Queen (Bloodline Vampires 3)

She’s toying with Wolf. Maybe with me, too. Testing. I might even appreciate how thoroughly she disrupted the room with a few short sentences if the stakes weren’t so damned high. “You’re not going to be able to kill anyone. We simply need you to shoot him in the throat.”

She turns those eerie eyes on me again. When I first met Wolf, his eyes spooked me. Compared to Lizzie, he seems downright welcoming and normal. It’s strange to realize that. Wolf has become known and familiar to me in our time together, but I don’t think that’s a possibility with his sister.

She’s fucking terrifying.

Lizzie stops playing with Malachi’s hair and straightens. “Explain. My baby brother was sparse on the details.”

I open my mouth, but Rylan beats me to the punch. It’s just as well. For whatever reason, Lizzie seems less interested in messing with him than with anyone else in the room. He leans forward. “We’re going to kill Cornelius Lancaster.”

She doesn’t seem shocked. She doesn’t react at all. “Big game you’re hunting. Even with my help, he’s likely to kill you all.” She laughs, a thread of madness in the sound. “I’m not getting close to that canny old bastard.”

“We don’t need or want you to get close.” Rylan points to the maps on the coffee table. He and Malachi found topographical ones somewhere, so they’ve overlaid those with my drawings to get a better idea of exactly what we’re working with. “You’re the best long-range attacker in this realm.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere.” She scans the map and then looks back at him. “Explain what you want. Then I’ll tell you my price.”

“You’ll be here.” He points to the X south of the compound. “It’s high enough that you’ll have a clear shot of the courtyard.” Rylan moves his finger to the drawn in compound. “Cornelius will be there. We need you to shoot him in the throat and put enough power behind it to destroy his vocal cords.”

“He’ll heal fast.”

“That’s our problem.”

More likely, that’s my problem, but I appreciate the sentiment. Even if I’m the one facing my father, we’re all in this together. I lean a little harder against Wolf. He hasn’t moved since Lizzie walked into the room, tracking her the way a mouse tracks a cat. It’s disconcerting in the extreme.

Rylan sits back. “Will you do it?”

“Sure.” She shrugs. “If Wolf comes home.”

I’m already shaking my head. “No. That’s out of the question.”

“Be quiet, little girl. The grownups are talking.” She turns to Rylan. “You swept him away after that little misunderstanding and it put me in a bad way with our mother. Wolf needs to come home.”

“No,” I say again. I start to stand, but Wolf clamps an arm around my waist and keeps me sitting. “No,” I repeat. “Whatever price you need, I’ll pay it. Anything else is out of the question.”

She raises an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. “What could you possibly offer me that’s worth the risk I’m taking? You’re a nobody. If you were someone, I would have heard of you by now.”

I’m not about to tell this dangerous woman that I’m a seraph. But that’s not the only bargaining chip I have. I catch Malachi’s eye and he gives a tight nod. He’ll follow my lead. Rylan and Wolf will follow his.

I gently disentangle myself from Wolf and stand. “I’m Cornelius’s daughter. His heir.”

She narrows her eyes. “You say that, and yet the fact remains that I haven’t heard of you. You could be anyone playing dress up.” Her eyes flare crimson for a beat before returning to their normal icy blue. “You don’t feel particularly powerful. Smells like bullshit from where I’m standing.”

“If you’re aware of that much about my father, then you’re aware of the stipulations about what it takes to become his heir.” A gamble, but she’s right. I have little in the way of bargaining power. If we succeed, that will change, but first I need to convince her.

Her gaze flicks to my stomach and her eyes flare crimson again. Lizzie shrugs. “So you’re pregnant. That doesn’t mean your story holds up. His children would be smart enough to get declared heir before they started sharpening their knives and aiming for that bastard’s back.”

“I prefer a more direct route.” I wave my hand at the three men. “My father has never seen power that he hasn’t tried to claim for his own. There’s a reason this is the stipulation to become his heir. If I try to do this the proper way, he’ll lock me up, take the baby and claim it as his own via one of his mistresses, and likely try to claim the father as well.” No need to tell her that he almost accomplished that goal already.

She studies each of the men in turn, finally landing on Wolf. “Is my brother the father?”