Read Online Timeless by Gail Carriger - Free Book Online

werewolf. And you are missing a father. I can help you with both.”
    Alexia folded the parchment carefully and tucked it into her reticule, next to Ethel. “I’ll prepare to leave at once.”
    “My
dear
Lady Maccon, I surmised that might be the case.” The countess looked sublimely pleased with herself.
    Alexia sneered. Nothing was more annoying than a self-satisfied vampire, which, given that seemed to be their natural state, was saying something about vampires.
    A great hullabaloo out in the corridor heralded some kind of emergency. There was a good deal of yelling and then a banging at the door to the Blue Room.
    “I left orders not to be disturbed!” yelled the queen, moved to irritated vocalization, if not actually moved to, well, move.
    Said orders, however, were clearly to be disregarded, for the door burst open and in stumbled Dr. Caedes, Major Channing, and Madame Lefoux. They were carrying between them an exquisite young woman with dark hair, whose eyes were closed and body ominously floppy. Her perfection was marred by a great gash at the back of her head that bled copiously.
    “Oh, really! I just had this room made over,” said Countess Nadasdy.

CHAPTER FOUR

     

Several Unexpected Occurrences and Tea
     
    I t’s Asphodel, My Queen. Riding accident.”
    The vampire queen made a beckoning motion with two fingers. “Bring her to me.”
    The three carried the drone over to her mistress. The girl’s breathing was shallow, and she did not move.
    “Dead drones are so inconvenient. Not to mention the hassle in finding an adequately fit, able, and attractive replacement.”
    “I think you should try for the bite, My Queen.”
    Countess Nadasdy looked at her vampire companion skeptically. “You do, do you, Doctor? I suppose it has been a while since I took the gamble.”
    The door crashed open once more and Mabel Dair appeared in the aperture, resplendent in a bronze riding gown with red trim. The actress swept into the room. “How is she?”
    Miss Dair sashayed across the thick carpet and castherself forward to kneel on the floor next to Countess Nadasdy and the injured drone. “Oh, poor Asphodel!”
    Alexia had to give the actress credit for a moving performance.
    Madame Lefoux stepped forward and bent to press Miss Dair’s shoulders soothingly. “Come away,
chérie
. There’s nothing we can do for her now.”
    Mabel allowed herself to be gentled into a standing position and away from the hive queen. “Oh, you will try, please, won’t you, mistress? Asphodel is such a sweet girl.”
    The queen wrinkled her nose and looked back down. “I suppose she is quite pretty. Very well, bring me my sippy goblet.”
    Dr. Caedes sprang into action. “At once, My Queen!” He vanished from the room.
    While they waited for him to return, Alexia turned to the new arrivals. “Good evening, Madame Lefoux. Miss Dair.”
    “Lady Maccon, how do you do?” replied the actress. Hands were clasped to her trembling bosom, and the bulk of her attention was still centered on the dying girl.
    Madame Lefoux merely tipped her head in Alexia’s direction and gave her a small, tight smile. Then she returned her attention to the actress, placing a solicitous arm about the woman’s waist.
    Dr. Caedes returned, bearing a small silver goblet with some kind of lid attached to the top. It looked like those cup attachments designed for gentlemen with mustaches. He passed it to the queen, who took it in one hand.
    “Prepare the girl.”
    Dr. Caedes grabbed the comatose woman by theshoulders and shifted her into his mistress’s lap. His supernatural strength made the task an easy one, even had the girl not been relatively slight. He turned her head so that she rested with the side of her neck exposed.
    The queen took a drink from the goblet, swished the contents around in her mouth, and paused, an intense look of contemplation on her face. Then Countess Nadasdy bared her teeth, both the longer regular fangs, the feeders, and the