“Of course. She can have some hair.”
He cawed a fairly long bird sentence and she sprung up into the air, the sudden flap of her wings startling me. She yanked out a few strands of hair and flew back up into the tree.
“Hey,” Daire yelled after her. “You hurt her!”
“It’s all right.” I rubbed the stinging spot in my scalp. “I told her she could. Let’s eat. I’m starving.”
As if he heard me coming, Winston opened the door. “That’s music to my ears, Your Majesty. I’m glad to see you up and about so early today. I’m hoping that means you’re recovering from your ordeal quickly?”
“He’d be better off asking if we’ve recovered from helping her recover,” Erza muttered. Daire poked him in the ribs. “What? We all gave her blood twice already. I’ve never seen a queen drink from seven able-bodied Blood twice and still need more.”
:You’ve never seen a queen build Morrigan’s grove before either.: Nevarre didn’t sound angry in the bond, but the raven hopped toward the big man and flashed his pointed beak. It reminded me of the way Guillaume always had a blade ready in his palm when he needed to flash a threat. :My mother had a dozen Blood and she barely survived. You arrived after our queen’s suffering. So count yourself lucky you only felt a fraction of what she endured.:
“Even more impressive, this is America,” Mehen said with a sour twist of his lips. “A land so far removed from Celtic magic, that they can’t even say it correctly and named a basketball team after them. There are barely any ley lines to pull from, and certainly no Stonehenge or standing stones of any significance. This was all blood. All Shara. And if she needs to drain us all three or four times a day, then I’m game.”
Ezra huffed. “I wasn’t complaining.”
Mehen snorted but thankfully let it go. These two were going to drive me nuts if they didn’t stop harping at each other like two old men, fighting over their prized secret fishing hole.
“I’m moving a bit slowly this morning,” I told Winston as we entered. “But I’m grateful to be up. Is Gina here yet?”
“She’s on her way,” Winston replied. “She called a few minutes ago. She’s bringing some pastries and fresh bread from a bakery in town.”
My stomach rumbled as loudly as Rik’s rock troll and Ezra’s grouchy bear combined. Rik hustled me to the table and Daire brought me a cup of coffee while Winston started pulling food out of the fridge. “Sorry to drop in on you so early today.”
“Not a problem at all, Your Majesty. We’ll always have plenty of prepared food for your Blood, even if it’s just sandwiches.”
“These sandwiches fucking rock,” Daire said around a mouthful. “I should know. I’m the sandwich king.”
“Knock, knock,” Gina called from the front door as she came inside. “I’m glad I stopped for some more of those chocolate croissants.”
Rik set a bowl of fruit salad before me and I stared at it a moment, my eyes burning. It was the same as yesterday… except Winston had removed the cantaloupe. He’d noticed how I’d picked all them out yesterday and immediately adjusted it. I flashed a wobbly smile at him and picked up my fork as Gina set a croissant by my cup. “You guys. Thank you.”
Winston bowed slightly, his cheeks pink and eyes sparkling. “Our pleasure, Your Majesty.”
“Shara.”
“Of course, Shara, Your Majesty.”
“Give up,” Gina patted my arm as she sat down beside me, her leather satchel bulging with all the things she needed to go over with me. “He’s a stickler for propriety. Most Brits are.”
“I thought of a whole list of things I wanted to ask you last night. Hopefully I can remember everything.”
“We have plenty of time.”
Anxiety tightened my stomach despite the delicious breakfast. “Not really. Not considering how much I don’t know.”
“Again, don’t worry about all the formalities. Zaniyah’s court won’t be nearly as formal as Skye’s, let alone the Triune. Look at this as practice. She’s inviting you, and she’s not known for that. She’s the one who needs to impress you.”
We spent two hours going over general Aima formalities. A queen rarely ever did anything herself, and it took skill to read through all the intentions and meanings behind something as simple as who sat by whom at the table, or who came to greet us at the airport. The more I learned, the more I realized how much Keisha Skye had insulted me when she’d sent such a low Blood to me. She’d completely misjudged my strength, for one thing, and she’d compounded that mistake by sending someone so weak on Skye’s prominence ladder to represent her entire court’s interests to a new queen.
It was a major lesson for me when I thought about my Blood and how I would send them, if needed, to communicate with another queen. I would have considered only their personalities. Like it’d be stupid to send Ezra on a political mission. He’d only piss everyone off and end up causing a war. So would Mehen. But worse, Mehen was known for his destruction and hatred. So if a queen saw him innocently standing outside her nest…
She would assume I meant to raze her court to the ground.
And if Guillaume went…
Her Blood would react like Rik had the first time Guillaume walked into my house in Kansas City. He’d be sweating, expecting his head to roll.
Even more care would be going into the seating arrangements on Zaniyah’s side.
“I’ve already sent a brief listing of our party, including each Blood’s name,” Gina said, her brow crinkling. “I hope that was all right?”
It made me a little twitchy to know the complete list was in another queen’s hands. They had to know about Guillaume now after that television footage, but did they know about Leviathan, king of the depths? Or Xin? All Zaniyah’s consiliarius had to do was pick up a phone and call the Triune. “I trust your judgment.”
“It’s polite to do so, but not required from a guest. Our list lets them plan better, but negates your ability to surprise them with who’s on your Blood already. I thought it would establish open communications up front if we exchanged our full list without any secrets, so they can fully prepare for your arrival.”
I could see how showing up with Mehen in tow without preparing them might cause a bit of a scramble. Incredibly old and powerful, he’d be hard to match up with another Blood, unless Zaniyah had a few secrets of her own.
“She will have secrets,” Gina agreed. “No one knows much about Zaniyah. She’s worked hard to remain cooperative to an extent—but completely unknown. She might be significantly more powerful than anyone’s giving her credit for. She may have a hundred Blood for all we know.”
“Or an equally old and pissed off Blood like Leviathan,” Daire added, winking at Mehen, who stood glaring at the room in general.
“Maybe I should fly over for a reconnaissance mission,” he said.
Gina winced and shook her head. “That would be highly rude and suspicious of us.”
“And your point is…?”
“Do we even have a map of her nest?” Rik asked, giving a quelling look at the older Blood. “We should have our own exit strategy in place in case things go south.”
He and Guillaume studied the maps Gina spread out on the table. “Nothing of her direct court, but we have the general area.”
By the time they were done asking for emergency cars stationed down the road and horses in case we had to go cross country, my eyes were getting heavy. I forced them open, surprised to find Mehen carrying me with Xin and Daire on either side. “Where…”
“Shhh.” Still holding me, he lay down in front of the fireplace on a bunch of pillows and blankets someone had tossed on the floor. A warm, cheery fire crackled in the stone hearth. With Xin’s arm around my back and Daire cuddled against Mehen’s side so I could feel his purr, I drifted off to sleep on my dragon’s chest.
18
Shara
My days of planning flew by too quickly, probably because Rik insisted I sleep most of it away in o
rder to rebuild my reserves. The day before New Year’s Eve, we were on the jet headed to Mexico City, with a quick shopping trip in downtown Dallas. I didn’t even know the names of the small yet luxurious shops, but Gina had paid them enough to shut down the entire building just for us. We had access to designer everything, at insane prices that made my eyes bug out of my head. So Gina refused to even let me look at the tags any longer.
I’d never cared about having much money, as long as I had a safe place to hide from the monsters and enough to eat.
But seeing what the Isador wealth could do for my Blood…
I was very grateful for my immense legacy, because I’d never seen anything finer in my life than my seven men dressed in black-tie formal wear. A small army of tailors swarmed over the guys, pinning and measuring, nipping and tucking, until sleek black pants and jackets hugged their impressive bodies perfectly. Each of them picked out a slightly different style, but stuck to simple black and white. Mehen and Nevarre both chose tails, though Nevarre refused to exchange his kilt for pants. The tailors even managed to get Rik’s impressive tree-trunk thighs and massive biceps encased in a slick double-breasted suit that made me drool.
While the tailors sewed the adjustments to the guys’ suits, it was my turn.
At first, it was chaos, because all of them but Rik wanted to pick out the winning dress. I’d never seen so many guys dragging formal gowns up and down the aisles, yelling jokes at each other. When Mehen and Daire somehow made it a competition to see who could pick out the raciest dress, Gina put her foot down. “This is getting us nowhere. They’re overwhelming you with too many options, and ninety-nine percent of their selections are inappropriate.”
She might be human, but my consiliarius knew how to throw her weight of position around. With Rik’s help, of course. He snapped his fingers and gave an alpha tug on the bonds, and all the guys turned at once to look at him.
“Sit down,” Gina pointed at the chairs and ottomans scattered throughout the dressing area, and they did, at once.
She turned to the woman who’d welcomed us to the store. “Shara, this is Alice Wong, owner and designer. We’re looking for something for several very important dinners, but one specific gown to make an impression, without making the other guests feel as though she’s trying too hard. Red-carpet worthy, but we don’t need to stop traffic completely.” Gina winked at me. “That kind of dress will be used another day.”
She didn’t have to say it. I’d need a traffic-stopping dress if I ever had to make a Triune appearance. My stomach clenched with dread at the thought.
Walking around me in a slow circle, Alice asked, “Short or long?”
“I don’t really have a preference.”
“Your favorite color?”
I had to think about it. It’d been so long since I’d stopped to think about something as trivial as color when I had to fight for my survival every minute of the day. I wasn’t a child any longer, but even as a kid, the pretty pink room and frilly dresses hadn’t been my kind of thing. Dad had decorated a room in our house for me, and I’m sure it’d broken his heart when I couldn’t sleep in there with all those windows. Not with monsters outside. “I don’t really have a favorite color. I like all colors.”
“Try this,” Alice said, her voice a gentle, soothing lilt. “Close your eyes. Picture being happy. Glowingly happy. You can’t remember a time when you felt so beautiful.”
I did as she asked. Immediately, I was in the grove, staring up at the full moon. The ancient trees whispered around me, dancing and swaying in a gentle breeze. But instead of my house, I saw Isis’s pyramid in the center.
“What colors do you see?”
“Not color, really. Moonlight. Shadows. It’s dark, nighttime.”
“Very good. You can open your eyes now.”
I did, and Alice smiled at both me and Gina. “I have a particular gown in mind. I’ll be right back.”
“She should have more than one,” Rik said with a scowl.
“I completely agree,” Gina replied, giving me a wicked smile that made my brows arch with surprise. “This is the most important one, which is why I asked for Alice. Her associates are already pulling other outfits from the racks for our approval and will be here shortly.”
I groaned. Great. More trying things on.
“Alice took one look at you and knew your sizes and body shape. There should be very little trying on, unless you want to, of course. They’ll present the racks and you simply select what you like.”
“Or we can nod and take the whole store,” Daire added. “That’s my vote.”
“I don’t need the whole store. Where would I wear even a fraction of this?”
“I don’t mean to frighten you…” Guillaume said softly, drawing my gaze to him. “But your star is rising fast. Mayte is only the first queen to approach you for assistance or protection. Soon enough, all the queens will know of Shara Isador. The invitations and requests will stack up quicker than Gina’s entire team can sort them.”
“And then there’s the Triune,” Mehen said with a grim scowl. “Eventually they’ll demand your presence.”
My eyes narrowed. I didn’t like that word. Demand. Let them try and make me do anything or go anywhere I didn’t want.
“A Triune audience gown makes everything in this store look like something you’d wear to a picnic,” Gina admitted. “Which is one reason I wanted you to meet Alice and see if you like her designs. If so, we’ll commission her to make you a formal presentation gown.”
Formal presentation. Just the thought made me itchy, like I was breaking out in hives. “What if I refuse?”
Everybody stared at me, jaws dropping, eyes widening in horror.
“You can’t refuse the Triune,” Gina finally said.
“Why not?”
“They have ultimate power over all Aima. If the sitting queens take a vote to execute you, it’s done. No trial, no excuses, no chance to explain your side of the situation. You, your Blood, and all your court will be put to the sword.”
I shivered, hugging myself. Rik made a low rumble and came to me, wrapping his arms around me and pressing his solid heat against my back, but I still felt chilled, deep inside. “The nest wouldn’t protect us?”
“For a time,” Guillaume said, staring down at his broad, scarred hands. It made me think about his years as Desideria’s executioner. How many queens—and their Blood—he must have killed over the centuries. “I’ve heard the formal order go out for execution, though it’s been years, before Desideria died. It’s hard to keep everyone inside a nest indefinitely, especially in this day and age. No one’s self-sufficient any longer. Eventually the nest will run out of food or water. Or they’ll let someone in who’s in danger, or who promises to help, and they’re betrayed. Or, more often than not, the queen will negotiate with the Triune to allow her court to live if she surrenders peacefully.”
I tried to imagine what would happen to us if the order came down from the Triune to execute House Isador. Rage bubbled up inside me, a dark shadowy miasma that burned like acid. I didn’t know how I’d protect everyone, but I would. I’d find a way.
And if I couldn’t…
:We would never allow you to sacrifice yourself for us,: Rik whispered, though his whisper cut like razor-sharp steel. :Never. If you die, we die. I refuse to live without you.:
Alice stepped back into the dressing area with a long linen bag draped over her arm, but she hesitated a moment, sensing the dark mood in the room. “Everything all right?”
I forced a smile. “Yes. We were just discussing the possibility of someday needing an even grander gown than anything you may have in the store.”
Her eyes brightened and she gave me a wide, charming smile. “Now that sounds like quite the challenge.”
“Let’s see this gown first,” Gina said.
Alice used a small stepladder to hang the bag on a hook high enough the dress wouldn’t touch the floor. She unzipped the bag and caref
ully pulled the linen back to reveal the gown.
The skirt was long and full, made out of some kind of flowy material that drifted in the air like a cloud. The bodice looked fairly simple in a traditional corset princess style. It didn’t have any jewels or ruffles or sparkles. What made it unique was the dyed ombre effect, from a dark midnight purple on the bodice that slowly faded to lavender-gray and silvery white at the very bottom.
Alice lifted the skirt and let it flutter back down, showing how it would move as I walked. “What do you think? I call it Midnight Sonata.”
“It’s incredible,” I answered, looking to Gina. “What do you think? Is this fancy enough?”
“With the appropriate jewels, yes, I think this will work.” With her arms crossed, Gina studied the dress a moment, drumming her fingers on her elbow. “Yes, I think I brought that set. Let me have Angela bring the case in so you can try it on together.”
“Wait, you brought jewelry? Not even knowing what gown we’d end up with?”
Gina gave me a smug nod and said on the phone, “Could you bring in the red velvet case and the other I showed you in from the trunk, please. Yes. Thanks.”
Nevarre stood. “By your leave, my queen, I’ll walk her in.”
I nodded and he immediately headed for the limousine. I was still trying to figure out how Gina had brought down a bunch of jewels. The last I’d heard, all the Isador jewels were locked in a safe in Kansas City. Even if she’d stashed them on the jet, we’d only rented the car. Maybe that was why Angela had stayed in the car instead of coming inside with us. She’d been guarding the jewelry that I hadn’t even known about.
“It’s my job to think ahead and plan out everything to the last detail,” Gina reminded me. “As soon as you made the move from Kansas City, I had a majority of the jewelry transferred nearby so we can access it at a moment’s notice. Angela’s sole job on this trip is to keep track of your jewels and make sure they’re secure.”
“Should I always have one of the Blood help her guard them?”
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