Blood Noir - Laurell K. Hamilton [55]
“That is cold, Anita, very cold.”
“Just a question, Irving.”
He laughed then, and his laugh was so nicely ordinary after the magic of Jean-Claude’s that it made me smile. “Couldn’t I miss both you and the career opportunities?”
“I suppose. Jason filled you in on the problem.”
“That’s you, Blake, all business.”
“We’re in deep shit, Irving, so yeah.”
He sighed, and his voice was serious when he said, “Yes, Jason explained the problem. Though someone here at the paper made sure I saw the segment about you. They said my old girlfriend was on the news.”
“Girlfriend?” I made it a question.
“Apparently, no man can be seen too often with you without it ruining his reputation.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said.
“You didn’t need to know.”
“So it wasn’t just about your career, was it?”
“No, I’m dating someone here at the paper pretty seriously. She was a good sport, but the office gossip was pretty virulent.”
“Virulent, huh, that’s a big word, and a serious one.”
“Heh, they won’t let me trot my vocabulary out in my articles; I’ve got to prove I’ve got that college education somehow.”
I smiled again. I’d missed Irving more than I thought. “Can we fix this mess?”
“Articles by me can help minimize the damage, but a good rumor is really hard to kill once it hits the major media.”
“What can we do?”
“I was thinking a series of articles about what it’s like to be part of Jean-Claude’s life. You know, talk to Jason about what it’s like to be his pomme de sang. What it’s like for you to be his girlfriend. We’ll start with a denial of the rumor, but maybe our Master of the City is overdue for some good press.”
“Press that makes him seem in control of his city.”
“Yeah, Jason hit the highlights that I’m not allowed to write about. If I weren’t afraid of being outed, this would be such a better story.”
“Being outed would be the least of your worries if you wrote everything you know, Irving.”
“Is that a threat?” he asked.
I thought about it. “No, not consciously, but I am still Bolverk for your pack, the evildoer.”
He lowered his voice. “Yeah, you punish the bad little werewolves, I know.”
“But no, it wasn’t a threat, just an observation. I think Richard would get to you long before I could.”
“Yeah, our Ulfric seems to have acquired a temper.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Is it true he’s inherited part of your temper?” Irving asked.
“Seems so.”
“Then my compliments for your self-control all these years.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of the compliment, so I ignored it. “Thanks, now what do you need from me?”
“We’ll run the first article about Jason’s dad and the cancer, and how his master couldn’t travel on such short notice so you came with him for moral support. It’ll play very sentimental.”
“Won’t that make Jean-Claude look weak in the eyes of the other masters?”
“Anita, there are only so many ways to explain this rumor away. Showing Jean-Claude as generous to his people may make the other masters think him weak, but trust me, us underlings will read it and go, Wow, he’d be a great master to work for. I wonder how I get to move to St. Louis. Revolutions start from the bottom up, Anita, rarely top down.”
“Are we starting a revolution?”
“The way Jean-Claude runs his territory is revolutionary, Anita. I’m not the only reporter who’s in deep cover. There are a couple of us who sit around and bemoan the great stories we could write if we weren’t pretending to be normal.”
I leaned back against the headboard, the pillow still in my lap. “I guess I thought you were the only reporter in that deep a cover.”
“No, there’s one swanmane, and another werewolf, and even a weretiger.”
“And you’ve all managed to hide what you are?”
“Yep.”
“Must be hard,” I said.
“It’s hard to hide, but you’re seeing how hard it is not to hide.”
I sighed. “You got that right.”
“Though you being his human servant isn’t going to be part of the articles, just the dating.”
“I’ve looked it up, and me being