“Yes.” Rue could see in Dama’s eyes the miracle that this was.

“We truly live in a brave new world.” The vampire shook his head. There was real awe in his tone, something Rue had never heard before.

“I suppose if anyone could manage it, it would be Rabiffano. He will be a good Alpha, my Puggle. You can trust me to know this.”

Rue hadn’t thought if it that way. “I suppose he will. Very cultured, exactly what a London Pack needs.”

“And all those ties to that horrible Lord Woolsey will finally be purged.”

“That was before my time, Dama.” Sometimes he forgot how young she was, or maybe it was that he forgot on purpose, knowing how short her life-span would be. It must be horrible for him. How many pack transitions had he watched in his lifetime? How many friends had he seen die because of them?

He patted her hand. “Of course it was, periwinkle. But this must have come as quite a shock for you. I hope you understand, your father asked us not to say anything to you.”

“I know. He wanted to be my strong solid mooring point for ever.”

The vampire’s blue eyes twinkled. “Forgive us immortals our sins of pride, child. We all age like cheese, growing strong and tasty but also covered in the mould of good intentions gone grey.”

Rue gave a watery chuckle. “I didn’t know I was going to lose him. Now he and Mother will go to Egypt and die.”

“Ah, I see. You knew all along you would lose Alexia, but you had Conall and I stashed away in your heart, unchanging.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m still here.”

“Yes. There’s no vampire rove equivalent of Alpha’s curse that you aren’t telling me about, is there?”

“My little jumping bean, you are one of the brightest lights I’ve been blessed with in my very long time on this earth.” Dama tugged her in to cuddle against him, careful that no flesh touched. “I never thought to have a daughter, not at my age.”

Rue snuggled into him. Dama would fix everything.

“I shall tell you a little secret, shall I?”

“I don’t know, Dama. I’ve had a lot of revelations in the past few hours.”

“It’s not shocking, I promise.”

“Very well, then.”

“I am two thousand two hundred and fifty-one years old. Did you know?”

“I calculated about that.”

She’d managed to surprise him, not a frequent or comfortable sensation for a vampire. “You did?”

“Your accent slips sometimes. My guess is Ancient Greek, likely Macedonian. Plus you think like a military strategist even when it’s only tea plantations.” She paused and took her best guess. “Alexander, is it? Your given name, I mean.”

He laughed. “I knew all those expensive tutors would come back to haunt me.”

“What happened to your eyes?”

“Ah. Not everything stays the same with metamorphosis. I lost battle scars as well. Flaws are fixed.”

“It was a flaw?”

“Apparently.”

“Could we talk more, sometime, about your history and what’s true and what isn’t?”

Dama gave a sad smile, no fang, only memories peeking around the corners. “I think it’s best left as it has been written down. Why mess with the past? It can’t be altered.”

Which explained a little of why he was so accepting of change. Lord Akeldama was the only vampire Rue knew not set in his ways. Even Aunt Ivy, who was very young for a vampire, was already fixed in her preferences and persuasive in her opinions on hats.

“I hate to send you out there, Puggle, alone. You will be careful?”

“Pish-tosh. I have my crew. And my new gun. And my metanatural abilities. I came back from India all right, didn’t I? Mucked it up a bit, but survived. This is only Egypt.”

“My dearest girl, even the Romans were changed by Egypt.”

“You’ll be here when I get back? Exactly like this, waiting.”

“Exactly so. And your room will be there and more importantly your closet, but I’ll have ordered you all new dresses for the season.”

Rue grinned, feeling better about everything.

Rue returned to The Spotted Custard as the sun rose pink above the grey fog of the city. Primrose met her at the top of the gangplank looking tired and worried. They examined each other’s faces.

Whatever Primrose saw seemed to make her feel better. “You’re well?”

Rue nodded. “I’m well. You?”

“Topping. I put your mother in the best guest quarters. Knowing her, we might want to hire a lady’s maid to dance attendance while she is in residence.”

“We’re headed to Egypt.”

“Mr Lefoux said we might be. I assumed she is accompanying us?”

“Correct assumption.”

Primrose was resigned. “I’ll nip round to the agency this morning, see if they have a nice stable young French girl who doesn’t understand much English and wants to travel. Best, I think, if your mother isn’t entirely understood by her staff.”

“Fantastic idea. We should try to keep regular hours while she is aboard, and formal meals. That way she has to dress. That will keep her at least partly occupied.”

They moved together towards the centre of the quarterdeck where Spoo and the head deckhand stood in consultation with the lead builder.

Primrose checked the state of the sun. “I’ll send to market as well. Egypt is quicker to get to than India, right?”