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:Wanna bet?: Mehen purred out.
:That wasn’t a challenge,: Rik warned. :Don’t make me crush in your skull.:
23
SHARA
Frank and another security guard I didn’t know waited at the main door for us, along with my consiliari team. Rik carried me across the blood circle and set me down on my feet inside. The circle was still up—but it reeked of Rosalind’s magic. Even though I’d drained all her blood from her House, I hadn’t deliberately cleared the circle.
Another rookie mistake. I should have claimed this place officially before leaving. Then I might have been able to prevent anything from being destroyed.
I pierced my palm and allowed my blood to drop onto the threshold. Isador magic swept around the house in a shimmering wave that made chills ripple down my spine. Cleansing away the touch of her magic. Making it fully mine.
I lifted my hand up to Rik and he nuzzled my palm, nibbling his lips softly against my skin before swirling his tongue over the small wound to seal it.
“There was an incident, Your Majesty.” Frank gave a subtle shake of his head to Rik, though I wasn’t sure why. “We have it under control now. Paul, why don’t you give our queen the report yourself.”
:Xin noticed one of the human guards didn’t have a scent,: Rik said. :He disappeared before we could question him, so we don’t know who he might have been working for. But he wasn’t any of the people stationed here.:
The man beside him gave a short bow. “Your Majesty, I beg your pardon. We were unaware of any issues until Mr. McCoy called. We immediately began to examine each room and found Charles Valois in the basement of the house in a hidden storage room starting a fire with heating fuel.”
“Was he trying to destroy documents? Or burn the house down?”
“Both, I believe, Your Majesty,” Paul replied. “Some documents were destroyed before we intervened, but many boxes remain. Some may be stained with fuel, which may degrade the ink and paper. There’s some minor smoke and water damage in the storage room, but the house itself is intact. We have Mr. Valois under guard in the library if you’d like to interrogate him.”
“Very good, Paul. Thank you. Frank, I’d like to dismiss all the humans not ours who may still be in the house and revoke their access.”
He nodded. “We’ve already begun the process of terminating everyone’s association with House Isador.”
“Excellent. Paul, if you could escort my team to the storage room, let’s begin moving the documentation to a safer location.”
“At once, Your Majesty.”
All the humans left except Frank. “Let’s go talk to Charles.”
“This way, my queen.” Frank had evidently done his research in advance and knew the layout of the house. He took us across the open foyer and then down a side hall behind the stairs. Without hesitating, he went to the second door on the left, rapped once, and then opened the door.
Two more human guards stood over Charles Valois, who sat in a simple wooden chair, his arms bound behind his back. Smoke smudged his face, his cheeks wet and streaked, whether tears or sweat I wasn’t sure. As soon as he saw me, he flung himself out of the chair onto his knees and bowed forward awkwardly, pressing his face to the floor. “Your Majesty, please have mercy on me. I was only completing orders.”
Guillaume grabbed a padded chair and brought it over for me. I sat down and waited a moment for Rik to make his orders and shift the Blood around the room and property. The human guards had done their best to secure the building, but they didn’t have my Bloods’ acute senses, nor their magical abilities. Even the birds were curiously searching the house to make sure no surprises were left behind before I handed this property over to Mairead.
“What were your orders, Charles?”
“As soon as possible, I was supposed to burn down the property. Her Majesty didn’t want any other queen to possess the physical items of her legacy.”
True but also there was more to it. “Like those documents in the basement.”
His shoulders jerked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Your Majesty.”
“Come now, Charles. I thought you were Rosalind’s first consiliarius?”
He struggled upright, on his knees, so he could see my face. “I am. Was. Your Majesty.”
“But you’re not aware of what’s in the boxes in the storage room? That you were attempting to destroy?”
“Her Majesty kept her affairs private, even from me.”
The sphinxes came to sit on either side of my chair, their golden eyes intent on the tasty-looking human. “But not from Damas, Montmorency, Dupont, A L’Espée, and Lyons.”
