Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

probably charging back and forth in his room by now, sweating buckets and retying his cravat over and over again just to keep his hands occupied. At least he wasn't recovering from a late stag night; Security had had a collective coronary at the very thought, and said no very loudly. It wouldn't have been much of a gathering anyway; most of Robert's Family were dead, and most of his friends… were out fighting the
    Enemies of Humanity. Constance scowled, and firmly pulled her thoughts back on track. She had a lot to think about, and she wanted it all settled in her mind before she put down her veil and walked up the aisle. She was leaving her old life behind her to take on a much more important role, and she didn't want to take any of her old baggage with her.
    Constance was the last of what had once been a great Family. Clan Wolfe had been the most prominent Family in the Empire, rich and powerful and entirely unchallenged, and though Constance was only a part of the Clan by marriage, she had always taken great pride in being a Wolfe. That pride was tarnished now, the Family brought down by the exiled and despised Valentine. The only other Wolfe left of note had been her other stepson, Daniel, but he too had been proven a traitor. Both Valentine and Daniel would be dead the moment they were found. And her only other stepchild, Stephanie, was already dead, murdered by Jack Random in his last insane slaughter. Constance scowled. She'd never liked Stephanie.
    Hell, the silly chit had spent most of her time plotting to wrest control of Clan Wolfe away from Constance, but she was still Jacob's daughter, and she hadn't deserved to die at a madman's hands. Jack Random had quite deliberately put himself beyond the pale, and had to pay the price. So no one else's daughter would have to die like Stephanie.
    She wondered what her late husband Jacob would make of her new wedding. She liked to think he would approve; would want her to be happy. She'd been happy with Jacob, and so much in love. She'd fully expected to spend the rest of her life with him, and had wanted nothing more. When he died, she nearly died with him. Her whole reason for living was gone. Certainly she'd never expected to know love again. Her prospective marriage with Owen Deathstalker had been a thing of duty and honor, nothing more. But then he died too… and Robert Campbell
    came into her life. And quite unexpectedly, love had blossomed in the ashes of her heart. It wasn't the same as before. Robert was no Jacob. But that was probably for the best. She knew exactly where she stood with Robert.
    She was so happy now. And so afraid that something awful would go wrong, and spoil everything. That everything would be taken from her, just as before.
    All her immediate Family were gone, lost to her. Her husband Jacob, her stepchildren Valentine, Stephanie, and Daniel, even her son and daughter-in-law, Michel and Lily. So much death, in so short a time. But everyone had lost someone in the rebellion. She had no right to feel special, and wallow in her loss, when so many others had lost so much more. So Constance had turned to politics to fill her life and give it meaning and purpose, and had found to her surprise that she was rather good at it. She'd always been appalled by some of the Families' casual misuse and abuse of power, and had fought hard to reach a position where she could do something about it. She smiled grimly. Wait until she was Queen. The Clans were in for one hell of a surprise… and Blue Block too.
    They might think they were safely hidden in the shadows, but once she'd been crowned Queen… Blue Block and its secret machinations had been a blight on the Empire far too long, and she would bring them to book, whatever it took.
    They probably thought she'd be safely sidelined as a merely constitutional monarch, but it had been so long since the Empire had such a post that no one really knew what it meant anymore. Which in real terms meant Constance could define her role in any damned way she felt; or could get away with. She had no wish to lead the Empire, but she saw nothing wrong in nudging it in the right direction, from time to time. Constance grinned again. She was going to enjoy being Queen.
    There was a quiet knock at the door, and Constance started almost guiltily, half-afraid someone had overheard her thoughts. But she pushed the sudden panic firmly to one side. The Elf esp-blockers were everywhere now. Her thoughts, and her future