Page 36 of Consume Me

What else did they know?

I couldn’t stand the constant doubt that simmered around them. Why tread like we were walking among landmines when someone had a gun to our heads? Now was the time for action, not hesitation.

“Perhaps, you shouldn’t trust them all,” Henry suggested gently.

“I suppose I should reconsider,” I said, glaring at him. I’d never trusted Henry— not truly. But I’d never let him near me. He’d been close to Clara. Too close. “It was you, wasn’t it? You told her about Sarah.”

Henry nodded, a pained expression shuddering his eyes for a moment. “I pointed her in a direction. Secrets destroy marriages. I saw that too clearly with your father and mother.”

I wasn’t buying his remorseful act. “My father was no saint.”

“Neither was your mother,” Henry said pointedly. “They were both simply humans.”

I wanted to ask him what he meant by that. I wanted to ask him how he dared to pretend he was part of this family while he was playing both sides. I wanted to tell him that he’d nearly cost me my marriage.

But that wasn’t true. I had nearly cost me my marriage. It was a sobering thought, but not nearly as disturbing as the thought that followed. Even now having done everything right, I might have lost Clara anyway.

“We should stay on track,” Smith suggested, calling my attention back to the threats.

“Unless you have answers about my wife, this is wasting my time.” I nodded once to the Council, the most deference I would show any of them. They might be Kingmakers but I already wore the crown.

Byrd’s mouth turned down. Of all the men who sat judging me, I disappointed him the most. It was like having my father in the room.

“We believe you are looking in the right direction regarding certain nonexistent agencies,” Clark said, finally circling round to the reason I’d come.

“How comforting coming from a nonexistent council,” I muttered. It was too little too late. I’d run out of time for listening to a board of sphinxes. “Thank you for the pat on the back. We need to go.”

They’d saved me the time of speaking with Oliver Jacobson and possibly the trouble of cleaning up a mess if I couldn’t keep my hands off of him. I suppose I owed them for that. But if they expected a thank you for wasting my time, they had another thing coming.

They’d interrupted this sordid game I’d been caught in mid-play. I had no idea what that would cost me. If they’d given our enemies time to move, it might be a price I would extract from them.

“If MI-18 is active, you should tread carefully,” Byrd advised. “They are no friend of either this government or your family.”

This was actually useful, a fact I found surprising.

“Then who are they looking out for?” I asked darkly. Part of me had wondered if MI-18 answered to them. They seemed to have enough men in play. But if MI-18 wasn’t controlled by the people or the crown that made them more dangerous than we’d guessed.

Until this moment, hadn’t been certain if we were searching for an ally or an enemy. Part of me had hoped, given Norris’s background with the organisation, they might help us. According to the Ghosts, they might be the ones behind this.

“That’s a question we must ask ourselves, and I believe it’s best to start with your ties to them,” Clark said.

I bit my lip. I wouldn’t reveal Norris to them or that he was missing, although I suspected that was what they were insinuating. “We have no ties.”

“That’s not true,” Henry said. “We’re not speaking of Norris, Alexander. You must think. There’s a new player on your board. Someone who wasn’t there the other times.”

I narrowed my eyes, wondering if I could squeeze a direct answer out of any of them. Brute force might be the only way.

“Who?” I said impatiently.

“Someone you’ve let into your home, someone who returned to us healthy and strong despite—”

“Ten years in a coma,” I finished for him as the world came into sharp focus.

My God, what had I done?

“Do you want to discuss it?” Smith asked, showing a surprising amount of sensitivity as we took our leave.

Of course, we needed to discuss it. So, I didn’t know why it was up to me whether or not to remain silent. I appreciated that he wasn’t going to immediately press the issue.