Queen Takes Queen

by Joely Sue Burkhart

  “So she might be pissed at me, too. If she wanted to stay off their radar, the last thing she’d want is a bunch of people calling her for information.”

  Nevarre swung one of the bar stools out from the peninsula and sat facing me, his plate in his lap. At least his kilt was long enough to cover his knees, or I might have had to explore despite so many witnesses. “Or, she’s gladder than ever that she got to you first.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I don’t know Mayte Zaniyah, but she’s got to be pretty fucking smart if she wants to stay out of the Triune game, and doubly smart if she reached out to you already, but I don’t know what she offered.”

  I forgot that he wasn’t with us in Venezuela. “She offered her nest to me.”

  His eyes widened. “Fuck. Yeah. She’s patting herself on the back right now. Don’t worry about her reneging on her offer. She wants you badly and if the other consiliari are calling her for information, your stock just went up exponentially.”

  “I want the Triune afraid of me. Enough to leave me alone. But not afraid enough to come at us full strength. At least not yet.”

  “Oh I’m sure they’re afraid all right.” Gina hit the button on the video and let it play out. Something flew up out of the brilliant shaft of light. Something huge. With wings.

  Staring at the grainy image of my shifted shape, chills raced down my spine. And yeah, my fangs ached. I remembered how I’d fed so deeply off Mehen that I’d basically sucked his dragon into myself. He’d changed my cobra queen into a half snake, half dragon beast that flew. Granted, it’d saved us both. But it was still pretty freaky to see my monstrous shape captured on television for the world to see.

  Rik sat down beside me with two plates. “Not monstrous. Beautiful. I’ve never seen a wyvern before.”

  His plate was loaded with normal breakfast food: scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits, and gravy over everything. My plate: lovely fruit salad and a warm croissant with a bit of chocolate sticking out one end. Staring at the difference, tears burned my eyes. Because he’d been paying attention all along.

  “Of course I have, silly.” He threw his left arm over my shoulders and pulled me against him. “That’s my job.”

  “All our jobs,” Guillaume added as he set a cup of coffee in front of me. “Daire says it’s the right color, but if you need more cream, let me know.”

  I sniffed and dropped my head against Rik’s chest, even as I tore off a bit of croissant to nibble on. Goddess, it was fantastic. Warm, flaky, buttery, with just enough chocolate to be decadent, but not too sweet. I looked across the table at Winston as he returned to his seat across from me. “But how did you even know when we’d be up to have all this hot and ready?”

  “That’s why I’m here,” Gina said, smiling. “I figured you’d be up after noon. When I felt you wake up, I let Winston know.”

  Wait a second. She felt me wake up? Just because I’d given her a few drops of my blood?

  What else had she felt this morning? Or rather afternoon, once I woke up?

  She smiled wider, her eyes dancing with mirth. “Enough to know that Winston had plenty of time to make a full-service breakfast for your Blood before you’d end up here.”

  Wow. Okay. That shed a whole new light on how the bonds worked, especially with my human servants. Poor Frank. And yeah, it made more sense now why all my Blood had come with me last night. They felt everything I did through the bond. They always had.

  I’d never really tried to separate out my pleasure from theirs, but I must feel theirs too, though my pleasure was usually so quick to respond and so overwhelming that I didn’t realize I was feeling their desire too.

  :Pleasure is magnified in the bonds.: Rik used our bond so at least I wasn’t blushing at the thought of having this realization out loud with Winston and Gina listening in. :So is pain, though. It’s a strength and a weakness. Even though you tried to shield me, I felt the moment Leviathan broke your arm as if he’d chomped down on mine. I would have gleefully slit his belly, stripped his hide, and nailed it to a wall.:

  I took a sip of coffee, mulling things over. “You said Mayte Zaniyah wants me badly. For what, exactly? I won’t be her pawn either.”

  “She hasn’t said explicitly,” Gina said. “I grew up deep in Triune politics. I know how consiliari think and act, and I know most of them, or I have my mother’s and grandmother’s assessments and notes as reference. While I don’t know Bianca or Mayte personally, I know of them, and I know what the other courts think of House Zaniyah. With that experience only to guide my gut, I think she wants to be your sib.”

  “My pawn? But I don’t want to make anyone a pawn either. Doesn’t that imply I can’t stand alone, independently? That I need an ally to help me hold my own territory?”

  Xin’s wolf trotted into the room and sat on his haunches before me. It was so strange to see him inside the house, let alone visible. He was usually out hunting and guarding, silent in the woods and only the faintest whisper in my mind. :I would shift but I won’t have clothes. I remember your command to wear pants around other women.:

  My lips quirked. “Thank you,” I said aloud. “Do you know Mayte Zaniyah?”

  :Not at all, though I know court intrigue inside and out. While she’s not weak—or she wouldn’t still be independent despite Keisha Skye’s best efforts to crown herself the queen of the Americas—she isn’t strong, either. She can’t be.:

  Though my other Blood were nodding, hearing Xin’s words in the bond, I repeated roughly what he said for Gina and Winston.

  “That’s a very true assessment,” Gina added. “Mayte has been queen for several hundred years and has managed to retain her independence. She isn’t Keisha Skye’s sib. Neither is Leonie Delafosse.”

  I thought about the meeting I’d overheard in my dreams between Keisha Skye and Marne Ceresa. It definitely supported the idea that Keisha wanted to be the queen in the Americas, as well as take a seat on the Triune. “So Skye’s been trying to make them hers.”

  “Exactly,” Rik replied. “That’s why she finally allowed small groups of us to go out exploring for our own queens, with the goal of pulling more sibs to her.”

  :That’s why Wu Tien dissolved the nest in San Francisco.: Xin said through the bond. :She refused to offer throat to House Skye but had lost too much of her power base to remain independent. She hoped to reunite with some of the Wu clan to regain strength.:

  “What about the queen who’d been in Dallas? Was that Mayte?”

  “Perhaps, though she never established a nest or court, and I haven’t been able to get a full report from anyone in the area to be sure.”

  Thinking a few minutes, I polished off the last of the croissant and started on the fruit. I wasn’t a fan of the cantaloupe, but the strawberries, grapes and pineapple were delicious. “Have Leonie and Mayte formed an alliance?”

  “They may have an informal agreement, but they’re not sibs,” Gina replied. “They can’t be, not without infuriating House Skye.”

  “True. Yeah. I could see that. If Skye thinks people are uniting against her, she’ll attack harder.”

  “Which is why she made the move against you in Kansas City.” Rik’s voice rumbled toward rock troll at the memory. Skye had sent one of her lower Blood, Kendall, who had a blood bond with my first two Blood, in an effort to gain a foothold in my new court. Or betray me. We weren’t really sure, and we didn’t give Kendall long to show his hand before Xin killed him. “She had to see which way the wind would blow with you before you could connect with any other queen.”

  “It’s a gamble for Mayte right now,” Gina said. “She doesn’t have any way to know how strong you are. Whether you can help her stand against House Skye. But she knows the Isador name and hopes that even if you’re half human, that you’ll be enough to defend her against Keisha Skye.”

  “But she has no idea if I’m any better of a queen, or fairer, than Skye is. Why would she want to be my sib but not hers?”


  Rik tightened his arm around my shoulders. “Trust me. Anyone who knows Keisha Skye would run in the opposite direction and hope for the best.”

  I nestled my head against his chest. “You’ve never talked about your time in her court.”

  “For good reason. Thank the goddess Daire and I were too far down her list to worry much.”

  I wanted to know more, but I was afraid to ask. I didn’t want to break down crying—or go off half-cocked with anger. Just the thought that my alpha and cuddly warcat had been unhappy made me want to cut the bitch, and I didn’t even know her.

  Gina’s phone rang, and I knew before she said anything that it was Mayte Zaniyah’s consiliarius. She nodded, meeting my gaze. Waiting to see what I would do.

  :Taking a queen as strong and independent as Mayte Zaniyah will greatly expand your power base,: Xin said. :Their power becomes yours. Her Blood indirectly become yours. Some queens even take a few from her sib’s Blood, especially if she needs a particular skill.:

  :I don’t want her Blood. I have mine.:

  :Six Blood are not enough to protect you from the Triune.: Rik said. :You need more. This is one way to make that gain—without actually taking more Blood of your own.:

  I couldn’t imagine making it work. Not really. I liked my small team the way we were. I loved having my Blood so deep and close to me. If I had to gain ten or twenty more Blood to protect us from Marne Ceresa… I didn’t want that. Not really.

  :Sibs weren’t always like pawns,: Guillaume said in our bond, and I felt Xin’s immediate agreement. :Sib is short for sibling. At one time, this was a way to make your family larger. To make connections and share oaths of protection and fealty among the houses. It’s a risk for her to offer herself to you, but only because she doesn’t know you like we do.:

  That made my throat tighten and my heart suddenly felt like it’d grown too large for my ribcage.

  “Tell her I’d like to meet Mayte,” I said to Gina aloud. “No promises or pressure though.”

  “You got it.” Gina answered the call. “Gina Isador. Yes, hello, Bianca. So nice to talk with you again.” She listened a few minutes, nodding as she jotted some notes on a legal pad. She turned it toward me so I could read it. New Year’s Eve party in Mexico City. 3 day stay.

  That’d give me a few days to mentally prepare. I nodded.

  “Wonderful, yes, my queen accepts your queen’s invitation. The size of our party?”

  I did a quick mental count. Me and the Blood. Gina. If we all left the nest, then Frank should probably stay behind to help with any workers needing access. With all my Blood, I shouldn’t need a human security team.

  :The eight of us, plus anyone else you think should go.: I thought at her.

  “Nine at this time. If that changes, I’ll call you again. Yes, thank you. We’re looking forward to it.” Eyes bright, Gina hung up. “You know what this means, right?”

  “We get to use the jet again?”

  “True. But more.”

  Rik pressed his mouth against my ear. “Queen events are generally formal affairs.”

  Even though he wasn’t present, Daire’s warcat purred loudly in my mind. :More shopping.:

  3

  Daire

  When Rik paired me up with Mehen for guard duty, I braced for the man’s arrogance and the dark twist of his bond. The oldest Blood, and by far the most grumpy after centuries of imprisonment as a dragon, he could make the simplest of duties unpleasant, to say the least. His hatred and rage leaked through our bonds, and carrying that much negativity took its toll, poisoning our minds with his bitterness.

  So it was a very good thing that Rik and Shara had fucked him so hard last night. It’d definitely knocked the mighty dragon down a few pegs and taken the edge off his rage. But what had helped the most was the cuddling after the fact. Sleeping with several warm bodies made it difficult to sulk and plot revenge. Though I’d die of old age before I’d ever hear the man admit that he’d actually enjoyed sleeping tangled up in that big pile of warm bodies.

  Listening in on our queen’s bond as much as possible at least helped pass the time when I wasn’t physically near her. I couldn’t wait to take her shopping again, and a queen’s court visit would be off-the-chains fun to prepare for. She’d need a formal gown for each night, and we’d need to dress up too.

  Her first political challenge had ended in the death of another queen’s Blood. Hopefully this visit with Zaniyah went better.

  “So why are you banned from her bed?” Even Mehen’s voice was harsh and abrupt, slicing through my thoughts like a red-hot poker.

  I couldn’t suppress the twitch of surprise. I’d totally forgotten he was with me. Stupid. We were supposed to be on guard duty, not listening in on our queen’s bond and plotting a wardrobe. “I fucked up.”

  Since he’d distracted me anyway, I cast my senses out as far as possible, feeling for anything amiss. A few rabbits had braved the fresh snow in search of food. A bird with long green tail feathers sat on a low limb at the edge of the woods, watching as we paced our queen’s blood circle. But I sensed nothing else for miles.

  Mehen grunted beneath his breath. “That doesn’t tell me much.”

  I shrugged uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze. “I made a mistake, okay? She shifted into a cobra and was hurting Rik. I tried to free him before she killed him. I would have hurt her to save him, and Rik banned me from her bed until he’s sure I wouldn’t put his, or anyone else’s, welfare over our queen’s ever again.”

  Mehen’s eyes widened. “She managed to hurt our alpha?”

  “She fucking killed him,” I said flatly. “Though being Isis’s descendant has its advantages. He’s got two huge scars on his stomach from where she bit him.”

  “She loves him.”

  “Her cobra didn’t care. At least when she bit you, she didn’t poison you too. Rik’s poisonous, but Guillaume said anyone of her blood carries the antivenin now.”

  “Alpha won’t be feeding us anyway.”

  Probably not, though sometimes I missed the taste of his blood. Though I loved my queen and tasting her blood was fucking fantastic, I loved Rik too, and I’d known him for far longer. I needed my queen’s blood for power.

  But Rik’s…

  He just tasted like home. Family. When it’d been just him and me against Keisha Skye’s court. I’d never in a million years want to go back to that. But he’d been the best thing I’d known for nearly forty years.

  “So how long do I have to put up with all of you being absolute shits to me?”

  I snorted. “As long as you were imprisoned.”

  “You tried to hurt her too.”

  Wincing, I shrugged and focused on the bird again. It still sat there. Watching. It was strangely colored, too. More tropical than anything I would have expected to find in Arkansas. But it didn’t feel like a thrall or another Aima, though I’d have to get closer to be sure it wasn’t something magical. “I never would have killed her. I just wanted to stop her from smashing all the bones in his body and suffocating him. Does that bird look strange to you?”

  “Yeah, I wondered how fucking long it’d take you to notice it since we’re supposed to be on guard duty.”

  :There’s a suspicious bird watching us.: I told Rik in the bond. :But I don’t sense anything off or threatening. It’s just out of place.:

  :Show me.:

  Looking at the bird, I dropped my inner shields. Literally letting my guard down. Rik’s bond surged inside me and I felt him slide into me, looking out through my eyes.

  “Fuck,” Mehen whispered beneath his breath. “I didn’t know he could do that. You even smell like him right now.”

  I didn’t try to speak, not with Rik in me so strongly. It’d be weird to hear his words come out in my voice. I didn’t think Mehen or any of the other Blood would be able to do this. Not as fully as I could. I’d submitted to him in more ways than one, which made this easier. He might have fucked Mehen last night, but mighty Leviath
an hadn’t submitted. Not entirely.

  A raucous caw announced Nevarre’s raven as he flew past, headed straight for the strange bird. I hoped he didn’t kill it. The bird was beautiful and it wasn’t hurting anything. Yet.

  The giant raven landed on the ground below the limb and cocked its head, watching the smaller bird. It squawked and squeaked, Nevarre bobbing his head and pacing beneath the tree. Then the bird shot up into the air, headed south.

  :It was a messenger from Zaniyah.: Nevarre said through our bonds. :Skye will attack. She said beware the ground.:

  “Beware the ground?” Mehen asked. “What the fuck does that mean?”

  Nevarre flew back over the nest boundary and landed on the ground before us. :She was a true bird, a quetzel, not a shifter, so she didn’t have a full vocabulary. She sent me images, though, of something swarming up out of the ground. She pecked at it, like she could eat it. So maybe bugs? Worms? But something coming up out of the ground.:

  I let out a disgusted growl—that sounded way more like Rik’s troll than my warcat. “Up through the ground—directly into the nest.”

  Rik backed out of me so hard and fast that I reeled, losing my balance a moment. Mehen steadied me with a hand on my shoulder.

  :Everybody shift. Nose to the ground. Nevarre, use your eyes from above. If you see anything suspicious, even a dark speck against the snow, map it for us. Find this fucking threat before our queen’s nest is compromised.:

  RIK

  I did not relish the chore of admitting to my queen that her supposedly impenetrable nest might soon come under attack.

  I had sworn she’d be safe here. And within days, we faced an unknown threat from the ground. Worse, she’d owe a debt to Zaniyah for warning us in advance.