There was only one other seating area. On the opposite side of the elegant, rectangular space, off in the corner like he’d been a bad, bad lawyer and put in a shark tank time-out, the King’s solicitor, Saxton, was sitting at his desk. As usual, the male was nattily dressed, his handmade suit and waistcoat as tweed as an Englishman’s knickers, as Rhage liked to say, his thick, Dread Pirate Roberts blond hair swept off his handsome face just like Cary Elwes in his prime.
As usual, the male had his aquiline nose buried in a book of the Old Laws, his brows drawn tight, his buffed nails tapping at the corners of the parchment.
Like he didn’t like what he was reading.
“You mind if I pull over a chair so I can play with my tobacco?”
The attorney looked up with confusion as if his brain struggled to parallel-process both the spoken and the written word.
“Oh, yes,” Saxton said. “Of course. Come, come.”
One of those perfectly manicured hands motioned at a spare armchair.
V picked up the mahogany ass palace and put it at the edge of the desk. “Thanks.”
“You are so welcome. I enjoy the smell of it.”
As V parked himself, he took out his pouch of Turkish perfect and a pack of Rizla+ Black King Size Slim papers. “So what’s the verdict on outlawing the prison camp.”
“I’m still researching the issue.”
“I’ll say it again—why bother.” Rolling up a perfect pinch of leaves, V ran the tip of his tongue down the gum arabic strip. “Wrath’s gotten rid of blood slaves andsehclusionfor females. He can do whatever the hell he wants.”
“Yes.” Saxton tapped the book of the Old Laws. “But the camp was not established by him. It was a construct of the Council. ThePrincepswere the ones who chartered, endowed, and serviced the facility.”
“Facility? Is that what that shithole is supposed to be called? Because when we got into the place, it was a fucking nightmare.”
“I gather its previous location was very grim.”
“We were so close to finding it in time. We missed it by like a night or two at most. Frustrating as hell.”
On that note, V glanced across the room. Rhage and Butch were still slapping each other’s dicks about Ed and Lorraine Warren movies as well as all manner of personal failings and inadequacies.
“But come on, the Council’s been disbanded.” V shrugged. “Most of the aristocracy is dead. Who the hell’s going to complain? And P.S., fuck theglymera.”
Saxton smiled as he stretched his arms overhead and moved his neck from side to side. The fact that his hair didn’t shift at all was not a fact of Aqua Net. It was because every inch of him was just that refined and well-behaved.
Likely down to his proverbial knickers, which were unlikely to be tweed.
“While I appreciate that sentiment,” the solicitor hedged, “nonetheless, we need to be of care. The King is of course free to do what he wishes, but it’s my job to ensure that any implications of his actions are presented to him for review.”
Even though Saxton was a born and bred aristocrat, he had no love for his class. Then again, he’d been kicked out of his bloodline because he preferred the company of his own sex. The good news was he had found a new family of choice with the Brotherhood and mated a helluva guy. Ruhn was good stuff.
So, yeah, fuck theglymera.
“What’re they going to do to us?” V started a second roll. “They have no power, and Wrath is democratically elected now. They can’t touch him.”
The attorney looked back down at the inked symbols on the open folio of parchment. “Yet if we proceed with precision, then there can be no rightful complaints.”
“We’re just going to raid the place and burn it down. Who’s going to rebuild it out of the dozen of the aristocrats that are left.”
Assuming they could find the new site. After years of losing track of theglymera’s private repository for vampires who pissed them off, the Jackal had gotten free of the place and come to the Brotherhood. By the time they’d all gone back to the underground location, however, the “facility” had been deserted: Whoever was running the camp now had somehow managed to disappear five or six hundred prisoners, an entire drug operation, and all staff and guards, right into thin air.Poof!
But to where? They couldn’t have gone far, considering.
“I say we cold-lab it.” V licked another strip. “Shut it all down with an edict and clean up the paperwork afterward.”
“Have you found the location—”