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Miss Tarabotti sniffed

"Speaking of which, hoas the duchess’s ball last night?" Ivy was always one for gossip Her fa too nearly est of balls, she had to rely on Alexia for such detail as went unreported by the Morning Post Sadly for Ivy, her dear friend was not the most reliable or loquacious source "Was it perfectly dreadful? Who was there? What were they wearing?"

Alexia rolled her eyes "Ivy, please, one question at a time"

"Well, was it a pleasant event?"

"Not a bit of it Would you believe there were no coo to the library and order tea" Alexia spun her parasol in agitation Ivy was shocked "You did not!"

Miss Tarabotti raised her black eyebrows "I most certainly did You wouldn’t believe the fracas that resulted As if that was not bad enough, then Lord Maccon insisted on showing up"

Miss Hisselpenny paused in her tracks to look closely into her friend’s face Alexia’s expression showed nothing but annoyance, but there was so about the precise way she always spoke about the Earl of Woolsey that roused Ivy’s suspicions

Still she played the sympathy card "Oh dear, was he utterly horrid?" Privately, Ivy felt Lord Maccon entirely respectable for a olf, but he was a little too, well, e and so very gruff that he rather terrified her, but he always behaved correctly in public, and there was a lot to be said for a man who sported such well-tailored jackets--even if he did change into a ferocious beast once a month

Alexia actually snorted "Pah Noto do with being Alpha He is si his orders followed all the time It puts me completely out of huht"

Ivy pretended a faint

Alexia kept her friend forcibly upright by stiffening her linked ar so squiffy," she said "There is no one important around to catch you"

Ivy recovered herself and said veheet yourself into these situations?"

Alexia shrugged and co more briskly so that Ivy had to trot a few steps to keep up "What did you do?" She was not to be dissuaded "Hit hiht upside the head I would do the same to anyone who attacked ht ata tad defensive on the subject

"But, Alexia, really, it si to hit a vahed but secretly agreed with her friend There weren’t veryaround London society, never had been, but the few hives that were in residence included politicians, landholders, and so their membership To indiscri such luminaries was social suicide

Miss Hisselpenny continued "It’s si indiscri jahttiled at the leapsyou ideas" Ivy pressed her forehead draloved hand "What exactly happened?"

Alexia told her

"You killed hiht really faint

"It was by accident!" insisted Miss Tarabotti, taking her friend’s ar Post? The lady who found the dead ht?" Ivy was all agog

Alexia nodded

"Well, Lord Maccon certainly covered things up adequately There was no mention of your name or family" Ivy was relieved for her friend’s sake

"Or the fact that the dead ine what lanced heavenward

"Or the detrie prospects, to be found unchaperoned in a library with a dead vampire!"

Alexia’s expression told Ivy exactly what she felt about that comment

Miss Hisselpenny moved on "You do realize you owe Lord Maccon a treratitude?"

Miss Tarabotti looked exactly as if she had sed a live eel "I should think not Ivy It is his job to keep these things secret: Chief Minister in Charge of Supernatural-Natural Liaison for the Greater London Area, or whatever his BUR title is I a his civic duty Besides, knohat I do of the Woolsey Pack’s social dynauess that Professor Lyall, not Lord Maccon, dealt with the newspaperive the earl enough credit Simply because Alexia was immune to his charm did not mean the rest of the world felt such indifference He was Scottish, to be sure, but he had been Alpha for what, twenty years or so? Not long by supernatural standards, but good enough for the less discriht society There were rumors as to how he had defeated the last Woolsey Alpha They said it had been far too rough for al under pack protocol However, the preceding earl was generally known to have been a depraved individual wanting in all aspects of civility and decorum For Lord Maccon to have appeared out of nowhere and eliminated him, however draconian his methods, had left London society part shocked, part thrilled The truth of the e held power by the sa, and politics Lord Maccon ht be new to this, but twenty years in, he was now better at it than h not to dwell on his northern origin

"I really do think you are terribly hard on the earl, Alexia," said Ivy as the two ladies turned down a side path, away from the main promenade

"It cannot be helped," Miss Tarabotti replied "I have never liked the reed Miss Hisselpenny