Page 52 of Bonded By Blood
But he’s a grown man, and he’s been through a lot in a short handful of days. Maybe he’d just needed to walk off some restless energy. Maybe she needed to give him a little breathing room.
“Lady Brianna.”
She started, having already turned halfway around to go back to her room, and moved up to the banister that looked down into the great room. Standing a few feet back from the base of the steps was one of the on-call nurses, a female vampire who’d been part of the Family for over thirty years. “Yes?”
The nurse inclined her head with the acknowledgment. “Forgive me, ma’am. I know you’ve had a difficult night, but the human, Garvin, wishes to speak with you. He heard word of the incident and it seems he feels a level of guilt for not having been well enough to perform his duty.”
“Garvin?” It was true Matilda had been working his shift, but that was hardly reason to feel guilty. She’d have better understood if he felt a sense of relief. Still, she’d wanted a chance to speak with him, anyway. “Is he still in the infirmary?”
“No, my Lady,” the nurse replied. “The doctor released him for bed rest late yesterday afternoon. He’ll be in his room. I just checked on him a few minutes ago.”
He’d been released from the infirmary, even better. That was one speck of good news amidst the chaos of the past twelve hours. “And how long before the doctor thinks he’s clear to resume his work?”
“Tomorrow, at the earliest, ma’am.”
Brianna smiled. “Thank you.” She started to turn toward the staircase on the opposite side of the opening, the one that led up instead of down, but paused. “Oh, if you see Joe, would you let him know where I’m going? I don’t want him to worry if he can’t find me.”
The nurse blinked at her for a moment, then glanced to the side. “You mean Mr. Pearce? He’s in the kitchen, asking questions about the blood regulation system.”
It was Brianna’s turn to stare. Of course. Joe had always been an inquisitive type, by his own admission. Why hadn’t she considered he’d want to learn about their storage and dispersion system, especially after what had happened? She could have smacked herself for being so thoughtless.
“Would you like me to relay the message, ma’am?”
Brianna hesitated for another moment. Part of her wanted to go to him herself, but … there was still the possibility that she’d been hovering too much. She really didn’t want to mess up what they had, what they were building. “Please.”
The nurse departed with a bow and Brianna made her way upstairs, to the third floor. It was the living quarters of the in-house staff. The third floor was broken into three sections. On one side, the larger side, were the residential rooms of the vampire employees. Vampires made up the majority of the staff and, therefore, took up the bulk of the space. The human residential rooms occupied the opposite side of the third floor, their designated spaces informally separated by a few common areas for socializing. Despite the obvious separation of species, the layout prevented problems and allowed the human staff to sleep a little easier.
Brianna and her mother rarely had reason to climb up to the third floor. She knew which wing the human employees lived in and all employees—human as well as vampire—had nameplates on their doors. Moving into the mansion was a big deal in the First Family. Human or vampire, it was assumed that those who moved in would be staying for life. A lifetime investment was worth something a little more personal than a number.
She’d barely rounded the second corner before the door bearing the name ‘Garvin’ greeted her. Here we go.
Brianna tapped lightly on the door. “Garvin? It’s Brianna.”
A rustling of movement on the other side told Brianna he’d heard her. The door was pulled open, revealing a mildly flushed but very much awake man with wrappings around his head and one arm in a sling. She knew, from what she’d been told, that the sling was to keep him from over-exerting himself and pulling his stitches prematurely.
“I didn’t expect you so soon, my Lady,” Garvin said, holding the door open and stepping aside. “Thank you for coming all this way.”
Brianna offered him a smile as she stepped into the room. “It’s hardly an inconvenience, Garvin. I wanted to see how you were doing.” She turned her gaze forward with mild curiosity. She hadn’t been inside the staff rooms in a very long time.
There was a cozy nook to the side which Garvin had turned into a type of den with a comfortable-looking recliner and a wall-mounted television. The walls were decorated mostly with cluttered bookshelves. A mini-fridge served as a nightstand between the bed and the semi-closed door to the bathroom at the opposite side of the room. The bed itself was rumpled and the sight of that unmade bed reminded Brianna that he was supposed to be in it, not on his feet.
Brianna started toward the desk and chair that were tucked up against the window wall. “You should sit, Garvin,” she said as she walked.
“I was curious about what happened to Matilda.”
Brianna had a hand on the tall back of the desk chair in preparation to roll it out and claim a seat, but she stilled. She closed her eyes and drew a quiet breath. Everyone seemed to want to know what had happened to Matilda. There were still details she wanted to know. She certainly didn’t feel as if she were in a position to divulge information. To say nothing of the fact that, technically, neither Seth nor Jasen had formally cleared Garvin of suspicion yet. That was a simple formality, due to the fact that he’d been incoherent when Seth had tried speaking with him, but her mother would be unhappy if she said anything out of line.
Sometimes, though, determining what her mother deemed “out of line” was a little tricky.
“I can’t—” Wait. Had Garvin’s heartbeat accelerated? Why? It was like he was nervous, but what could he have to be nervous about? Brianna turned, opening her eyes simultaneously, intending to ask if he was all right. Instead, she caught sight of a rapidly-descending machete aimed perfectly for her neck.
In that instant, she knew.
The traitor was Garvin. His injuries, all flesh wounds, had been a diversion. He wasn’t asking about Matilda out of concern but because he wanted a gauge for what fate awaited him. But how could he have slipped in and poisoned the blood without Matilda having seen him? The answer was that he couldn’t have. What he could have done was open an exterior door long enough for someone faster to dash inside, as long as they knew where to go. He’d betrayed them all.
Brianna dropped and twisted around, letting the deadly blade sail over her head as she latched onto his extended forearm just below the elbow. She squeezed as she stood and the machete fell to the carpeted floor, but she didn’t let go. “It was you. All along, it’s been you, hasn’t it?”
Garvin grit his teeth against the pain undoubtedly shooting up his arm from her grip. “You should’ve … let the … poison … take you.”
The familiar sting of betrayal sliced through her heart. Brianna tightened her grip on his arm and the bone within snapped. He staggered and cried out, but she didn’t let go. “You’re going to tell us why. You’re going to tell us everything. Do you understand?”
His jaw trembled with the effort he made to contain himself. “You want to know why? It’s because I hate you.” The look in his faded blue eyes left her no reason to doubt his words.