathered herself together as she did when she wrote on the mirror and undid the buttons as quickly as she could. It took all of her concentration, but once she got the hang of it the buttons popped easily out of their holes. The only thing holding Dacia's gown in place at this point was Dacia's own hands, pressed to her waist.

Then Dacia's gown was pooled on the floor, and she was grabbing a knife to slit her corset and underthings. A gun went off, and the king went down with a shout, while Lou arrowed through the keyhole, unlocking the door as she went so that Theo and his men could run into the room with pistols drawn. Within the room was chaos, outside in the corridor was . . . nothing.

The wolves had gone.

She followed their taste down the corridor and into a sitting room, where the entire pack was gathered, arrayed in eerie silence in front of Aunt Kate and Radu, who both stood, human and unclothed in the middle of the Turkish carpet. Aunt Kate's hair hung unbound down to her buttocks, and as Lou watched she shook it back and began to speak.

“My mother can rant all she likes about prophecies,” Aunt Kate snarled. “But look at the hard truth in front of your eyes: the first Smoke in a hundred years refuses to follow Lady Ioana! The new queen of your pack refuses to follow her!” To Aunt Kate's further credit, she didn't choke at all on the words
new queen
. She went on. “I am tired of thinking of what is best for the Draculas. I want to do what is best for the Florescus!”

Several of the wolves yipped now, seeming to agree, but
others growled. Lou shaped herself into a column so that they could see her. Aunt Kate turned when she saw the attention of the pack shift to Lou and looked at her gravely, then she nodded once. It was almost a bow. The others followed suit, at least most of them did. And those who didn't found Radu snarling at them with a mouth that was more wolf than human until they, too, cowered on the palace carpet. Radu bowed to Lou, and she did her best to give him a regal nod.

Lou swirled back through the keyhole and out into the corridor. She wanted to make certain that Dacia and Theo were all right. But just outside the door to the king's bedchamber, she was stricken with the most horrifying pain she had ever endured. Each smoky particle of her body was on fire, and with a scream that was first silent, and then shockingly loud, she fell to the floor with a thud that was all too bruising, as she now found herself in human form again, in agony, and unable to move.

 

All Romania is holding its breath, waiting for news from Peles Castle this morning after fighting broke out in the palace gardens at midnight last night. It seems that earlier in the day, King Carol had summoned the nearby regiment to patrol the gardens, but no official comment was made on the nature of the threat. There is no news as to who would dare to attack our beloved king and queen at their own home.

Two mortuary wagons were summoned in the early hours of the morning, and there is still no word on the safety of the royal family.
The Gazette
will post a special edition as soon as there is word.

“Come, my darling,” Mihai taunted. “Come here to me!”

He was standing behind a large urn in the palace gardens. Dacia had tracked him there after he'd jumped out the window of the king's bedchamber. She knew that he had a pistol in one hand, and a knife in the other. She could smell the steel of them both, along with the reek of fear and something else coming from the would-be king. It wasn't a bad thing, that other emotion he was feeling, and that's why it worried her. It was fear, mixed with . . . elation? Could that possibly be? Was he completely mad?

She slunk closer and got ready to pounce. And then she smelled the other scent, the one that was pure terror, and coming from a source far more familiar than Mihai.

The prince stepped out from behind the urn, holding Will Carver by that fashionable young man's shirt collar. The prince's smile was white and charming in the moonlight. Will Carver's teeth were just as white, but they were bared in a grimace of fear.
Mihai pushed Will to his knees and placed his pistol to Will's temple.

“Your dashing suitor came to my home to scold me,” Mihai said. “Came into my very parlor to tell me that I—
I
—was an abomination! He said that he knew my secret and that I must leave Romania or he would call down the authorities on my head.” Mihai laughed. “What a handsome fool! My uncle had him tied up and tossed in the back of a coach before he could straighten his tie!”

Will, for his part, seemed more frightened of Dacia than he was of the gun at his head.

“Call off your dog,” he gasped to Prince Mihai as Dacia slowly advanced, her hackles raised.

“It isn't my dog, but it soon will be,” Mihai said silkily. “Won't you, my love? You will be mine, and you will kill King Carol for me.”

Dacia growled.

“Tell your dog to get back!” Will Carver cowered against Mihai's legs. “My father will pay whatever ransom you ask!”

If she hadn't been concentrating so fully on Mihai, trying to guess his next move, Dacia would have taken a moment to be utterly disgusted by her former beau's behavior.