I did feel a bit sorry for Jumping Jack. If ever a man was out of his depth . . .
The crowd were all chattering quite happily with each other, enjoying the unexpected excitement. The general feeling was that this was the best Ball the Lady Faire had thrown in a long time. I got on my comm channel again.
“Put the teleporter somewhere safe and very secure,” I growled. “I’ll want to talk to him when he wakes up. Starting with how he got in. So don’t damage him; I need him able to answer questions. You can drop the teleport shields now, but keep your eyes open! This shouldn’t have happened! You people are seriously underperforming! Go check the perimeter; make sure the Winter Palace is secure. And yes, I mean all of you! Go! Go!”
A series of affirmations came quickly through my earpiece, as everyone headed for the farthest parts of the Winter Palace. Hopefully, to keep themselves busy and occupied, so they wouldn’t notice me and Molly going after the Lazarus Stone. Wherever the hell the bloody thing was. It amused me that no one had challenged me yet. Apparently a uniform and a mask will get you anywhere if you just act arrogant enough. I was still congratulating myself on that when I looked up to find the Lady Faire heading straight for me. I felt like running, but I was in the middle of a crowd and a long way from the nearest exit. So I stood my ground, drew myself up, and nodded respectfully, as though there was nothing at all out of the ordinary here, nothing to be worried about.
With anyone else, that would probably have worked.
The Lady Faire planted herself right in front of me, looked at me thoughtfully for a worryingly long moment, and then gestured imperiously for her security people to withdraw. They did so, reluctantly. They’d been well trained to trust absolutely no one. The Lady Faire looked me up and down, and then smiled pleasantly.
“Hello. Who are you?”
I took a deep breath, in spite of myself. She really was very impressive up close, even with my armoured mask filtering out her pheromones. Having the Lady Faire smile directly at you was like taking a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. From a rusty needle. My pulse was racing, and my hands were sweating. My torc burned fiercely at my throat, fighting her influence. The Lady Faire’s proximity was smothering, dizzying. I made myself concentrate on my torc and my training, and just nodded casually to the Lady Faire.
She actually looked surprised, for a moment. She wasn’t used to people not falling immediately under her spell.
“Who am I, my Lady?” I said. “I am Head of Security for the Winter Palace.”
“No, you aren’t,” she said pleasantly. “I chose Burke personally to take charge of my Ball. He’s one of my old conquests. I only have people around me that I know, and know I can trust. Don’t worry, whoever you are. If you’re good enough to get in here without an invitation, and without causing a fuss like the poor fool you just captured, you’re certainly worth talking to. You’re a Drood. I can See your torc. Which is presumably why you’re not as . . . impressed, as most of the people I meet. I find that rather refreshing. One does so crave for something new, as one gets older. So why are you here, Drood? I don’t think I’ve done anything to upset your family recently.”
“This is personal,” I said carefully. “I am Eddie Drood. I’m here because you knew my uncle James.”
“Of course!” said the Lady Faire. “The Grey Fox. A very interesting man. Almost as infamous as me. I was quite sorry to hear of his death.”
“That’s the point,” I said. “I’m almost sure I saw him here, in the crowd, just a few moments ago.”
The Lady Faire shook her magnificent head. “Unlikely. I don’t allow ghosts to hang around. There are just too many of them, and they’re all so clingy . . . I have regular exorcisms performed wherever I go, to clean house. It’s the only way to get any peace. I make an exception for Dead Boy because . . . Well, because you have to. But you didn’t come all this way to pursue a ghost, Eddie Drood. What do you want with me?”
I looked at her thoughtfully. Things were finally working out. “Is there . . . somewhere we could speak privately?”
She looked me over. “Yes. I think so. Come with me, Eddie Drood.”
She led me out of the Ballroom, gesturing for her security people to keep their distance. They glared at me, but didn’t even think of disobeying their Lady’s orders. A great many of the guests looked impressed, or possibly jealous, as the two of us left the Ballroom. Some looked as though they would have liked to warn me . . . And it did worry me that I couldn’t see Molly anywhere at all.
CHAPTER TEN
Everything Revealed at Last
The Lady Faire took me by the hand. She had long, feminine fingers, with a man’s strength. She led me through the wide corridors of the Winter Palace like an older woman seducing a teenager, with the promise of knowledge of what it means to be a man. And I let her do it. It all seemed very quiet, away from the Ballroom, calm and peaceful after the roar of the crowd. Such close proximity to the Lady Faire was dizzying. I felt . . . many things, but mostly vulnerable. As though I was no longer in command of the situation. Perhaps the Lady Faire sensed what I was feeling, because she took her own sweet time taking me to where we could talk in private.
She turned suddenly down an unmarked side corridor, and just like that we seemed to have left the Winter Palace and were moving along an elevated walkway on the exterior of the building, with the ground far and far below. I knew we couldn’t be, because the Winter Palace was after all a giant snowflake, with no smooth exterior anywhere . . . and because I already knew the extreme cold of Ultima Thule would have killed us both in moments. But the illusion was complete and convincing as we walked high in the sky, looking out over the great mountain ranges, set against the purple sky with its dying red sun. Like looking out on the last evening of the world, with the sun getting ready to go down for the last time. A feeling of loss and melancholy settled over me, as if I were saying good-bye to an old friend.
I made myself concentrate on the mechanics of the situation. Either it was just an illusion or we were being protected from the outside by some hidden force shield. It seemed to me that I was feeling some of the cold. Perhaps that was the intention, to titillate the guests with just a touch of what they were being protected from. The Lady Faire glanced back at me, to see how I was taking it all. I flashed her a meaningless smile. I couldn’t help noticing that her breath was steaming thickly on the chilly air, far more heavily than mine. As though she was warmer than me, inside. I wasn’t sure where that thought was going.
We left the outer walkway, and went back inside the Winter Palace. Into a bare and featureless corridor that seemed almost uncomfortably warm. I didn’t have a clue where we were now, in relation to the Ballroom. The Lady Faire led me on, keeping just a little ahead of me, never once letting go of her grip on my hand. Every now and again she would squeeze my fingers lightly, and my heart would beat just that little bit faster. She stepped it out, elegantly, every movement more than usually sensual, sexual, and enticing. She walked like a man but moved like a woman. I could feel my hand sweating inside hers. Her hand wasn’t sweating at all. She seemed perfectly relaxed and at ease, as though she’d done this many times before. As though it came to her as naturally as breathing. My heart was pounding hard in my chest, and my breath was coming more and more quickly. I tried to think of Molly, and my mission, my missing parents and why I was there, but it was hard to think of anything but the Lady Faire when she was this close.
I could tell she knew what I was feeling. She found it amusing.
Finally, we came to her room. The door swung open before us as we approached, apparently entirely of its own accord. And once we’d passed through, into the room beyond, the door closed itself quietly but firmly behind us. I listened for the sound of a lock engaging, but didn’t hear it. That didn’t mean it hadn’t happened, though. Just as I’d expected, the Lady Faire’s room was a bedroom. The great circular bed in the middle was so big it seemed to take up half the available space. The
Lady Faire finally let go of my hand, and I stumbled to a halt just inside the door. As though only her encouragement had kept me moving. She moved over to the bed, still not looking back at me.
“Nice place.” I said, fighting to keep my voice calm and steady.
“It suits me,” said the Lady Faire. “Though I’ve known better.”
“Why choose the Winter Palace for your Ball?” I said, just to be saying something.
“I rented it, from the Wulfshead Club management,” said the Lady Faire. “We go way back. They always do me a good deal. And they do have access to such unusual properties.”
“You know who they are?” I said. “The actual people?”
She finally turned around, and looked at me. Her glance, and her smile, was like a caress on my face. “Is that what you came here to talk about, Eddie Drood?”
“No,” I said.
She wandered around her room, quite casually, trailing her fingertips across the various surfaces. Like a cat rubbing its body against the fixtures and fittings, to remind them who was in charge. She smiled at me, quite easily, as though I was just an old friend who’d happened to drop by. Her body seemed to press out against the restrictions of her white tuxedo, as though all the buttons might burst open at any moment, unable to handle the strain of containing everything that lay within.
“Relax, Eddie,” she said. “Sit down. Make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?”
“No, thank you,” I said.
Disturbed that my voice didn’t sound as assured as I thought it should, I deliberately looked away from the Lady Faire, and took an interest in her room. It was large and open and almost unbearably sybaritic, with every conceivable luxury and comfort to hand. Lots of soft surfaces, in soft pastel colours. Modern furniture, in smooth organic shapes. Bare walls, without a single print or painting, and not even the smallest decorative object on any of the furniture tops. The bed dominated everything. The bed was what the room was for.
And yet there was no personality to the room. Nothing to show that the Lady Faire had any interest in impressing her character on it. You couldn’t say it was a woman’s room, or a man’s. No personal touches anywhere, to suggest the kind of person the Lady Faire was, in private. Perhaps there was no private person. Perhaps what you saw was what you got. God knew, that was impressive enough. Perhaps for the Lady Faire, being the ultimate honey trap that she was, a bedroom was just somewhere she did business.
When I looked at her again, she was bent over the mini-bar in the far corner. The gleaming white fabric of her trousers stretched tight across her bottom. And I caught my breath despite myself. She straightened up, taking her time, poured herself a tall glass of Perrier water, and slammed the door to the mini-bar shut with a careless bump of her hip. She took a long drink, her Adam’s apple moving up and down sensuously slowly. She put down the glass, and looked at me again, and I knew immediately from her smile that she knew I’d been watching. Her golden-pupiled eyes were sparkling, teasing. She stood there, not saying anything, to put the pressure on me to talk, to break the silence. An old agents’ trick. I didn’t say anything.
She moved over to the huge circular bed. The fitted sheets had already been folded back invitingly. Waiting. The sheets were a dark pink, almost blood colour. Almost . . . organic. Presumably the Lady Faire just liked to have everything ready, for whatever the night might bring. Or whoever. She sat down on the edge of the bed, and looked at me. I looked around the room, at anything but the bed. She started to say something, and then stopped herself. I could still see her, out of the corner of my eye. She sat with her back straight, and her legs elegantly crossed. I couldn’t help but feel I was in the presence of a practised performance. For an audience of one. Something she had done so often, she’d refined it down to just the barest necessary essentials. Much reduced, but still a display intended only for me. Aimed at me, like a weapon.
Her interest in me seemed real enough, but I was still sufficiently in control of myself to know I couldn’t trust it. She let her hand move slowly across the taut bedsheet, as though stroking a favoured pet. She caught my glance, and leaned forward a little, to show off her smile and her eyes. I still couldn’t get a sense of what her body might be like, under that expertly fitted white tuxedo. It curved out well enough, to suggest breasts and hips, but there was a masculine strength in the long arms and legs. Broad shoulders, but a swan’s neck. A woman’s grace, but a man’s power. Ladything, omnisexual, male and female and everything in between. Up close, that was just words. She was simply magnificent. Desirable. Turned up to eleven.
“Come and sit beside me, Eddie,” said the Lady Faire. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“I’ll bet you say that to all the boys,” I said. And I made myself pull up a smoothly curved chair and sit down on it, facing the bed. I sat carefully upright, with my legs firmly crossed. Trying not to look too defensive. I had an erection so hard it was almost painful, and I was pretty sure she knew that, though she’d never looked. I suspected the Lady Faire wasn’t fooled by anything I said or did. She really had seen it all before. I couldn’t help feeling that the only reason I wasn’t completely captivated by the Lady Faire, the legendary Ice Queen, was that she wasn’t really trying.
“You’re wondering what they all wonder,” she said. “What lies beneath, when the outer trappings are discarded. Who and what the Lady Faire really is, when she’s at home. The answer is, everything you could ever want. Everything you’ve ever dreamed of, especially the ones you never tell anyone about. I was designed to appeal to every taste, to be open to everything. I could take your breath away, Eddie. My body was made to quicken the heart and madden the senses, in every way there is. I could make you love me, Eddie Drood. Make you serve me and worship me, and make you enjoy every moment of it. You’ve never had a lover like me. I could make you mine, forever.”
“Bet you couldn’t,” I said. My mouth was dry, but my voice was perfectly steady. “I already have a lover. My own true love. And she is more to me than you’ll ever be. Because she gives a damn.”
“The witch? Dear little Molly Metcalf? I don’t think so.”
“She would rip your heart out with her bare hands,” I said. “And I hate to think what she’d rip off me . . .”
“It’s all right, Eddie. She doesn’t need to know. I won’t tell her if you won’t. Come here, and sit with me on the bed. How can we really understand each other, if we don’t know each other intimately? How can we discuss anything, if we’re not open with each other? You do want something from me, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said. “But for what I have in mind, we don’t need to understand each other that well. I’m just here to do some business.”
“So am I!” said the Lady Faire. “I’ve been trying to tell you that all along, darling. For me, it’s always about the give-and-take.”
“I’m not here for you,” I said.
“Don’t you want me, Eddie?”
“You know I do,” I said. “But what I want doesn’t matter. You’d be surprised how often in my life what I wanted has never mattered.”
“Now that’s just sad,” said the Lady Faire. “Come to me, and I’ll make it feel all better. That’s what I’m for.”
I think I surprised her then, by laughing briefly. “You need new material, Lady. The old lines are getting worn out.”
She sighed, and leaned back on the bed. “Very well, Eddie. We’ll play it your way. What do you want from me? Why did you come all this way, to Ultima Thule and the Winter Palace, and my annual Ball, if not for me?”
“Tell me what you know,” I said. “About my uncle, James Drood.”
She shrugged quickly, just a little irritated, as though she didn’t like to think about the past. Or her past lovers. Because the past, and everything in it, didn’t matter to her.
“Of course I remember James. He wasn’t everything his legend suggested, but he was a perfectly adequate lover. Of course he was getti
ng on a bit, when I knew him. I don’t age as normal people do. But then I don’t do anything as normal people do. The Baron Frankenstein saw to that. You do know he was responsible for my creation . . . Of course you do. You’re a Drood. Droods know everything. Many people have told me that I should have known the Grey Fox when he was younger, in his prime. And I did try! But he was always so very busy, and so very elusive . . . I had to wait for him to come to me. And of course he did, in the end, like everyone does. It is possible he had almost as many lovers as I did . . .”
“He certainly had more children,” I said.
“I don’t have children,” the Lady Faire said coldly. “The Baron saw to that too. I was made from dead things, in his laboratory, made from pieces of old life, stitched together. And while every part of me functions perfectly, I remain dead inside. It’s not important. Children would only have got in the way for what I was made to be.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be,” said the Lady Faire. “I’m not. James . . . Yes. He was fun to have around, for a while. We had a very pleasant time together while it lasted. What do you want from me, Eddie? You must have known him better and longer than I ever did. Or do you want me to tell you what your precious Uncle and I did in bed? What he liked me to do to him?”
“No,” I said. “This isn’t about that. He gave you something. Something he really shouldn’t have. I’m here because I want it back.”
She sat up straight on the bed, giving me her full attention for the first time. Her face was expressionless, her golden eyes utterly cold.
“So that’s why you’re here! The Lazarus Stone! I should have known . . . Well, you can’t have it. It’s mine. Mine! James gave it to me!”
“You must have known he wasn’t supposed to do that. You must have known you wouldn’t be allowed to keep it.”