“It was too dangerous for me to make contact,” Alec explained. “I was being watched, and suspicions were already high as to my true intentions. I knew that sooner or later our paths would cross again.”
“It was very convincing,” I said, giving Kristoff a little frown.
He shrugged. “It had to be. Rowan and Andreas had to appear to support the council, although Andreas couldn’t quite bring himself to condemn me as easily as did Rowan.”
“He was never a good actor,” Rowan said, nodding toward Andreas. “I was much more convincing. I thought you were going to spit at me once or twice.”
“You’re damned lucky I didn’t,” I told him before turning back to Kristoff. “OK, I got that. You guys set up this whole big thing to flush out the mole. I’m a bit pissed that you didn’t bother to tell me about it, though.”
Kristoff’s fingers were warm on the back of my neck. “Our plans were set into motion long before I met you, Beloved. I had no idea if you could continue to carry out your role if you knew the truth.”
Relief filled me. So that was your deep, dark secret.
My what? He was startled, a wary feeling in his mind.
The big secret I could feel you keeping from me. The dark place in your mind, the one you always keep me from seeing. I have to admit that I’m relieved that this is what you were keeping from me, and not something a lot more . . . well, scary. I was worried.
He said nothing for a moment. No doubt he was embarrassed about the fact that I knew he was keeping something from me. It didn’t matter, I told myself. We hadn’t known each other long at all, and although I would have preferred Kristoff feeling as if he could trust me, I understood that he was reticent to share such involved plans until he was more comfortable with our relationship.
Don’t worry, Boo. I’m not going to yell at you for not trusting me. I understand. I’m just glad that this is now out in the open. “I assume those couple of unnamed friends you kept calling were Andreas and Rowan?”
Kristoff nodded. Pia-
Don’t apologize. Or rather, don’t do it now. You can do so later, with some massage oil, perhaps. You like lemon? “I take it that you knew that Alec was pretending to be the Ilargi all along, then?”
“No.” He glanced over to his friend. “That took me by surprise, as well. I had no idea that Alec had anything to do with the reapers.”
“I told you I’d find a way to infiltrate them,” Alec told him.
“I thought you meant to do so by the woman.”
“What woman?” I asked.
“A reaper, a woman I’d met a few years ago. She proved difficult,” Alec said, dismissing the subject. “I found another one, a secretary who had just joined and knew little about them. She was most informative.”
“So you found a way into the reaper headquarters?” Rowan asked, suddenly interested.
Alec nodded. “I myself couldn’t go inside-there were too many high-ranking reapers there who would have known me for what I am-but I did discover a way we can bypass the security.”
I looked from him to Kristoff. “I hate to sound like a party pooper, but now that we found you, Alec, we don’t need to break in. It’s not likely your mole is going to be there, after all.”
“There is still the matter of the director to be dealt with,” Kristoff said, taking my hand.
I tried to pull it away. His fingers tightened.
“I am not going to be party to wholesale murder for the sake of . . . well, I don’t even know what that would be, since there is no earthly reason you can have other than revenge for wanting to go after Frederic,” I told him.
“There are a number of compelling reasons why we should do just that,” he argued.
“Oh, yeah? Name one that doesn’t involve you guys wanting to get even.”
Kristoff opened his mouth, looked askance for a moment, then cast a pleading glance at his brother and cousin.
“Huh? Huh? ” I looked at them as well.
“Well, there’s . . .” Andreas stopped, his face screwing up as he thought. “There’s . . . er . . .”
“I thought so.”
“He poses a threat,” Rowan said suddenly.
The other two vampires nodded eagerly.
“A very big threat,” Andreas added.
“To whom? Other than in general to you vampires, I mean.”
“To Kristoff,” Rowan said, pointing.
Kristoff looked as surprised as I felt.