Bitten (The Graced Series Book 2)

by Amanda Pillar

  Enter the Duchess of Ravens.

  Randall had settled on the beautiful duchess, one of the founders of Skarva, so he could be aligned with her power. For a while he’d lusted after her, too, but the duchess wasn’t quite...right, even by vampire standards. Plus, Tatiana didn’t do things by halves, and Randall had worked out that if he became her lover, that would be his role until he died — probably by her hands.

  So he worked for her instead. She paid well and rewarded those loyal to her. Except the job wasn’t enough. He wanted a title, recognition, a position in society; everything that he’d lost.

  Hannah opened her eyes and rubbed a hand over her forehead; her skin felt tight and worn. Randall had seen her arrival as a way to bring years of plotting to fruition. And the exact memory of his plans for her had been absorbed along with everything else.

  “He wants to marry me,” Hannah said into the silence.

  Fin was sitting on the mattress again, long limbs akimbo. His head snapped round. “Marry you?”

  She fought a frown at the skepticism in his voice. Surely someone would want to marry her, one day. Maybe she’d even like to marry them, too. But a marriage born of convenience wasn’t for Randall. He’d done that before. It was too risky.

  “Marry me,” Hannah clarified. “Then quietly ‘remove’ me. If I die, he’ll inherit my title and my wealth, provided the right contracts have been signed. I believe he’s off drawing up those very documents now.”

  “But surely your mother would work it out? That you wouldn’t just suddenly form a passion for a staff member, throw caution to the wind, and marry the guy?”

  “Eventually. But he thinks he’ll be able to lie and say that his touch didn’t affect me. Seeing you with me made him realize that I might be immune to people other than my mother. He’s never touched me before, so Mother wouldn’t know that he was lying.”

  She took a deep breath. “Then he’ll kill me, since I’m the weak link in his plan. He’ll hide my death, which he figured would be easy to do, since I don’t normally live in town. By the time Mother returns, he’ll be able to say that I had gone back to the Old Mother, and then receive word that I’d suffered an ‘accident.’”

  Fin rubbed his chin. “So you’d marry him, then go straight back to living on the side of a mountain? Not exactly a ringing endorsement of him as a husband. If your mother is as volatile as they say she is, that alone would ring alarm bells.”

  Hannah held up her hands. “Hey, I didn’t say this was my plan. He thinks he could just say that we married because I’d grown to care for him, but that I couldn’t handle the stress of living in town.”

  “But he’ll happily abandon you to the slopes of the Old Mother, while he frolics around Skarva?”

  “He’s planning to say that he was tying up loose ends here before joining me. But then before he left, he’d hear word of my ‘accident’; from who, I don’t know.” She gave a twisted smile. “But the idea relies on him being here when I ‘die.’ That way, Mother won’t suspect him. He also thinks that he can kill her if worse came to worst.”

  Fin shook his head. “Kill the Deadly Duchess?”

  “He’d technically be her heir. And he believes that she trusts him.”

  Fin tapped his fingers on his forearm. “That plan has more holes than my socks do. Plus, the guy’s a moron if he thinks he could take on a vampire of her age and win.”

  Hannah tilted her head to one side. She had no idea how old the general public thought her mother was, but she was curious. “Her age?”

  “She has to be, what? Five to six thousand years old? Skarva has been around at least four thousand years and everyone knows she was a founding member.”

  An involuntary laugh escaped her.

  “What? You don’t think that’s old?”

  Hannah looked down at her hands, clasped together in her lap. The truth wasn’t technically a secret, but Tatiana didn’t like it bandied about. But Fin was her friend, and Hannah had already omitted so many facts about her life...

  A frisson of something travelled down her spine as she said, “Mother is a first generation vampire.”

  “First generation?” His expression went blank.

  “Yes.”

  Then his eyes went wide. “First generation?”

  “Yes.”

  Disbelief was etched into his bruised face. “I mean, Byrne’s pretty old, but he manages to keep lucid by going bear. At least, that’s what he says. Your mother doesn’t have the option of just reverting to an animal state. So how on earth is she still sane?”

  Hannah snorted. “She isn’t.”

  “Fuck.”

  That about summed everything up.

  Chapter 38

  Pinton City

  The king was in her morgue. Right now.

  The king. Her morgue. This very instant.

  Lightheaded, Alice sat down in the reception area. Her life had been largely uneventful, if one ignored the whole nearly being stabbed to death when she was a teenager. Now she’d met more aristos than she ever had before and even come within touching distance of the freaking king.

  What was happening to her neatly ordered existence?

  Alice and Tal had been politely kicked out of her morgue and, since Dinya’s shift was over, the night captain, Mikael Smythe, had been summoned to discuss the murders with the king. The viscountess had been tight-lipped at that point, irritated that it had taken their monarch so long to take action, but she’d nodded quickly at Alice as she’d made her way out of the morgue and up the stone stairwell. Alice couldn’t imagine living a life where you could be annoyed that the king had taken too long to get around to you.

  As for King Johan, well, he had been intimidating, to say the least. He was one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen; and she’d been struck dumb by the viscountess’ — Misty’s — brother. When it came to unbelievable good looks, the differences between vampires and humans were all too apparent.

  Alice wasn’t used to spending so much time in the upstairs section of the City Guard building; and it felt even stranger to have someone else down in her morgue unsupervised. She hoped they didn’t fiddle with anything while they were in there. She had all her medical equipment set up just the way she liked it; and there was an order to all the paperwork that made her filing system easy to navigate. And...

  Shut up, she told herself.

  They had no need to go searching through her things. The notes she’d taken on the countess’ death were in a folder hanging off the end of her gurney. And really, she had to let go of her obsession about the morgue. It was probably time that she hired an assistant coroner. She’d held off partly because she didn’t like the idea of someone in her space, but there was also the fact that there weren’t too many people out there who were interested in dissecting corpses. Most sawbones wanted the glory that came with saving lives, not working out how people died.

  She shifted in her seat. The steel benches in the City Guard reception were uncomfortable, had probably been deliberately designed that way so people didn’t linger; the Guard didn’t really appreciate any extra work, they were already busy enough. Anything that could deter people from loitering was a bonus. Eventually, one of the duty guards took pity on them and brought cushions for her and Tal to sit on. They murmured polite thank yous. The guard nodded and headed behind his large metal desk.

  “How’d it go?” Alice asked Tal, turning toward her slightly.

  “Not great. The guard didn’t want to go to the palace on their own,” Tal said. “Apparently the city guards don’t have a great relationship with the palace guards, so they figured a request from a guard to summon the king would be ignored. They thought if they sent a university professor, they’d have better luck.”

  Alice wasn’t sure what difference it would have made. A university professor wasn’t exactly on king-summoning terms, either. “And did you?”

  Tal shook her head. “No. But a
s I was arguing with the palace guard, a werewolf strode out of the front doors. He took one look at me, then a good sniff — which was a bit rude, to be honest — and suggested that the guard heed my request.”

  “A werewolf told the palace guard that you should see the king?”

  “And not just any werewolf; I think he was your guard friend’s boyfriend.”

  There was something in Tal’s tone that Alice couldn’t put her finger on. “You mean the wolf was Elle Brown’s fiancé?”

  “He said that he could vouch for the fact I had been with the viscountess,” Tal’s cheeks turned pink, “and that if she wanted the king, and the palace guard ignored her request, and it was urgent, well then, that would be their problem.”

  “So did that get them moving?” Alice asked.

  Tal gave a short laugh. “No. So the werewolf just strode back into the palace and returned with the king. He then left me with the king and one of the rude guards, because he said — and I quote — ‘I have to go make sure that Elle hasn’t killed Dante’s father.’”

  Alice frowned. “Why would Elle want to do that?”

  “I didn’t exactly ask,” Tal said, her expression wry. “But that woman is a liability.”

  “Tal!”

  “What?”

  Lowering her voice, Alice leaned closer to her best friend. “Elle is not a liability. Plus, she works here, so watch your voice. I don't understand why you don’t like her.”

  Tal’s gray eyes flicked away. “I don’t know her.”

  “Exactly. You’re not normally so quick to judge people.”

  Tal’s expression hardened. “I just don’t think she’s my kind of person, that’s all.”

  “Elle is nice.” Sure, the newly Chosen vampire had been slightly standoffish with Alice back when they worked together, but Elle had been standoffish with everyone except Kyle, from what Alice had seen. It hadn’t been anything personal. She and Elle had been friends, of a sort.

  And then after Elle had been Chosen, her grandmother had tried to kill her, simply because she was now a vampire and had fallen in love with a were. You couldn’t get much more damaging than that. Imagine having to grow up with someone so horrible they couldn’t handle their grandchild’s choices? It wasn’t like Elle had run around murdering people for fun. Anyway, most families were happy when someone was Chosen or Bitten; their memories and their family lines would live on for thousands of years. It was odd that someone had hated the idea so much; especially when Elle’s grandmother had been in business with half the vampires in Pinton.

  “I’m sure Elle is bloody wonderful, but that doesn’t mean I have to become friends with her,” Tal said quietly.

  “If you want to have a relationship with the viscountess, you may have to reconsider that,” Alice whispered. “Misty is Elle’s ‘aunt’, after all.”

  “Misty?” Tal raised one delicately arched eyebrow.

  “She gave me leave to call her by her first name.” Alice didn’t mean to sound so defensive, but she couldn’t help herself.

  “Look, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” Tal shifted on her cushion. “For now, Misty and I are just...well, we’ve been on a couple of dates. I’m not sure what we are.”

  They fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence. Alice was curious about Tal’s relationship with the viscountess, even though she hated to admit it. Alice disliked it when Tal pried into her personal life in too much detail. Especially when she’d just started dating someone — you never knew which direction it might take; it could be over before it even really started. Like when Alice had dated Roger Mingly, who’d been a terrible kisser, even without their height difference issue. Tal always got so excited whenever Alice went on a single outing with a guy.

  It drove her nuts.

  But Alice did want to know more about this new relationship. A vampire and a human; more than that, an aristo and a commoner, even if Tal was a well-placed one.

  The large city clock struck ten in the evening, the chimes audible in the foyer. Still early as far as the vampire night was concerned, but Alice hadn’t really been sleeping well. Fatigue was weighing her down.

  Not long after the bells sounded, Kyle McInnes strolled in from the street, wearing a large coat over his guard uniform to block out the evening chill. His gaze swept the reception area and came to rest on Alice and Tal.

  He gave a bright grin and then walked over to the two of them. “Why, if it isn’t the lovely coroner and her friend. Did you get lost? Do you need me to help you down to the morgue?”

  Alice rolled her eyes, she couldn’t help it. “I have been temporarily banned from the morgue.”

  Kyle rubbed a large hand over his face. “So? You run the morgue. Unban yourself.”

  “If it were only so easy...” Alice said with a small smile. She wasn’t sure if she should admit that the king, a palace guard, a viscountess and the night captain were having a meeting down there.

  A moment later, Elle came through the doors dressed in her guard uniform, but without the jacket. Maybe being a vampire meant she didn’t feel the cold as much anymore. She stopped beside Kyle and glowered at him. “Are you tormenting Alice again? Because if you are...”

  “Tormenting?” Kyle placed a hand on his heart. “You wound me, Elle. You really do.” He turned to Alice. “Tell her I am not annoying you. I was just offering my assistance to keep the ladies from dying of boredom.”

  Tal chuckled, but it sounded forced to Alice. “Do you even know my name?”

  A slightly panicked look spread across Kyle’s features. “Alice’s pretty friend?”

  “Oh, you’re a right charmer, you are,” Tal said, real amusement apparent.

  Elle snorted. “Pretty friend? That’s the best you could do? Seriously, you wonder why you’re still single.”

  Kyle held his hands up in a silent surrender.

  Elle suddenly snapped alert. “Why is the king here?” Her attention then focused on Tal. “And why do you smell strongly of my aunt?”

  Tal gaped at her.

  Kyle laughed. “And you say I’m tactless.”

  Chapter 39

  Skarva City

  This Randall guy was a complete dick. And an utter idiot. Fin reckoned the vampire should just throw himself off a cliff and be done with it. Might even be less messy than what Hannah’s mother would do to him when she found out what he’d done. Randall had really thought that he could make Hannah dance to his tune with just a few touches? Sure, she was almost pathologically afraid of physical contact, but the damage had been done and she seemed fine now.

  Maybe a second touch wouldn’t affect her? He’d have to ask.

  Footsteps echoed from outside the cell. Hannah stared in their direction, her Black eyes cold, and her lush mouth set in a hard line. Fin had to work hard to forget that those lips had been pressed to his not long ago.

  She’d just overreacted.

  Anyway, Hannah wasn’t for him. She had a baby. She was the daughter of a first generation vampire. And she was part-vampire, part-Graced. His sisters would have conniptions. He would have conniptions; he’d be walking into an instant family. He didn’t even want to know what the duchess would think of him. Plus, their relationship would be doomed anyway; he would die long before Hannah did.

  He was contemplating this way too much.

  Because the simple fact was, there was no relationship. There was no Hannah and Fin. Or Hannah, Fin and Rena. Or Hannah, Fin, Rena and then Byrne as an uncle.

  It was crazy how much the idea appealed to him.

  He thrust his hands through his hair. He was stuck in a fucking dungeon as prisoner. Not only that, but he was trapped with a vampire who couldn’t touch people, and he was still injured. Byrne — their one good chance of survival, even in an estate filled with vampires — didn’t even know they were in trouble.

  There was no way Fin was going to walk out of this one alive, so he was an utter idiot for wo
rrying about a future that wouldn’t even exist.

  The footsteps outside grew closer; there was arguing now, too. There seemed to be a few voices debating with Randall. For some reason, no one was rushing down to save Hannah or Fin’s asses, though.

  And what fine asses they were.

  Do not think about Hannah’s butt.

  Other thoughts. Okay, different thoughts. He concentrated on his feet. They were positioned at the end of his legs — the normal place for feet, he admitted — and the left was higher than the other because he’d crossed his legs at the ankle.

  There. Feet.

  Much better than thinking about a certain vampire’s butt.

  Fuck.

  She should never have kissed him. Here he was in a doomed situation, and all he could think about was her. And how he shouldn’t have pushed her away.

  He was a fool.

  Focus on the voices, he thought. That will distract you. So he did, because he was desperate.

  “I still think this is a bad idea,” someone was saying. “You should have checked with us first. We didn’t have to go along with this plan. We could have picked something else.”

  “Wait for Montrose to return,” came another voice.

  “It was too good an opportunity to waste.” Randall’s voice rose in pitch. “We could take over this duchy.”

  “You mean you’re going to take over the duchy. None of us would be married to the bitch.”

  “You’re going to get everyone killed,” said the second speaker. “Anyone who didn’t stop you is going to be seen as an accomplice, and guilty by association. You do realize that?”

  “The duchess won’t ever have to know that her daughter wasn’t willing,” Randall replied.

  “You really believe that the duchess is going to think that her precious little freak offspring would have fallen in love with you and married you? Only to move straight back to that stupid mountain?”

  At least one person had some sense. Fin had thought the same thing.

  “She can’t handle being around people, even Tatiana says that.”