Page 73 of Consume Me

It took the help of the nurse to arrange William for his feed given the number of tubes and monitors he was attached to, but despite his early birth, he latched on easily.

Alexander stood in the shadows and watched us, his face unreadable. My eyes danced between our fragile infant and my husband until I couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

“What are you thinking?” I called over to him.

He didn’t come any closer and when he spoke, my heart began to beat wildly. Something was wrong. I wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

“I’m wondering how to keep you safe. I thought I knew, and now…” I heard his sharp inhale. “I can’t keep you safe. With all my resources and all my security, I still lost you.”

“You didn’t lose me,” I reminded him. He needed to see that. He needed to stop allowing the darkness to pull him back under. “I’m right here.”

“There is a way, poppet, but you aren’t going to like it.” His voice was so low that I hoped I was imagining it.

“Don’t,” I commanded him. I couldn’t do this. Not now. Not after everything.

But his solution wasn’t what I expected.

“I need to abdicate,” he said at last.

Chapter 28

ALEXANDER

Elizabeth peered across the room from Clara’s bed, nearly toppling over in an attempt to get a peek at her baby brother. It was the closest we’d allow her to get for the time being, but it felt wrong leaving her out. I needed my family around me right now. I needed to see clearly what mattered most.

Clara wouldn’t share her thoughts on my plan. In fact, she’d been mostly silent since I told her that I meant to abdicate. It wasn’t as though there were other options. MI-18 had backed us into a corner, and despite gathering information from Norris and Clara, we had very little to go on.

I’d been unwilling to leave the hospital while my son was in recovery, which left sweeping the remains of Windsmoor to my team.

When Brex knocked on the door, his face was drawn and haggard. He shook his head as I stepped into the hall to join them.

The hospital had been incredibly accommodating, basically clearing out a wing for our use. Then again, it was to be expected. Not that I would enjoy perks like that for much longer.

“Nothing,” he said solemnly. “They destroyed it all.”

I fell back against the wall. I’d expected it, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear. Not after what they’d done to Clara.

“David?” I asked quietly. My brother had been by to visit but he hadn’t stayed after confessing that he couldn’t reach his husband.

“His body was gone,” Smith told me. “When you’re ready we can send a team in to identify human remains on sight. But there wasn’t much.”

The girl I’d found would be among them. I hoped that whoever she was, we could give her family closure. Not that we could tell them the truth.

“And it’s still secure?” I asked.

The three of them went silent.

It had been a lot to hope for that the burning down of a royal estate would go unnoticed.

“We’ve issued a no-fly order over the site. Of course, with the protections in place for private property, it’s unlikely anyone will dare,” Brex said, but I could tell that was the first and last bit of good news.

“But the media has the area surrounded,” Georgia added. “We should issue a statement about it—and this.”

That was her delicate way of telling me the hospital was ground zero for the press as well.

It wasn’t surprising. We’d offered no news about the baby’s birth. The fact that Clara’s first birth had been via cesarean bought us some time. No one expected her to make an appearance yet. But there would be no presentation of the baby this time. No fanfare. Our son’s welfare trumped public interest.

“There’s something we should talk about.” I lowered my voice. Despite the privacy afforded us, I knew better than most that some subjects had to be carefully handled. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to stop this and with nothing to go on…”