Before I left my flat, I performed the spell to transport the members of the menagerie to the small realm I’d dubbed ‘the holiday home’ to make it sound more hospitable. It wasn’t a realm like this one. It was outside of time and space as we knew it and the animals didn’t exist in quite the same way while they were there. It was more of a short period of stasis, but at least they wouldn’t need food or water while they were stuck there. I opted not to send Trio. There was no telling how she would react to her first visit at the holiday home. Instead I gave her detailed instructions to return to the Pavilion and sent a message to the knights to look out for the dog’s return.
Once the animals were sorted, I headed toward Camden where the smithy was located. Camden hadn’t fared well during the Eternal Night. There didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason as to which sections of the city were hit the hardest. Some academics claimed it was the location of this area in relation to the shifting tectonic plates. Most of the streets were reduced to rubble long ago and no trains ran due north from Euston, St. Pancras, or King’s Cross. If you wanted to travel north of the city, you had to find a way around Camden—usually by traveling from Marylebone to the west or Highbury & Islington to the east. As a result, Camden was written off as unsalvageable, until eventually a few brave souls decided to take their chances. The changed state of the world led to a decrease in guns, which proved ineffective against vampires and monsters, and a rise in more traditional weapons like swords and daggers, and who better to provide those than a skilled blacksmith? Lann learned the trade from his father and grandfather and soon he’d have his own son join the smithy as an apprentice. As far as I was concerned, there wasn’t a more talented blacksmith in the city.
I walked past a row of shops and paused to admire a display of necklaces, each piece set on its own pedestal and illuminated by a soft white light. Magic users could earn a nice living in the retail sector through their lighting expertise alone. I wasn’t a jewelry person, mainly because I didn’t have disposable income and my job wasn’t exactly conducive to ornamentation—the last thing you wanted was an opponent choking you with your own pretty trinket—but a girl could dream.
The jewelry in a Camden shop wouldn’t be expensive. The area didn’t draw a wealthy clientele. Maybe if I finished the job for House Lewis, I could…
No. It was pointless for me to own a piece of jewelry, however inexpensive. In another lifetime, when I was someone else with more money and fewer problems.
As I stood with my face toward the glass, the back of my neck pricked. I shifted my focus from the necklaces to the reflection. Nothing but empty space around me.
I had company.
I resumed walking and was careful to maintain a casual speed.
Not in a hurry at all. Come out and introduce yourself. I’d love for you to meet my friends, Bert and Ernie. The matching set of daggers was easily accessible, but I didn’t want to provoke the vampire unnecessarily.
My internal alarm was set off by any number of threats, but I was especially sensitive to vampires. If I was being hunted, I didn’t want to give the predator a heads up that I was aware. Better to let them underestimate me and use it to my advantage.
I picked up the pace slightly to see if the sense of danger persisted.
Yep. Still with me.
As I inched my fingers toward the left dagger strapped to my thigh, a familiar figure materialized beside me.
The Highland Reckoning. I should’ve known.
I maintained a neutral expression. “Would it kill you to wear a bell around your neck?”
“Do you always walk at such an erratic pace?”
I motioned to the pavement behind me. “How was that erratic? I was moseying.”
“Most people would not consider that moseying. At a minimum, it was hustling.”
My jaw hardened. “Well, I’m not most people. I don’t do anything at a leisurely pace.”
His eyebrows lifted. “More’s the pity.”
Did he have to go there? I was doing my best to keep him strictly in the threatening box where he belonged.
“Why are you following me again? I agreed to take the job, didn’t I?”
“And now I’m checking on your progress.”
I squinted at him. “I don’t need a supervisor, thanks. Been doing this a long time.”
“You’re what—thirty? How long can you possibly have been doing this?”
Longer than I cared to admit. I ignored the question and continued forward.
He fell in step beside me and surveyed the area. “This isn’t a particularly pleasant neighborhood. What do you need here?”
“None of your business.”
“You do remember you’re speaking to a royal vampire.”
I stopped walking and pivoted to face him. “Apologies. None of your business, Your Highness.”
He edged closer, his six-foot-four frame towering over me. I stood my ground, even when he drew so close that my chest brushed against his hard torso.
Show no weakness.
Nostrils flaring, he stared down at me with a look designed to intimidate. To be fair, I didn’t think he designed it deliberately for that purpose. It was who he was innately, the way a fish was designed to swim.
“Tell me more about the princess,” I said in an effort to break the tension. Now that he was outside the palace walls, he might be willing to speak freely.
His posture relaxed and he eased away from me. “What would you like to know?”
“You obviously don’t agree with the queen that Princess Davina took off voluntarily.”
“No. It isn’t like her.”
“Then she isn’t like her brother? The queen said she was going through a difficult phase like Prince Maeron.”
He sighed. “Yes and no. Davina has been desperate to prove she’s more than a pretty face to be paraded through the city. She longs to be more than a spare royal.”
“I hardly think shopping for a rock on behalf of your family says otherwise.”
His mouth quirked. “I suppose not.”
It didn’t take a genius to sense there was something about this stone they weren’t telling me.
“There’s a reason Davina wanted to make this particular purchase, isn’t there? She viewed it as important. Why?”
“I don’t know. I suppose you’ll have to ask her when we find her.”
“We are not doing anything. I was hired as a knight.”
“By me, and that means I’m in charge of the operation.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Sorry. Not how I work.”
“It is now, by royal decree.”
Was he seriously playing the royalty card?
“I can have it written and signed in blood if need be,” he added.
Yes. Yes, he was.
I folded my arms. “What makes you think I’m working the case now? Maybe I’m headed out for groceries.”
“Do you always bring backup when you shop for groceries?”
I gave him a blank look.
He glanced skyward. “Friend of yours?”
I looked up to see a large black raven circling above. Barnaby.
“I didn’t even know he was there.”
He barked a short laugh. “Nice try.”