42. Chapter 41

Archie came before me, clearly forewarned and forearmed. He shut the door, strode forward and sank to his knees. ‘Oh, get up,' I said irritably. ‘I can't see you from behind this ridiculously huge desk.'

‘As you wish, my Queen.' He stood up then sank instead onto the guest chair opposite me. He kept his head bowed and everything about him signalled contrition.

It is no fun to tell him off now, Esme complained. He is already sorry.

He is, I agreed. ‘Archie. Look at me. You know what I am going to say.'

‘I should have told you about Larsden.'

I nodded. ‘You should have told me about Larsden.'

His lips turned up a little as I repeated his words. ‘If it had been my secret, I swear I would have. But it was not my head on the chopping block. No matter how much I reassured Thea that you wouldn't be angry, she is too used to alphas doling out punishment first and asking questions later – if at all. I'm sorry.'

I really had been intending to chew him out but his eyes were so earnest that I just couldn't. ‘It's fine,' I found myself saying. Damn me and my people-pleasing ways! ‘But next time, come to me. If I find out you've been keeping something like this from me again, there will be consequences,' I promised firmly.

There, that was better, right? Of course I had no idea what the consequences would be, but still. That was Future Lucy's problem. ‘Off you go,' I dismissed him, feeling suddenly tired.

Archie gave a low bow. Moments after the office door closed, Greg came in. ‘Hey, Peaches, you okay?'

I smiled. ‘Better now.' I stood up, went to him and gave him a slow, languid kiss. God, I'd missed his scent swirling around me and making me love-drunk. He was such a good man, and he was mine. For now.

‘I saw Archie leaving,' he commented.

‘Yeah. Thea killed Larsden in self-defence and Archie helped her cover it up.'

His eyebrows rose. ‘She confessed?'

‘Yeah.'

‘What did you do about it?'

‘Nothing. Larsden was an asshole.'

He frowned. ‘The Council may not be happy with that.'

‘The Council can go fuck themselves.'

Practically speaking, Esme said, that is unlikely.

I giggled. ‘Esme thinks it is unlikely the Council will be able to fuck themselves.'

‘Well, not by themselves,' Greg said facetiously, ‘but they could certainly fuck each other.' He sobered. ‘They'll want to know who killed Larsden.'

‘And we're not going to tell them. We're going to tell them that the perpetrator has been found and dealt with and that they don't need to know anything else. If Larsden's alpha has a problem with that, he can take it up with me.'

‘Larsden was second to Rain.'

‘Was he?' I said with faux innocence and batted my eyelashes. ‘Well then, I guess Rain will have to come and speak to me.'

‘On your land,' Greg grinned. ‘On your terms.'

I smiled. ‘Why, that just hadn't occurred to me.'

‘Uh-huh.' He laughed. ‘I come with good news.'

‘Great, that's my favourite type.' I kissed his neck. ‘Is the news that it is time for us to get super-naked together?'

‘Are there degrees of naked?'

‘Oh yes,' I purred. ‘I'll show them to you later.'

‘I'm totally in. But no, that wasn't my good news.'

‘What is it?'

‘Jacob's seraph brothers have arrived and our skies are now secured.'

I grinned. ‘I bet just saying that gave you a semi. You and that roof.'

His eyes narrowed. Before I could say anything, he started tickling me mercilessly, and at some point the rolling around and laughing transformed to rolling around and kissing. Someone knocked at the door. We were only a few buttons away from being caught in flagrante delicto .

We hastily stood up and straightened our clothing. Greg moved to sit behind the security desk. ‘Come in,' I called.

Liam stuck his head around the door. ‘I'm sorry to disturb you, alpha, but Mr Alessandro is here to see you.'

‘Which one?' I asked. I had a wealth of Alessandro relatives.

Liam cleared his throat. ‘The vampyr one.'

Wonderful. What could grandfather want now? ‘I'll go and meet him in the garden,' I started for the door then turned back to Greg. ‘Are you coming?'

His cheeks warmed. ‘Give me a minute,' he said from behind the desk, making me smirk.

‘I'll meet you out there.' I walked into the cool night air. As expected, my vampyric grandfather was lurking in the darkness. What I didn't expect was the rush of love, affection and sheer adoration that swamped me at the sight of him.

Nina's breaking of the memory wipe had given me a tonne of new memories and emotions that I had yet to process consciously because I had immediately gone to my coronation bloodbath. There had been no time to think about the memories that had been given back to me, to remember my mum's smile and my dad's laughter, to remember Shadow Grandfather, as my mum had called Alessandro, or Grandy Sandy as I'd called him.

I was crossing the distance before I knew I was moving. ‘Grandy Sandy!' I said as I flew into his arms. Surprise written all over his face, he caught me and wrapped his arms around me. He smelled exactly like he'd done when I was a child and his scent unlocked something in me. Suddenly I was sobbing my heart out into the poor vampyr's arms as my childhood memories of love overwhelmed me.

Granddad Sandy had visited me often and he'd always brought Victoria sponge cake. He had cooed over my scribbled artwork and my half-formed letters whilst I jabbered at him in an incomprehensible mix of barely understandable English and Italian. This man had saved my life; even more, he had loved me for every minute of it .

‘What did you do?' Greg growled at Alessandro as he joined us.

I gave a half-laugh, half-sob as I wiped my face. ‘He didn't do anything,' I managed. I took a shuddering breath. ‘Sorry, Grandy Sandy. It all just hit me a bit.'

He studied me. ‘You had the clearing broken.'

‘The seat of power did it,' I explained.

‘Ah.'

‘My adoptive mum's name is Sandy,' I pointed out.

He nodded. ‘Yes.'

‘You picked her because of your shared name?'

He let out a small breath. ‘I wanted you to have a Sandy in your life, even if it wasn't me. Plus, she was perfect – caring and kind, yet no nonsense and strong. I saw how she treated her son – I watched her and Dennis before I placed you with them. It wasn't an easy decision, I promise you that. I agonised over whether to keep you or not … but your jaunt into the past had already told me it wasn't to be.'

My heart ached but I was done with tears so I made a show of looking around. ‘Where's my Victoria sponge cake, huh?'

A small smile graced his lips. ‘Next time, I promise.' His smile faded. ‘Though alas, I am here to tell you that there may not be a next time. '

‘Why? What's happened?' I demanded.

‘I've been challenged to a duel. Sadly, I am a dead man walking.'

He's always a dead man walking, Esme muttered. He's a vampyr.

I ignored her sassy input. ‘Well, don't go to it,' I said. The solution was obvious.

He smiled again. ‘That isn't an option, darling girl. My honour is all I have left.'

‘That's not true,' I said stubbornly. ‘You have me – us. All of us. You have a tribe of Alessandros and we need you. You're our guardian.'

He shook his head. ‘I'm a guardian without magic. Without my fire magic, my death is a certainty – though not necessarily during the duel, which I may well survive. But if I don't use the fire magic in the duel then all and sundry will know that I no longer possess my flames.'

‘I'll call Voltaire,' I said desperately. ‘Put a stop to it.' Though how I'd accomplish that feat when Voltaire was gunning for me, I wasn't sure.

Grandfather shook his head slowly, ‘Even the Red Guard can't stop it, Luci.' He spoke my name as if it were spelled with an h, Luchi, a mangling of Lucy and Luciana.

‘Then what's your plan?' I asked huffily. ‘You must have one. '

He nodded slowly. ‘Yes. I have.'

‘Well?' I said impatiently, tapping my toe. ‘What is it?'

He gave me a wry smile. ‘I plan to die.'

‘Let's call that Plan B,' Greg suggested.

‘What is Plan A?' Alessandro asked.

Greg shook his head. ‘I haven't figured that out yet.'

‘But we will,' I agreed.

We had to: I was so done with losing my relatives. Losing Grandy Sandy wasn't an option. I would come up with a Plan A, even if it killed me.