Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
“You don’t know Dante the way I do. He’s furious at the thought of being put in a corner. He’s going to choose someone guaranteed to enrage his father.” I hold up a small recording device. “And I’ve got the proof. How is Donald Dellacourt going to react when he hears his son plotting to embarrass the family he worked so hard to elevate? The press will eat it up. He’ll get kicked to the surface, and the Dellacourts will have more to worry about than the political situation on Tír na nÓg. Dante Dellacourt will be vulnerable, and the Finn twins will lose their biggest backers. You can push the government to declare for Torin. It won’t be long before all three are dead.”
“I want the girl dead, too,” Chalen says between clenched fangs. “The wife. She goes down with them.”
I’m a bit startled by that pronouncement. The woman in question is a consort. Meg Finn is valuable. If her husbands are dead, she’ll be fair game to any royal vampire without a consort. Consorts are precious. A royal even considering harming a consort is a shocking thought. I carefully school my features. “I’m sure that can be arranged. Are you still in contact with the king?”
Chalen nods. “I speak with King Torin daily. I am attempting to convince him to make his plea directly to our government. The twins are accusing him of all manner of crimes. He needs to show that he is the one who turned over the tyranny of their father’s reign.”
“Do you actually believe that?”
“Of course not. He killed his own brother and would have murdered his nephews if he hadn’t proven incompetent. This is about perception, not truth. If I can move the members of the senate to Torin’s side, I can isolate the bastards responsible for my brother’s death.”
I don’t bother to point out that Kinsey Palgrave’s body was never recovered. He simply vanished after telling his brother he was going after a consort on the Refugee plane. Chalen Palgrave figured out the consort his brother had been interested in was Megan Finn. As Meg Finn’s husbands are alive and well and his brother is missing, Chalen drew certain conclusions. He’s going to have his revenge on the Finns and the Dellacourts. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to get it, even placing his own “beloved” mistress into his enemy’s bed. He will not be swayed by anything as simple as logic.
“I need a copy of that tape,” Chalen orders. His face softens for a moment. “You’ve done well, Amanda.”
I keep my eyes demurely down. “Thank you, sir. I only hope to serve you.”
I will never, ever let him know that Dante Dellacourt is ten times the lover he is. I’ll never let him know I actually kind of like the bastard. This is war, and my personal feelings will only get me in trouble.
“Keep me updated,” he says before cutting the connection.
I sigh and stand. One day I’ll have a nice, normal job with Palgrave Industries. I’ll get married to someone of my own caste and live in the happy normalcy of the mid-levels. I will never go to the surface again, but I learned that living in the upper heights with the royals is too dangerous for me.
I stare down at the tape that will likely cost Dante Dellacourt his lofty position. It isn’t fair, but I download it and ship it to Chalen Palgrave’s address. I hope it’s all over soon so I can get on with my life.
Chapter Three
Dante
I rub my head as I walk into the small kitchen the next morning, trying to get rid of the fogginess from the night before. As a vampire, I don’t actually eat solid food. I dine on prime-grade meal pills, but there’s an ultramodern food preparation appliance in deference to the home’s inhabitants with fully functional digestive tracts. I glance around, slightly relieved to see that my mother is not present. Only Cian sits at the table, munching on a piece of toast and drinking fragrant tea. I pour myself a cup and think briefly about adding some Scotch. Just a nip.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Cian says, never looking up from the book he’s reading. I catch sight of a bunch of equations that make my head hurt even more. “It will get back to your father that you’re drinking before noon, and you’ll never hear the end of it.”
I groan, but my tea is alcohol free as I sit across from my cousin. “Fine. I’m in enough trouble as it is. What are you doing up so early? Shouldn’t you be screwing your wife or something?”
Cian grins as he looks up. He doesn’t even come close to taking the bait. “Meggie’s tired. She had a long night. I thought I’d let her sleep in. You look worse for the wear, cousin.”