“That’s not a question.”
“How?”
Okay, that was a question. A very direct one. “Elemental magic.”
“Yes, but I saw you use water magic. You possess fire magic as well?”
I couldn’t come up with a believable lie. “Yes. Now my turn again. You have access to information we mere mortals don’t. Have you heard of Damascus steel?”
The prince shook his head. “I’ll have a team look into it at once.”
“A team? You have people sitting around in a lab waiting for research assignments from you?”
“I’m a royal vampire. Is that so surprising?”
Yes and no.
“Did you already give them a piece of the metal to examine?”
He nodded. “I see now that was my mistake. I should’ve consulted the House smithy.”
I picked up the pace.
“What now?” he asked, his long strides closing the distance between us again.
“What now is I continue my investigation and you go back to the palace to play cards with your brother or whatever it is you do when you’re not stalking women.”
“I won’t rest until I find my sister.”
His eyes shone with sincerity. Imagine that. The Lord of Shadows had a soft spot for his little sister. Unless…
“Are you and the princess engaged?” I hadn’t heard that they were. Then again I didn’t follow royal news.
“There was talk of it once upon a time.”
“Why do I sense a but?”
“In the end, there was too much animosity between our Houses to consider a union, which worked out for me because I could only ever view Davina as a sister.”
“Why are you the one out here looking for her and not Prince Maeron?”
He smirked. “Maeron has many strengths, but consideration for others isn’t one of them.”
“But he seemed to be on your side at the palace. He didn’t seem to think she’d left of her own accord.”
“He suffers from Shiny Syndrome.”
“That hunk of metal is awfully shiny.”
Callan smiled. “He prefers his shiny with softer edges.”
“I see.”
“I was surprised he didn’t take more of a shine to you. Must be the magical armor. Too impenetrable.” The prince examined me from head to toe.
“What are you doing?”
“Imagining all the ways I might penetrate…your armor.”
I glared at him before marching away. Under no circumstances could I entertain the notion of…anything with Callan. If he figured out what I was, he’d kill me on the spot.
My mother was a witch and my father was a vampire, which made me the one species vampires feared.
A dhampir.
My mother took no chances when it came to hiding my identity. I once asked her why she didn’t terminate me, knowing the difficulties ahead. She offered a single-word answer. Love. It was the only time I ever saw her cry. Whoever my father was, he didn’t know I existed. She refused to even tell me his name for my own safety. She’d cut off contact with him the moment she discovered she was pregnant. Too dangerous. Dhampirs who managed to survive were executed upon discovery, no justification required. Vampires were in charge and the law stated no dhampirs. Most vampires stuck to procreating with their own kind to avoid the issue and promote the dominance of their species. On rare occasions one slipped through and, on even rarer occasions, one slipped through with power that rivaled their own.
I was pretty darn rare.
9
I took a bus from Euston and disembarked at Charing Cross. I cast a wary eye at the Thames. You never knew what creatures you might encounter at any body of water, but the Thames was notorious for producing monsters that no one had ever seen before, likely due to its connection to the North Sea.
The surface of the water lay flat today. No suspicious ripples or strange glows. The color was its usual sludge brown.
Barnaby swooped down to rest on a nearby fence and cawed.
“I don’t see anything either.”
Satisfied there were no immediate threats, the raven took to the skies. I turned and walked northeast to the excavation site. This had once been the site of one of the most famous churches in the country—St. Paul’s Cathedral. It had been the target of frequent attacks during the rise of the vampires and eventually succumbed to its wounds. After Britannia took the throne, she ordered the destruction of all churches in her territory. The only one she spared was Westminster Abbey because allegedly she was a fan of the author Charles Dickens who was buried there.
Lights were directed at a specific area and I spotted two people on their knees in close proximity to each other, scraping at the earth with a set of tools. It occurred to me they might not know what happened to their colleague.
Great. Now I was the bearer of bad news on top of everything else.
The man looked up and our eyes met. I offered a friendly wave to offset my very unfriendly appearance. When you showed up at a strange place armed to the teeth and wearing magical armor, it was best to put the others at ease straight away.
The other worker stumbled to her feet and dusted off her knees. She appeared much younger than her companion. Her hair was the same sludge-brown color of the river and she wore specialty goggles. Her plain clothes were designed for dirty work. She clenched a chisel in her hand.
“Hi, sorry to interrupt. I was hoping to talk to you about one of your colleagues.”
The older man shifted the goggles to rest on the top of his head. “Are you talking about Maria?”
“Yes.”
His forehead wrinkled. “It isn’t bad news, is it? She hasn’t shown up for work in two days. I stopped by to check on her, but she wasn’t there.” He wiped his hand on his trousers and offered it to me. “Apologies. Where are my manners? I’m Dashiell and this is my intern, Lucy.”
“London Hayes, Knight of Boudica.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “There’s a knight searching for Maria?”
My stomach tightened. This part never got easier. “I’m afraid Maria has already been found.”
Two shocked faces stared back at me.
“Found?” Lucy echoed. “You mean…？”
I nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Dashiell was the first to recover. “I didn’t know her terribly well, but still. Dreadful news. What happened?”
“That’s still under investigation.” I refrained from telling them about the molten casket.
Dashiell’s brow furrowed. “Why send a knight to tell us? Who would even send you on her behalf?”
“I wasn’t sent to deliver the news. I’m here about a stone that you uncovered at this location.”
The duo exchanged blank looks.
“Could you describe the stone?” Lucy asked. “As you can imagine, we’ve found quite a lot of them here.”
If only. The queen’s description left much to the imagination.
“I have very limited information. It’s the size of a brick, beige coloring, and marked with a symbol.”
“What does the symbol look like?” Lucy asked.
“I wasn’t given any more than that.”
Dashiell regarded me. “Do you know anything about the church that once stood here?”