Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
B ritannia had called Victoria and explained the situation, or at least I suspected that’s what she’d said. She talked to Victoria in that strange language, which if I survived all this, I was determined to learn.
Two burgers later, I started to relax enough to puzzle out the pieces that still didn’t quite add up. Nothing like being trapped in a car to get the thinking juices going.
“Let’s talk about Gentry. I get it that the two of you hooked up or whatever, but something’s been bugging me. How did he call me and turn up dead? If the poison was the same poison, I’d have been dead way before that. The timelines don’t match up.”
“Yeah well, Har, there are some things that can’t be easily explained. I told you that. Now shut the fuck up.”
It was Gentry’s voice, but it was Britannia speaking and exactly the words he would have chosen. Her impression of him was perfect.
I swerved into the other lane and regained control of the car. Holy crap. I was dealing with a maniacal killer. I slowed down and puzzled it out. She’d called, but then what? “Where was Gentry then?”
“Gentry was dead in the bathroom. If you’d gone in there, you would have found him in the bathtub. I tipped the police off after you left. I bought that bottle of vodka, by the way.” She smirked.
I couldn’t squeeze words into a coherent sentence.
If I’d discovered Gentry’s body in the bathroom, I could have called the police.
I could have prevented this whole disaster.
Well not his death, but my part of the mess.
“Let’s talk about these agent things, Greegores or whatever.
Why the hell do they want Wald? I mean I have the ring, so why did they kill him? ”
“They’ve been after Wald ever since the curse made him visible to them, but as long as Wald’s at the house, he’s protected by Maverick’s magic. They can target him as soon as he leaves.”
“Then why the hell does”—and I was choosing that word carefully, trying not to ponder the dead body in the trunk — “Wald care that I get my life back? I mean I’m nothing to him.
Well, I was hoping for something, but you know.
” I bit down on the bitterness of these last words, regretting them.
I was thinking out loud to possibly the worst person in the world to talk plainly to.
“Girlfriend now, huh? You wish, but yeah I know what you mean. Wald has this thing about honor. The code he works by is an old one. We are not supposed to mess around with the humans’ timeline or humans.
That’s why Maverick wanted me to take care of things when I screwed up with Gentry.
” Her face changed, and I almost felt sorry for her.
“Anyway, Wald felt obligated as he considers me family. Maverick leaving the house would be a mistake none of us would recover from. His presence there holds the house invisible and gives the power for the illusions. Victoria can’t leave.
She’s bound there. With my sister Donia gone, the task fell to Wald. ”
The cogs turned slowly in my head, assessing the new information. “You knew that, you bitch. You knew if he left the house, he’d be a target.”
“Quit it with the name calling, or I’ll put you to sleep and drive myself. I’m humoring you because I need you.” She sneered at me. “Yeah, I knew, but Wald can take care of himself. He’s tough. Well, he was.”
“Sorry.” I choked out the word because humble pie is hard to eat. I needed her too.
She smiled, but it was forced. “I knew Wald would come for the ring, and when he got it, I could get him to take me to the family album. If I’d known for sure Agatha was the keeper, I would have gone straight there.
It’s been hidden for a while, and this was the easy way to get to it.
The album was Elizabeth’s price for helping me make the deal for the ring, but I should have known she’d double-cross me.
She hates the humans and us. The only thing she cares about is control of the timeline. ”
“Elizabeth is not like you, though?”
“She’s older. A daughter from the original Grigores.
Her true loyalty lies with her mother, who she is desperate to please.
Desperate enough to lie to her own daughter.
Elizabeth lives mostly in the planes and doesn’t need a book to pass through.
It may be she’s spent too much time elsewhere to understand human feelings. ”
I wanted to say, like you , and laugh but I bit the snark back. “Book? You mean there are other books?”
“Probably. This one is our family album.” Britannia patted the satchel resting between her legs.
“Then how many families are there?” I didn’t really want to know, but talking about anything except Wald’s dead body was filling the empty space.
“A dozen of the old families maybe. I don’t know about the descendants. They’re scattered. We keep to our own.”
“Well, that leaves things pretty open.” Had I ever met another being like Wald or Britannia and not known it?
Britannia yawned and gave a cat-like stretch. “I’m taking a nap. Let me know when we get to the turnoff.”
“I thought your kind didn’t need to sleep.”
“I don’t, but your voice is tiring to listen to,” she replied, popping earbuds in and reclining the seat.
I crushed the urge to slap her. A sleeping Britannia was probably getting off easy.
It would give me time to think. Nothing really fucking mattered now that Wald was dead.
I wasn’t up to fighting death, after death had won.
Or was I? Things had changed. I hadn’t given up on getting him back.
I was hoping Victoria would rise to that challenge before Britannia double-crossed me in some way I hadn’t figured out yet.