“You are an utter bastard, Baldwin de Clermont.” My voice shook.
“Jack was a necessary casualty of a dangerous and deadly war—one that you started, by the way.”
Baldwin sighed. “Come home, sister. That’s an order. Lick your wounds and wait for him. It’s what we’ve all learned to do when Matthew goes off to assuage his guilty conscience.”
He hung up on me before I could manage a reply.
“I. Hate. Him.” I spit out each word.
“So do I,” Ysabeau said, taking back her phone.
“Baldwin is jealous of Matthew, that’s all,” Phoebe said. This time her reasonableness was irritating, and I felt the power rush through my body.
“I don’t feel right.” My anxiety spiked. “Is something wrong? Is someone following us?”
Gallowglass forced my head around. “You look hectic. How far are we from London?”
“London?” Leonard exclaimed. “You said Heathrow.” He wrenched the wheel to head in a different direction off the roundabout.
My stomach proceeded on our previous route. I retched, trying hold down the vomit. But it wasn’t possible.
“Diana?” Ysabeau said, holding back my hair and wiping at my mouth with her silk scarf. “What is it?”
“I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me,” I said, suppressing another urge to vomit.
“I’ve felt funny for the last few days.”
“Funny how?” Gallowglass’s voice was urgent. “Do you have a headache, Diana? Are you having trouble breathing? Does your shoulder pain you?”
I nodded, the bile rising.
“You said she was anxious, Phoebe?”
“Of course Diana was anxious,” Ysabeau retorted. She dumped the contents of her purse onto the seat and held it under my chin. I couldn’t imagine throwing up into a Chanel bag, but at this point anything was possible. “She was preparing to do battle with Benjamin!”
“Anxiety is a symptom of some condition I can’t pronounce. Diana had leaflets about it in New Haven. You hold on, Auntie!” Gallowglass sounded frantic.
I wondered dimly why he sounded so alarmed before I vomited again, right into Ysabeau’s purse. “Hamish? We need a doctor. A vampire doctor. Something’s wrong with Diana.”
Sol in Scorpio
When the sun is in the sign of Scorpio, expect death, feare, and poison.
During this dangerous time, beware of serpents and all other venomous creatures.
Scorpio rules over conception and childbirth, and children born under this sign are blessed with many gifts.
—Anonymous English Commonplace Book, c. 1590, Gon?alves MS 4890, f. 13v
29
“Where is Matthew? He should be here,” Fernando murmured, turning away from the view of Diana sitting in the small, sunny room where she spent most of her time since being put on a strict regime of bed rest.
Diana was still brooding over what happened in the Bodleian. She had not forgiven herself for allowing Benjamin to threaten Phoebe or for letting the opportunity to kill Matthew’s son slip through her fingers. But Fernando feared that this would not be the last time her nerves would fail in the face of the enemy.
“Diana’s fine.” Gallowglass was propped up against the wall in the hallway opposite the door, his arms crossed. “The doctor said so this morning. Besides, Matthew can’t return until he gets his new family sorted out.”
Gallowglass had been their only link to Matthew for weeks. Fernando swore. He pounced, pressing his mouth tightly against Gallowglass’s ear and his hand against his windpipe.