Hive Queen

by Sinclair, Grayson

  Class: Hive Knight (Errant)

  Reputation: Wanted Criminal

  Bounty: 1300 Gold

  Stats (-)

  Strength: 100 (Max)

  Sub-Stats (-)

  Attack Damage: 50

  Constitution: 100 (Max)

  Sub-Stats (-)

  Health: 25

  Health Regen: 25

  Durability: 85

  Endurance: 100 (Max)

  Sub-Stats (-)

  Battle Fatigue: 50

  Battle Fatigue Regen: 10

  Agility: 50 (90)

  Sub-Stats (-)

  Attack Speed: 25

  Movement Speed: 20

  Wisdom: 25 (35)

  Sub-Stats (-)

  Mana: 20

  Luck: 0 (30)

  Charisma: 0 (10)

  Errant Knight: +10 to all Main Stats (+15 within 20 meters of Hive Monarch)

  Arachne’s Blessing: +15 to Strength and Agility

  Scorpius’s Blessing: +15 to Constitution and Agility

  I closed my interface and marveled at the view that I never got tired of looking at. It was hot, August was in full swing, and it let itself be known as sweat formed almost instantly as I stared over my castle’s walls and out into the wide, green hills. The drink was cold in my hand, courtesy of the frost stones I’d dropped in there, but as I went to take a sip, I paused.

  The familiar scent of whiskey burned deliciously in my nose, and my mouth watered as condensation dripped cool over my fingers. I wanted to drink it, wanted it very much. And that was the problem.

  Magnus was right.

  I pitched the entire glass over the edge in disgust and turned to go back inside as the glass shattered far below me.

  I threw on a clean blue shirt and was about to go train with the girls. I opened the door and nearly walked into Adam as his fist raised to knock.

  He froze, a half smile on his pale face as his dull golden eyes lit up with humor. “Well, we couldn’t have timed that better if we tried.”

  “Adam!” I clapped him on the shoulders and gave him a huge bear hug.

  “Okay, okay. I missed you too, buddy. Put me down!”

  I released him and invited him in. He chuckled as he walked in and glanced around the room. “You know, you haven’t changed the room at all since the last time I was in here, three years ago.”

  I shrugged and sat back on my bed. “What can I say, if it isn’t broken, why fix it?”

  “Fair enough,” he said as the humor dropped from his eyes.

  Damn, guess neither of us could keep it up for long. “Where’ve you been? We were worried about you.”

  “Uh,” he said and tugged on his ear, not looking at me. “I went to bury Jess.”

  “You went back to Magnus?”

  Adam nodded. “Had to. I couldn’t leave her there.”

  “What do you mean? Her body should’ve disappeared.”

  He shook his head and sighed. “The bodies of guardians don’t fade, so hers stayed, as will mine and Nick’s when the time comes.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Machine City. Our old home. She liked it there, and no one will disturb her.”

  Adam stared out the window, his mind miles away. I went over to my nightstand and poured him a glass of whiskey. I handed it to him and poured one for myself.

  “To Jessica,” I said, raising my glass.

  “To Jess.”

  We drank, and I sighed as the fire burned down my throat. It was delicious.

  He handed me the glass, and I sat them back where they belonged. “I hate to ask while you’re grieving, Adam, but we need to talk.”

  Adam sighed and nodded. “Yeah,” he said, motioning me to follow as he walked out to the balcony. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and I’ll do my best to answer them.”

  “Okay…by the nine kings of hell, where do I start?” I threw my hands up and once again caught sight of my skin. “Let’s start with whatever the hell that crystal was Evelyn gave me?”

  “I’ll tell you what I know, but it’s not much,” he said, leaning on the railing. “They’re called Shards of Divinity. Fragments of creation. Where they come from, what they can do, I don’t know. But from what I’ve seen, they defy reality, or maybe they transcend it. I didn’t get a chance to study them much before we entered the Ouroboros Project. Though I think I can say one thing for certain: I’m sure you’ve seen your character page, at what’s written there.

  “They’re god-makers.”

  “Gods?”

  He nodded. “And not like the ones we programmed to help watch over Nexus. Actual divinity.”

  “How did you get them?” I asked, my hands shaking.

  “That’s a very long story for another time. But I do know that Jess chose you to be her Shardbearer. She liked you, even if she didn’t always show it.”

  I paused, letting my mind absorb what Adam had told me. It was insane, but with what I’d seen these past few weeks, anything was possible. I never considered myself overly religious. Sure, I believed, but Earth’s god abandoned us, left us to die by the hands of those monsters. But creating gods? That’s crazy.

  “How would one go about creating a god?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” he said, shrugging. “The shards, they’re drawn to each other, I assume the more you have, the stronger you become, but that’s just a theory. There was no change when we combined our shards.

  “Speaking of change, I know the whole pale skin, golden eyes look probably isn’t your thing, so if you want to go back to your old appearance, all you have to do is concentrate on how you want yourself to look in your head and focus on it. Should do the trick.”

  I closed my eyes and let the warm breeze wick the sweat from my brow as I focused on who I wanted to look like, my old self, before I was given the mantle of Hive Knight, before the Aspect took control of my body and forced my body to change to its whims. I wanted to look like the old me.

  After a solid minute of focus, a tug pulled at my chest, and a warmth spread throughout my body. When I opened my eyes, my regular tanned skin was back.

  “There you go. Took you less than time than it took Jess and I the first time we tried it. We spent like an hour back to back trying…” He faded out and lapsed into silence.

  “We’ll pay Magnus back for what he did. He won’t win.” I patted Adam on the back, but I knew that nothing would help ease the hurt in his heart. I’d gone through it too many times myself, and nothing ever really helped.

  “I appreciate it, Sam. But I thought you agreed with Magnus?”

  “I did. Still do, I guess. But I won’t let him kill Eris.”

  He turned and looked at me, his eyes so filled with sorrow that it hurt. “Even if it means sacrificing everyone else?”

  I shook my head. That was the wrong way to look at it. “You said it yourself—we’ll find another way.”

  Adam didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stared out over the castle for a long moment. “I said that then too, the first time, that we’d find another way, and I ran out of time. If I’d just said yes to Nick, then Jess would still be alive.”

  “And Eris would be dead. So would I, and Raven too, probably. Jessica knew what she was doing, knew that she would die, and she still stood in the way so that we could get away. I wish more than anything she were still here, but I don’t think there was a way for us all to escape.”

  “I know, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. I’ve got to go, Sam. We’ll talk later about what to do…just not now, okay?”

  “Yeah, take all the time you need.”

  He didn’t respond, just walked out of the room without another word. I watched him leave and turned back to lean on the balcony, trying to figure out what to do and failing. I hope Edna will have a plan, because I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this one.

  I didn’t have a clue, and I really wanted another drink. I shook my head. Let’s go see what the girls are up to.

/>   ***

  I awoke with a groan at the shrill tone blaring in my ears, signaling an incoming call. My interface popped into existence without my command, and a single name appeared in front of me.

  Miguel.

  I hit decline and rolled over, Raven’s pale back and backside pressed against me as I snuggled closer to her. On the other side me, Eris acted as the big spoon for both of us, and her scorching arms clung around my waist as her hot breath tickled my back.

  Last night was…interesting. Yeah, that’s one word for it.

  Both Raven and Eris weren’t quite ready to share a bed with me together, and to be honest with myself, I didn’t know if I was ready for it either, but they’d subverted my expectations by taking turns while the other watched. Once the initial awkwardness faded, it’d actually been fun but left me more exhausted than if I’d fought a hundred men.

  Both of them know how to take it out of me, that’s for sure. Though as they sandwiched me between them in their sleep, I argued that it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

  I was about to wrap my arm around Raven and go back to sleep when my interface chimed again. It was Miguel again. I swear to the gods if someone isn’t dead, I’ll kill him.

  I hit accept. “This better not be about that job, Miguel.”

  “Long live the Shadow King.”

  I blew out a breath. Shit. “I’ll be there in a few hours.”

  The call went dead.

  I groaned and sat up. Eris clung to me and partially came with me before I turned and laid her head on my chest. She mumbled something in her sleep and scooted over, draping her naked body over me and snuggled closer to me.

  “C’mon, love, time to get up.”

  Light chuckling whispered next to my ear, and I turned as Raven leaned in, pressing her lips to mine in a good morning kiss, her ample bust teasing my arm as her pink nipples awoke from the cold.

  “Good morning, darling,” she said as she pulled back and looked down at Eris. “She’s too cute when she’s sleeping.”

  “That she is.” I told Miguel a few hours. A minute or two won’t hurt anything. Raven scooted closer to me, her thighs holding my calf hostage as she kissed the side of my neck.

  “Who called?”

  “Miguel, a distributer of sorts. I thought he was calling about a job he keeps bugging me about, but its bad business. We really need to get going.”

  “Get going as in right now or…can it wait a few minutes?” she purred in my ear.

  I wound my hand over her cheek and brought her in close for a kiss. Her mouth parted, and her tongue met mine in a gentle embrace as her nails dug into my back. I took her lip between my teeth and bit down, drawing a single bead of blood that swirled iron-red over her lips.

  “Harder,” she moaned.

  I bit down just a little harder, savoring her blood as it washed over my tongue. Raven’s hand trailed over my chest and down my obliques as she slowly wrapped her hands around my length.

  Before she could do anything with her hand, something poked my side, and I turned over to find Eris awake, sitting on her knees with one arm folded under her chest, the brown of her nipples barely covered, while her right hand jabbed into my side.

  “No fair. You two started without me,” she said, frowning, almost pouting.

  Raven peered around me, took one look at Eris’s pout, and burst out laughing. A full-bellied laugh that had her nearly rolling on the bed, shaking.

  I tried to hold it in, but Raven set me off and I joined her in laughter.

  All the while, Eris stared at us with the same expression on her face, which just set us off again when we stood up.

  When I came to the second time, I pulled Eris in for a kiss because her face got so red, I thought she’d burst. Her frosty eyes quickly thawed after our lips touched. “Good morning, love.”

  “Good morning, my bonded,” she said and looked around me to Raven. “Good morning, dear.”

  “Same to you, sunflower,” Raven said to Eris, then turned to me. “So, I’m guessing we’re not going to pick up where we left off?”

  “’Fraid not. We’ve got places to be, loves. Let’s get ready.”

  We dressed and left the castle in under an hour. I wasn’t sure what to expect with Miguel, but he’d given the code that was designated critical emergency, so it had to be big.

  It took just under four hours to fly to the outskirts of Arroyo and walk into town. It was quiet this afternoon, no ships docked at port, so most of the town was void of life. Our walk to the Gray Cask was uneventful. The worn stone building was quiet as we approached, and when we stepped down the steps into the bar itself, we were met with absolute silence.

  The Cask was never closed, never this empty. It unnerved me so much that I immediately drew my sword and stepped in. The multitude of wooden tables were empty, their chairs on top of them. The bartender was nowhere to found, and only one occupant sat silent at the bar, nursing a bottle of brandy.

  Miguel’s fancy black shirt and pants were wrinkled, his oil-slick hair disheveled, and his rich brown skin was pallid, like he’d had hadn’t slept.

  He took a sip of his drink and waved me down. “Put your sword away, Duran. No one’s here.”

  “The Cask never closes.”

  “It does today, kiddo. Maybe never to open again.”

  I took another look around, and my instincts told me that Miguel was telling me the truth, so I sheathed my sword and stepped fully into the bar. Eris and Raven fell in behind me, and Miguel looked from me to them and dismissed them, turning to face me.

  “Take whatever you want from the bar, my treat.”

  “I’m good─”

  “Thank you, Miguel. Sam speaks highly of you,” Raven said as she meandered behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of top shelf whiskey.

  He let out a bark of laughter. “You’re a terrible liar, but I appreciate the sentiment,” he said, brushing his fingers through his hair. “Sam, huh? You look like a Sam.”

  I shrugged. “What’s this about?”

  “It’s bad. I got the most recent batch of mushrooms, the Gloam, from your mage and started selling them. Things were going well; people couldn’t get enough of them, and we raked in a mountain of gold.”

  “So what’s the issue?”

  “We fucked up, both of us.” Miguel threw his hands up. “From what your mage told me, he didn’t have time to test the mushrooms, and I didn’t vet them before I started selling them.”

  “Oh shit, don’t tell me─”

  “They’re not poisonous or anything, but they are incredibly addictive, and people can easily overdose from them.”

  “So were the Gloom Shrooms, what’s the difference?”

  “The Gloom never killed one of the Compass Kings’ sons.”

  “Godsdamn it, who?”

  Miguel sighed and downed his brandy while I waited for an answer. “Fabian Clark.”

  “Gerrard Clark’s only son. Fuck.”

  “Right,” he said, pouring him another drink. “No one cares when it’s a nobody, but soon as someone important dies, everyone is up in arms.”

  I sighed and absentmindedly reached for the bottle of whiskey next to Raven. She moved it just as my fingers brushed it, and my hand closed around empty air. She smiled at me and placed her hand over mine. “You told me you’re trying to quit.”

  “Thanks,” I said and went back to the task at hand. “Okay, so what’s the backlash? We can handle the vengeance of one king.”

  Miguel stood up suddenly, his wooden barstool tipping back and clacking against the uneven stone floor. “You don’t get it. It’s not just one king. It’s all of them, and they brought in Kincaid, too.”

  My blood ran cold. “By the nine kings of hell.”

  “You understand now?”

  “We can’t take on the Merchants Guild.”

  “We flew in their faces too long; you know as well as I how swift and terrible their retribution will be.”

  “H
ow bad is the fallout?”

  Miguel paused, throwing his empty tumbler at the rack of liquor behind the bar. Glass crashed and spilled amber over the wood to drip to the stone.

  “Bad. Hasn’t gone out yet, but it’s only a matter of days. Merchants Guild put a bounty on the Gloom Knights.”

  “How much.”

  “Quarter million per head.”

  My heart dropped. We’re so, so screwed.

  Footsteps clacked sharply on the stone outside, and there was a brief knock at the door.

  “And a hundred thousand for mine.” Miguel nodded to me and snagged the bottle of whiskey on the counter, tipping it back. “While this is the main reason why I called you here, we have another matter to discuss,” he said as he shuffled over to the door.

  I threw my hands up. “If this is about that job, I think we have too many things going on to worry about that right now,” I replied as the door opened.

  “Not even for a friend?” a rich, feminine voice asked.

  I turned as she strolled into the Cask.

  She was tall, just under six feet, with refined features and beautiful pale skin without a single freckle to mar her ivory perfection. Her flowing scarlet hair shimmered like flames alight as she walked in. Her emerald eyes lit up in delight as she smiled at me with her ruby lips.

  “I know you,” I said. “At the Auction House. Morgan, right?”

  She just kept up her smile before looking past me. “I’m glad to see your bonded was returned safe and sound.”

  I glanced over at Eris, but she wasn’t looking at me; her eyes were transfixed on Morgan. She rose from her seat in an instant and dropped to her knee, bowing her head low. I tapped her on the shoulder.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What are you doing? Bow!”

  Morgan chuckled and went to Eris, kneeling and taking her chin in hand. “Raise your head, child. And don’t fault your bond mate. He doesn’t have your lovely eyes.”

  She rose and glanced at me. “I should formally introduce myself. My name is Morrigan.”

  “The Morrigan? Goddess of demi-humans?”

  “I like Morgan better, but yes.”

  I snorted. “What even is my life anymore?” I looked back at Miguel, whose eyes were probably as wide as mine, and raised an eyebrow.