“You don’t know as much as your pride thinks it does.”
“Then enlighten me,” Cord answered with a sudden smile. “We both know you love nothing more than the sound of your own voice. Please, speak.”
Cornelius smiled at the insolence with which his son regarded him. “There are things I love more than my voice,” he said with an indulgent smile.
“By Arflyn’s grace, if you say me, I will vomit all over this marble floor.”
“You.” Cornelius grinned slyly when Cord gagged. “Your mother,” he continued as he watched with pleasure as Cord straightened, “and your brother.”
Cord regarded Cornelius with contempt and curiosity. “What are you planning?”
“You see, although I think of you as my own son, you are correct, I am not your father by blood.” Cornelius nodded as he reached out and touched a flower in one of the vases. A small bud nestled below the heavy flower head. “But sheisyour mother by blood, and by that same blood, he is your brother,myson.”
“I am aware of the genetic make-up of my family,” Cord said as he stepped closer to his stepfather.
“Are you? You stepped away from my House so quickly, so eager to say you were a Lebedev.”
“Iama Lebedev.” Cord glanced once at the House Akrhyn who was watching the exchange with a slack jaw.
“Youare an Ivanov, like your desired mate. Like her mother before her. Like her cousin. Likehisfather.Yourfather.”
“Your ego is wounded,” Cord said in understanding. He cast a quick glance over the older Akrhyn. “I humiliated you?”
“When do you not?” Cornelius answered with a light laugh. “If you’re not carelessly sleeping with the House Akrhyn, you’re disparaging and disrespectful to your peers. You’ve been bringing embarrassment to my House for years.”
“Your point?” Cord was finished with the conversation now. He had more pressing matters than engaging in a war of words with his stepfather. He had an actualwarto deal with.
“Do you think yourlittletigerwill appreciate that you have been so free with your...love?” Cornelius asked idly as he took a long-stemmed white rose from the vase and rearranged it beside a darker red rose. The contrast was startling, and the symbolism was not lost on Cord.
“She is not an idiot,” Cord replied with a tight smile.
“No, she is not. But she is naive of this world.”
“I may actually enjoy you telling her,” Cord said with a malicious grin. “She is naive of some things, but Tegan also acts first and thinks later.” He watched his stepfather’s smile slip a little. “A trait I know you despise.”
“You call her reckless?”
“No, she knows exactly what she is doing.” Cord glanced once more down the corridor. “Which is very much like her uncle.Whyare you here?”
“I had matters to attend.” Cornelius gave the Castor a tight smile. “Your mother awaits, may the Ancients watch over you, my son.” Cornelius dipped his head in farewell to Cord, who frowned at him but turned and carried on to the chamber where the Vampyre took Solitude.
His stepfather had merely delayed him and told him nothing, he thought as he approached the door where the Council Elder was housed. He stopped when the Mark tingled. Cord turned his head to look over his shoulder to where Cornelius had stood and saw his stepfather was out of sight.
With a sense of foreboding, Cord pushed the door open. The room was dimly lit, understandably so; its resident was a Vampyre. The rich, heavy velvet furnishings added to the heavy feel of the room. A huge four-poster bed was the centre feature of the room, and the velvet curtains were closed, a flimsy barrier to the Vampyre behind them.
Cord took in the mahogany dresser, the writing desk, the chaise lounge. Dark wood and dark red velvet-covered furniture. It was opulent, decadent and overwhelmingly oppressive. Cord inhaled deeply. There was a lingering sweet smell. He touched his Flare, his sense heightening as he did so, but he couldn’t hear anything other than his own heartbeat. Not unusual when in the presence of a Vampyre.
Still, he hesitated. Why had Cornelius been here? He had no love for this Vampyre. He had delayed Cord getting to the room. Not delayed,stalled.
With a sharp intake of breath, Cord ripped the curtains aside to look down on an empty bed.
A bed covered with a thin layer of dust.
Council Elder Alexander was not in this room, and he hadn’t been for some time. Cord whirled on his feet and half ran to the corridor his stepfather had been in. He stopped at the vase of roses, and a feeling of dread washed over him. On the floor were crushed rose petals. Crushedwhiterose petals. Cord portalled to the Northern Headquarters with only one thought in his head.
Tegan.
Tegan sat on the edge of her bed as she listened to Sloane talk to her through the interconnecting door, which stood open. It was hardly ever closed. Sloane had no sense of boundaries, which Tegan enjoyed, but sometimes she did wish she could close the door to enjoy some quiet. However, on the few occasions she had done that, Sloane had merely walked into the room, fell on her bed and spoke for hours.