Suzanne McLeod - The Cold Kiss of Death

‘Rosa has always been troubled, Elizabetta,’ Malik answered her calmly. ‘I am sure it was not her intention to cause you any inconvenience.’

‘Pah! She has no care for anyone other than herself. She has hunted in all our territories without permission, and she has stolen choice morsels away from our tables. It is not often that fae blood, even diluted with human, comes our way. The bounty should be utilised wisely, not kept for one’s own gratification then disposed off.’

‘ You have been busy rescuing your faelings, haven’t you, Genevieve. ’

‘ Damn right I have! ’ Then I wondered how he knew.

Elizabetta’s next words put that thought from my mind. ‘And then this appropriation of the sidhe in secret.’ She threw her arms out in disgust, the beads on her dress clacking as they swung. ‘Did Rosa think that no one would discover it, that she would be able to stand against the Autarch? We do not need him to turn his attention to us.’

‘Rosa will have no dealings with the Autarch, nor will anyone else in London, once you have witnessed her offer of fealty to me, Elizabetta.’ His fingers squeezed mine again. ‘I will await Rosa’s arrival upstairs, and I will have someone inform you when we are ready.’

He inclined his head, then turned to me, gesturing towards the double doors leading to the interior of the club. ‘We will go now.’

‘Wait!’ she commanded, the word digging into me like a hook. ‘What is that?’ She pointed a lace-gloved finger accusingly at me.

‘ My apologies, Genevieve ,’ Malik’s voice came wearily in my head as he turned back to her. ‘It is nothing, Elizabetta.’ He gave an elegant shrug. ‘I found myself in need of some sustenance.’

Sustenance? Nice! Still, at least he’d said he was sorry in advance.

‘Do you not require your usual tithe?’

‘Of course, the human is but an appetiser.’

‘She’s not to your usual taste, Malik.’ She stared at my tabloid breasts, curling her mouth in a sneer. ‘A tad obvious .’

‘Her body is strong.’ His words were distant. ‘Her blood is healthy and she is willing, which is all that matters in a snack.’

Huh! I was a snack now?

‘I hope you’re not planning on draining her.’ Her nostrils flared in disdain. ‘Because if so, you should know that the facilities here are not the best for disposal. It would cause difficulties for me.’ She gave him an assessing look. ‘Difficulties I might not be able to keep from the human authorities.’

‘My plans are not your concern.’

‘Of course they are! Now the Earl is gone, I am head of London’s High Table.’

‘That decision is not finalised until after tomorrow’s gathering, Elizabetta.’

‘Pah! There is no one who can stand in my way. Hearts and Diamonds have none strong enough and while Declan’s personal power may be on a par with mine, his Shamrocks are too small in numbers to overcome my Blades. Tomorrow or today makes no odds.’ She gave a superior smile, showcasing longer-than-normal needle-sharp fangs. ‘So it is now within my jurisdiction to deny you your blood-tithe, Malik. In fact, should I decide that you have succumbed to the curse of your abomination of a bloodline, I am within my rights to demand your death.’

‘ That doesn’t sound good, ’ I murmured in my head.

He stilled, a line of concern creasing between his eyes. ‘Do not pursue this course, Elizabetta.’

‘In all the centuries I have known you, Malik, you have never picked up a snack.’ She flicked open the fan with a flourish. ‘So this one must be of some importance to you.’ Her pink tongue slipped out and licked her fangs. ‘I’m curious as to what that is.’

‘ She knows who I am! ’

‘ No, she does not; she would not be talking if she did—she would be trying to tear my head off to get at you. ’

‘ Good to know she’s a friend then. I’d hate to meet one of your enemies. ’

‘ Ally, not friend. Elizabetta needed my support to ratify her elevation tomorrow; now, for some reason, she feels she does not. ’

‘I am here surrounded by humans, and have yet to kill one.’ Malik waved a dismissive arm. ‘I have evidently not fallen to the curse as you can see, Elizabetta.’

‘But you are wrong, I cannot see.’ Her odd pupils contracted to nothing, leaving her colourless eyes even more nondescript. ‘I think you should show me that you can control your curse.’ She touched a finger to her lips in parody as if a thought had just struck her. ‘Take your snack now.’

‘This is not the place, Elizabetta.’ He spoke calmly, but his hand crushed mine. Pain burned in my fingers, then it was gone, frozen by the ice. ‘There are too many humans.’

‘Pah! I could strike her head off and the humans would see nothing other than what I want them to.’ She waved the fan across her face and in an instant a haggard old woman stood in her place. The watching crowd clapped in appreciation. I blinked. Which was the illusion? The girl or the hag? I tried to look and nearly choked on the ice in my throat.

‘Or do you doubt my power?’ Her wrinkled face creased up in an arch smile.

‘It is not your power I doubt, Elizabetta,’ Malik’s voice was hard like steel, ‘but your fealty to the Autarch. It will not go well if you cross him.’

‘I think it is your fealty that is in question, Malik. I’m not the one who is trying to steal a sidhe from under his nose.’ She laughed, a tinkling sound like breaking glass. ‘Oh, you didn’t think any of us truly believed that Rosa had made a blood-bond with the sidhe without your knowledge did you?’ She peered over the edge of her fan, her eyes dull with the clouds of age, the lids drooping with wrinkles. ‘It is a nice manipulation of our laws, but then you always were clever. You want the sidhe, but your oath to the Autarch forbids you taking her. But how convenient that Rosa, the only one of your blood to survive the curse, should be the one to tempt her, and how convenient that Rosa then turns feral and is to be put down or corralled—allowing you to force her to eat from your hand again, and hold all her property under your sway.’

‘Your perception does me no favours, Elizabetta.’

‘Bite her now.’ She snapped the fan shut then jabbed it towards me. Malik stepped back, jerking me away.

I frowned, puzzled at his action. ‘ What was that for? ’

‘If I have truly embraced my curse’—Malik indicated the attentive but oblivious audience—‘you would have me start a bloodbath. Even you cannot wish for that.’

‘Either you bite her now and prove to me you haven’t, or I will kill you both myself and declare your deaths a necessary precaution to protect the humans. There will be no witnesses to say otherwise than mine. Think: where will your precious sidhe be then? Unclaimed property, at the mercy of any vamp who finds her. They are all eager, and stupid enough to try their chances, believing that her sidhe blood will increase their power, believing it will protect them. Then there would be a culling while they fought over her. She cannot even turn to the human authorities, not now they want her for murder. And no doubt her fellow fae will be only too pleased to be rid of her after the nuisance she has caused them.’ Her long fangs extended walrus-like over her bottom lip. She tapped the fan against them and the noise was oddly more like metal than plastic. ‘Is that what you want, for the sidhe to be used up by the fight? And then the winner gets to claim the patronage of the Autarch by offering him her blood. After all, from what I know of him, he is unlikely to care if the sidhe is not in the peak of health—in truth, he will probably appreciate her being broken in.’