Cannelle kept touching herself while staring at me in horror. “Gregor had Marie perform a spell that erases part of a person’s memory. He thought you deserved to know how it felt to have the person you love forget about you and whore themselves to others, just as you had done to Gregor.”
Oh, how I hated the man. He wasn’t content to make me run all over the place with my hands covering my eyes. He had to make sure I did it with my heart ripped out too.
“Why didn’t he just kill Crispin?” Ian asked. “If he had him defenseless enough for Marie to bollocks up his mind, why didn’t he shove silver through his heart?”
Cannelle’s mouth dipped. “The Queen of Orleans wouldn’t allow it. She said Gregor could only kill Bones outside her city. She didn’t want to participate in the spell or their meeting, either, but Gregor made her.”
“He forced her?”
“Non, you misunderstand. He made her. ’Twas his blood that raised her as a ghoul, and Gregor killed her other sire the night he changed her, so her fealty was to him alone. Gregor agreed to release Marie in exchange, and Marie’s wanted free of Gregor for over a hundred years.”
“And Bones would trust Marie because she always guarantees safe passage in her meetings.” That clever, dirty schmuck. “Your part?”
“I was to fuck him, naturellement, and once assured that you heard of his infidelity, I was to take him to Gregor.” She actually smirked as she spoke.
My anger turned to ice. “Is that all, Cannelle?”
“Oui.”
I turned to Ian. “Think she’s got more?”
He met my gaze with equal coldness. “No, poppet. I think that’s it.”
I still had the knife in my hand, slick from Cannelle’s blood. “Cannelle,” I said, my voice steady. “I’m going to kill you. I’m telling you this so can take a moment to pray if you choose, or to reflect, whichever. You lured my husband around with the full intention of taking him to his slaughter, and that’s just not forgivable to me.”
“Cat, no,” Geri said.
I didn’t answer her. Cannelle gave me a look filled with malicious defiance. “But Bones isn’t your husband. Gregor is.”
“Semantics. You’re wasting time. Get right with God. Fast.”
“I am a human,” she hissed. “A living, breathing person. You may have it in you to wound me, but not to kill me.”
I ignored that too. “Marie got her freedom for her role. What did Gregor promise? To change you?”
Another hostile glare. “Oui. It’s my payment for all the years I’ve served him.”
“You backed the wrong horse,” I said. “If you would have told Bones what was happening, he’d have turned you himself. He’s honorable that way. Instead, you tried to get him killed. You’re not going to be a vampire, Cannelle, but I’ll let you die like one.”
She stood up. “You wouldn’t dare. Gregor would kill you.”
Then she looked down. The silver knife was buried in her chest. It even vibrated for a few seconds with her last remaining heartbeats. Cannelle watched the handle quiver with astonishment before her eyes glazed and her knees buckled.
I stood over her and felt more of that awful coldness.
“Maybe Gregor will kill me for this, Cannelle. I’m willing to take that chance.”
***
I took my time in the shower, but the scalding water pouring over me didn’t make me feel warm. It did clean the blood off, however, and that was a start. Finally I shut it off and grabbed a towel. No more stalling. I had things to do whether I wanted to or not.
The locker room was empty. Geri had left me something to wear, even though she clearly disapproved of what I’d done. Still, she had no recourse since Don just tugged his eyebrow and said it wasn’t civilian business. If she stayed long enough at this job, Geri would lose a lot of her current sense of right and wrong. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but it was a fact all the same.
Geri’s clothing donation turned out to be an ankle-length yellow dress with purple flowers. It looked springtime and happy. I felt wintry and depressed. It seemed like months since I’d worn clothes that were mine. I wouldn’t know my own panties if they bit me in the ass.
She’d left her toiletry bag out too. Guess that was a hint. I helped myself to the toothbrush and toothpaste, although I didn’t care if Gregor was offended by my breath. The only makeup I bothered with was lipstick because my lips felt like sandpaper. Then I looked into the mirror. Now that I was clean, I looked like death warmed over instead of cold, grim death.
Cannelle’s face kept flashing in my mind. Cold, grim death. That’s what I’d given her.
A knock sounded at the door. “Can I come in?” asked Geri.
I sighed. “Sure.”
She came inside the locker room, and from her expression, she was still upset with me.
“Before you say anything,” I began, “you should know—”
“I’m not here about that,” she interrupted. “Well, yes, but not how you think.”
“Oh. Um, if it’s about what you did with Bones, I realize—”
“Good Lord, Cat, quit guessing.” Geri began to pace. Her ash-blond hair was in its usual bob, and the muscles in her legs flexed with her movements. “It’s not about that, though Bones makes out like a demon, doesn’t he? I want this off the record before I go any further.”
I was intrigued. “All right. Just between you and me.”
“I heard you say that you and Bones were finished. Is that true?”
That widened my eyes and raised my hackles. “Why? Now that you know he’s single, you want more of what he gave you? Liked what you saw when he pulled his dick out?”
She stopped pacing. “Ease up, Catzilla. I’m not after your man. I was wondering if you’d be after mine.”
Huh? “What are you talking about?”
Geri flounced onto a nearby chair. “I’m seeing Tate.”
That one I hadn’t anticipated. I stared at her for a moment before finding my voice. “How long?”
“A few weeks. Don doesn’t know. Neither does the rest of the team, though I think Dave and Juan suspect. I know Tate’s still hung up on you, but I’ve let it slide. You’re married and never around, so I just figured he’d get over it. Then last week, he jetted off as soon as he heard that you and Bones were having problems. Now Bones doesn’t remember you and you’re not going to reintroduce yourself, so I want to know if that opens up the field for Tate.”
Professionally, I was annoyed at Tate for fraternizing with a junior officer. On a feminine level, I felt bad for Geri. She clearly had strong feelings for him to be discussing this with me, because we didn’t know each other that well.
“I don’t see Tate as anything more than a friend, and that’s not going to change,” was all I ended up saying.
She cocked her head. “You might want to tell him that.”
“Believe me.” I opened the door, suddenly anxious to leave. “I have.”
***
I didn’t even make it to the end of the hall before I was grabbed from behind, my senses picking up the inhuman power in the air too late. I let out a yelp, wondering how a vampire could’ve breached the base’s defenses—
“Hallo, Cat,” a voice I recognized said.
Spade. I quit kicking, dread washing over me. If he was here…
“How in the hell did you get here?” I snapped, looking around as soon as he released me. Thankfully, Bones was nowhere in sight.
“Someone with far more sense than you texted me your location,” Spade replied.
“Who?” I began, then stopped as I remembered Vlad texting someone right after arguing that I shouldn’t return to Gregor. Damn that meddling Romanian.
“Crispin wants to speak with you,” Spade went on. “He’s just showering now.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “With bleach, I hope, and a strong germicide.”
A flicker of remorse shadowed Spade’s expression before it hardened. “Good thing
you showered as well, else I suspect you’d reek of Vlad.”
I was about to correct his false assumption about Vlad and me when I stopped. Why should I? “Could be worse,” I settled on saying. “I could have made Bones listen to us.”
Spade closed his eyes. “Crispin’s incredibly sorry about that. He would never have done such a thing if he’d known who you were.”
Even though I wanted away from Spade—and the compound—before Bones got out of the shower, I had to ask. “How much is gone?”
His eyes opened. “Anything to do with you. That has consequences to quite a lot over the past several years. Crispin wasn’t aware of his new status as coruler of Mencheres’s line. He thought he was still under Ian. It appears his powers have been affected as well. He’s not as strong and he can’t hear humans’ thoughts. In short, he is as he was before he met you.”
That only solidified my resolve to return to Gregor. Gregor had been stronger than Bones before the effects of this awful spell. If Bones was back to his power level of seven years ago, he’d be toast against Gregor.
“Is this— Is this permanent?”
“We’re not sure. Mencheres doesn’t think so, but it will take time. How long, no one knows.” Spade cocked his head. I didn’t hear anything alarming, but then he grabbed my arm. “Crispin’s done. You’re coming with me.”
“No,” I said, tugging hard. I wasn’t nearly ready to see Bones again.
“He’s in the conference room,” he went on, not letting go. “Your uncle arranged for the two of you not to be disturbed.”
Was everyone against me? I tried logic next, since attempting to wrest away wasn’t working. “Come on, Bones has enough to worry about without adding me to the list—”
“Bollocks,” Spade snapped. “Now, shall it be kicking and screaming, or under your own power? Either way, you’re going to see him.”
I knew Spade well enough to know that he meant what he said, and if I kept resisting, this would turn into a fight that would draw Bones’s attention long before I could run away.
I drew my shredded emotions behind a shield that I hoped was strong enough to keep me from falling to pieces. “Fine. You can let go of my arm.”
He gave me a jaded look. “Consider me overzealous.”
Smart of him not to let me go, because when we came to the door and I could feel Bones on the other side, I began to panic. Spade must have sensed that. He whipped the door open, shoved me inside so hard that I almost tripped, and slammed it behind me.
I froze after I regained my balance, then slowly turned around.
Bones stood about a dozen feet away. He wasn’t wearing something borrowed—the clothes fit him too well, so Spade must have brought them. His hair was still damp and curled slightly at the edges. Its rich brown color only complemented his brows and dark, almost-black eyes.
“Catherine?” he said.
The blankness in his gaze! He really didn’t recognize me, and though I’d expected it, I still felt like I’d been punched in the gut.
I cleared my throat and managed to mutter, “That’s me.”
Then he did something I didn’t anticipate: he laughed. I went from apprehensive to pissed in the time it took to hear it.
“What’s so funny?”
Bones sobered, waving an apologetic hand. “You don’t know how unsettled I’ve been, waiting to meet you. For the past few hours, I’ve heard about this fierce warrior woman I married. Blimey, I half expected you to have bigger biceps than me. Now I see you and you look… like a harmless girl barely out of her teens. It’s a bit odd reconciling the two.”
As he spoke, he raked me with his gaze. With a surge of self-consciousness, I wished I’d put on more makeup or fixed my hair. Bones was so stunning anyone around him automatically looked a little uglier, and— It didn’t matter! With a mental shake, I brought myself back to reality.
“You should know that… we’re not really married.” There, I said it, even though it clawed to stay in my throat.
A cool appraising look came into his eyes. I’d seen it enough before to know that he was taking stock of me. “Is that what you think, Catherine?”
“It’s really weird to hear you call me that,” I muttered.
His brow arched. “Did I address you as Cat? Is that your preference?”
“No.” It was so hard talking to him as if we were strangers! Part of me wanted to run into his arms while the other part wanted to kick the shit out of him for cheating on me. “You, ah, you used to call me Kitten.”
“Did I?” He appeared to mull it over. Then, “It doesn’t suit you.”
I looked away, blinking. He had no idea how much that hurt. Cannelle wasn’t the only one who’d just been stabbed in the heart. Of course, she had helped do this to me. In retrospect, I’d owed her one.
“Call me Catherine then, whatever. Look, Bones, I don’t know what Spade told you, but you left me. When I told you over the microphone that I was separated, it was true.”
“You also told me you were a sixty-year-old, zaftig woman suffering from a malformed spine.” He took a step closer. “Clearly untrue, that.”
“I was in a bad mood.” I kept looking away from him, my gaze flicking from the furniture to the walls to the carpet. Anything but his eyes. He was still staring at me though. I didn’t have to see it to feel it.
“An apology is less than worthless for what happened, but nonetheless, I’m truly, deeply sorry.”
I drew in a steadying breath. This next part was really going to hurt.
“Don’t, um, don’t worry about it. Like I said, we’re separated. Well, not even separated, because technically I’m married to Gregor, all right?” I burst out. “You and I have nothing holding us together, and you had finally realized that and walked out. So do yourself a favor. Keep walking.”
If I didn’t drive him away now, Bones would stay with me out a sense of obligation, and then he’d get slaughtered. Going back to Gregor was the only way I could keep him safe. Eventually Bones would get stronger, maybe the ghouls wouldn’t be so riled since Gregor would no doubt change me into a vampire, and then people would quit getting hurt trying to protect me.
I snuck a glance at him. Bones tapped his finger on his chin, weighing my words while those dark eyes considered me.
“I’ve heard Charles describe what happened between us, and now you, but it doesn’t make sense. If I was finished with our relationship, then why did I fly to New Orleans to lure Gregor into dueling with me? Those are hardly the actions of a man who’d had enough.”
I cast around for a response. “You were trying to set me up so that I’d be okay when you left. You see, you did it so you could walk out without any guilt or responsibility weighing you down.”
He stopped tapping his chin. “Plausible. But then why didn’t Gregor take me up on my challenge? Or, if he no longer felt that fighting me was necessary because I’d left you, why did he use witchcraft to tear you from my mind?”
“Because Gregor’s an asshole,” I snapped. “Um, I mean, I love him and all…” Time to backpedal, fast! “In fact, I miss him. With your being gone recently, I, ah, I’ve come to realize that Gregor’s the man for me. So you don’t have to feel bad about what happened with Cannelle or, er, anyone else, because I love Gregor.”
God help me, that was the best I could manage to say. I even smiled. At least, I felt my face stretch. Hopefully it was a smile.
“I see.” His expression was unreadable. Then, after a loaded few seconds, Bones threw me a cheery grin.
“Well, I for one am relieved. When Charles told me I was married and I thought it was permanent, I nearly soiled myself. Limited to only one woman for the rest of my life? Not my style at all. You seem like a nice girl, but we wouldn’t have lasted. After all, I hear you don’t allow other women in our bed, and how much of that would I have been able to stand, hmm? Cinnamon and I went through eleven lasses in the short time we were together, and in truth, I could have gone for more—??
?
“You bastard!” I’d been listening with my jaw dropping progressively lower, but that was the last straw. I threw myself at him, pummeling and kicking while cursing him with every filthy word I knew. Part of me was aware that I was crying, my fury surpassed only by an all-consuming hurt that seemed to boomerang through my emotions. He’d just taken all my worst fears and blown up my heart with them. If that’s how he truly felt inside, then we’d never had a chance. Why had he lied and told me that we did? Why had he made me love him so much, when he’d always known he would go back to his old ways?
After several minutes, it dawned on me that Bones wasn’t fighting back. He just stood there, absorbing my blows without making a move to defend himself. By the time I’d worked myself into that ugly, hiccupping-crying stage and I couldn’t throw another punch, he pulled me into his arms.
“L-let me go, d-d-dammit…”
“Going to tell me more about how you love Gregor?” he asked with heavy irony. “So much that Charles told me you waited for me for days without word, and even when it seemed obvious that I’d abandoned you, you ran off with Vlad Tepesh instead? Was I very witless before? Is that why you thought I’d believe such rubbish now?”
Being in his arms was akin to dragging sandpaper across my raw emotions. I pushed at his chest, but his arms tightened and I’d used up the last of my remaining strength in my fit of wounded rage.
“You don’t understand. I have to go back to Gregor—”
“You’re not going anywhere near him,” he said. “I don’t give a rot who you’re technically married to. All I bother about is that I swore by my blood that you were my wife. That means I will fight until the last drop of blood in me to keep you.”
He was speaking clearly and in English, but I was still so upset that I had a hard time understanding. “Then you didn’t mean all those awful things you just said?”
He sighed. Since my head was practically wedged in his throat, I both heard and felt it.