Page 25 of Queen of Darkness
“What did he say?”
I sighed. “That it was madness.”
Fred tapped his chin. “He’s right, you know. It is crazy. Madness. Insane. But I don’t care. I’m tired of putting up with her crusty old hag ass on the throne. She’s the worst.”
“She rejected you, didn’t she?” I asked, sensing a bit of his reasoning.
“Hard,” Fred said, grinning. “That was before I knew—the point is, I’m okay with her being gone.”
“Me, too,” I said, wondering what he’d been about to say. Before he knew about what?
“So, when do we do it?” Fred asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“Soon,” I said. “First, though, I have to take care of one other thing.”
“What? What else needs doing before we kill the bitch? Is it making up with Aaron? I don’t want to see trouble in paradise,” Fred teased.
I glared at him. “We’re not together.”
Fred looked doubtful.
“We’re not,” I insisted. “We’re … complicated.”
“No, you’re in denial,” he said. “But whatever, that’s Aaron’s job, not mine.”
“We’re not a thing.”
“Then, what are you?” he said. “You’re certainly more than friends. You just can’t admit it to yourself yet because you’re scared.”
“Finding out you’re some sort of super-vampire wolf thing will do that to you!” I said sharply.
Fred held his hands up in surrender. “Fair point. All I’m saying, Jo, is don’t lie to yourself. Lie to me, if you must, but tell yourself the truth at least.”
I gave him a steady look, but the old vampire wasn’t fazed. He just blinked at me.
“What is this other thing you need to do?” he said, growing bored of my attempt to be irritated with him.
Sighing, I gave up the ghost. “The queen bitch took out a Blood Letter on me.”
Fred grimaced as I reminded him. “Right. That complicates things. She must be really scared of you. How are you going to fixthat?You can’t even kill her while it’s still there.”
I nodded. “I know how to remove one, though,” I said, filling him in quickly about what the Broker had told me.
“Your rings!” Fred exclaimed. “They’ll help you survive.”
I shook my head, pulling up my sleeves to reveal bare biceps. “My payment for the information.”
“That slimy sonofabitch,” Fred hissed, realizing the Broker had demanded the one thing that could get me through. “He knew exactly what he was doing. That ruthless bastard.”
“Yeah.”
Fred stroked his chin. “So, how are you going to do this?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, fighting back rising hopelessness. It was all just a bit too much for me. “I think … I think I need to talk about it with Aaron.”
Fred exhaled strongly. “I’m glad you said that. I was thinking the same thing.”
“But how?” I asked.
