Page 10 of Queen of Darkness
Definitely fury. He hates her as much as I do, it seems.
“Good. Then, as per the terms of our agreement, neither you nor your boss is to provide her with any assistance. Is that understood?”
Decan’s face turned dark with anger. “I do not take orders from you,” he rumbled ominously. “Do not presume you can command me.”
I prepared to step aside, not wanting to be in the path of Decan’s visibly mounting fury. He’d hit me once before and knocked me flat to the ground with ease. I didn’t wish to get on his bad side. However, if Elenia wanted a go at him, she was more than welcome. I would gladly watch that.
“You signed an agreement,” Elenia growled. “You are bound by it.”
Decan stepped forward. “I am bound by my oath to my liege,” he snarled. “Notto you. If you so much asspeakto me again, I will have you thrown from here. In pieces.”
Along the hallway, doors opened as men stepped out in near unison. They stared at the vampire queen with dark expressions. Although they looked human, I knew better. They were operating under faery glamours to disguise their appearances.
I kept my eyes on Elenia’s face. It was quite enjoyable to watch her quiver with rage. I doubted she was used to being dismissed like that. Even peers of the other realms usually had more respect for her than what Decan had just shown.
Elenia recognized the danger, and yet, she still hesitated.
“If you attack me,” Decan warned, breaking into a wide smile at complete odds with his words, “that is the same as attacking the duke. Do you really want to do that?”
“Hmph,” the queen said with an aristocratic sniff before turning on her heel and striding away without another word.
Decan gestured at the men in the hallway, and as one, they stepped back through their respective doors, letting her pass.
“God, I hate dealing with her,” Decan grumbled as she turned the corner and disappeared.
“You and me both,” I said, glancing up at him. “But what’s this deal she’s talking about?”
Decan’s face hardened. “Come. I will take you to the Duke. I suspect he will want to see you now.”
He stepped past me without another word, his long legs forcing me to hurry to keep up with him. As we walked, I thought furiously about everything I’d just learned. I was getting what I wanted. A meeting with the Broker. That was a good thing, wasn’t it?
So why did I suddenly have a very bad feeling about my plan?
Chapter Seven
Decan ushered me into Duke Hamelin’s office.
“I’ll go find him,” he said once he observed the empty, black-stained desk against the wall to my left. “Have a seat. This shouldn’t take long.”
I nodded but didn’t sit down. At that point, I was too antsy to be still. The queen had come here and made a deal with the Broker about me. A deal she’d gotten Duke Hamelin to sign, stating that he would not aid me in any way? I grimaced. She had anticipated me, it seemed. How, I couldn’t know, but she’d known that I would come here, seeking help, and she’d sought to cut me off from it.
All that remained now was to find out just how good a job she’d done. After all, I knew Duke Hamelin loved a good bargain. He was a stickler for following the letter of the law. Not so much the spirit of it. If I could find a way around that, then perhaps I could still extract some help from him.
While I waited for either Decan to return or the Broker, I looked around the office, though my eye repeatedly returned to the glass case sitting on a shelf behind the desk. Sitting on a plush cushion inside was some sort of old-fashioned instrumental pipe. It was old and carved from simple wood. I had my suspicions about what it signified about the Duke of Hamelin, but I didn’t dare ask.
The rest of the office was rather plain. There were two filing cabinets to the left of the pipe’s shelf, while the right side was empty space. I knew there was a secret door worked into that wall, but I couldn’t discern its outline. I didn’t dare inspect it, lest I run the risk of being right in front when the duke emerged.
Several framed paintings of various landscape scenes covered the rest of the walls. The office was plain but functional. Nothing more. It provided no further insights into who the duke was or what he liked. The man was a mystery.
The main door swung open, and the Broker entered, forced to duck his head low below the door frame. Most people I encountered were taller than me. Some even loomed over me. But the Duke was one of the few who trulytoweredover me. Closer to eight feet than seven, his thin form was all legs and arms.
“Miss Alustria,” he rumbled as he settled behind his desk, the pure black ovals of his eyes resting on me, the lack of an iris unsettling as always.
“Duke Hamelin,” I replied politely, bowing my head slightly in respect, noting where he’d entered.
I wondered at that. Why had he come from there and not whatever secret rooms were hidden behind the door in the wall? What did that mean? The previous times I’d met with him, the Duke had already been seated or had entered from behind the wall. Just what had he been doing when Decan found him?
“Thank you for seeing me,” I said before he could speak more. “I would first like to apologize for the brusqueness of my prior visit.”
