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“The cards are still being dealt.”
The truth is, I have no idea what our next move is. How can I when we aren’t even sure what players are at the table?
Going mad is tiring business.
So is ruling a horde of vampires.
Between dealing with the day-to-day of ruling the French Quarter and constantly having to ward off Manon and her influence, I was running thin. Now that Josephine Dumont is here and my past is torturing me every waking moment, I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.
At least one more night.
“Rune, you’re on the Algiers pack,” I command. “See what Egan is up to now that he’s down an accomplice. I’m sure he’ll be working up to some kind of retaliation. I don’t want to be taken by surprise because our focus is elsewhere.”
“On it.”
“Meanwhile, I am going to pay a visit to the Marigny horde. If Lilian’s intel holds a smidgen of truth in it, we’ll need to be prepared.”
“As I recall, the last time you and Estelle were face-to-face, she threatened to rip your dick out through your asshole.”
I chuckle. “She’s just a little unhinged since being turned and losing her magic.”
“And imaginative,” Fintan says absently, swapping books from one pile to another before opening the next.
“She’s batshit, is what she is. Lady is off her damned rocker.”
Normally, I would agree with Rune, but that is a pot calling a kettle black situation. I surpassed Estelle’s level of crazy a long time ago.
Besides, as a former Tremé witch, she might be the only one who can help with my situation.
“What about the sunstone dagger?” Fintan asks. “Shouldn’t we be tracking it down, so Egan doesn’t get his hands on it first?”
“Lilian didn’t seem to think he knows where to find it,” Rune says.
“But what if he does?” Fintan counters.
I hold down the snarl that threatens to burst out of my throat. Just barely. “No. Our attention is needed elsewhere. We focus on ourselves first—our horde. Family comes first. Always.”
CHAPTER TEN
JOSIE
“Yo, Josie!” Rune hollers, coming up the creaking stairs of Adelaide’s magic shop, hauling a heavy desk over his head. “Where do you want this, babe?” Rune maneuvers the chunky wooden desk around like it’s a foam prop and not a three-hundred-pound antique.
I should probably stop thinking of it as Adelaide’s place. It’s been more than a week since her death, and Elara has more or less taken over the role of shopkeeper despite her reluctance to take over the apothecary officially.
She’s done an amazing job considering how abruptly the position was thrust at her. And with a bit of help from yours truly, we’ve managed to keep things running smoothly—for the most part.
There have been one or two oopsies, but nothing unfixable.
I’ve been more than happy to help—anything to get beyond the walls of Hotel Elysian—even if I’m accompanied by a vampire bodyguard.
“By the window would be perfect.” I point Rune in the right direction. “If I have to be stuck in here doing paperwork, I want to at least be able to see the street and people watch.”
And how glorious is that?
For such an enormous building, the Elysian Hotel is suffocating. It must be living in such close proximity to over two hundred vampires that makes it feel so claustrophobic.
Anywhere is better than there.
