Viola made herself comfortable on the ice, the weave coating over her so she didn’t feel the cold. She stared out at the pure expanse of nothingness and shivered.
Sergei darted away.
“It’s not like him to leave me alone,” Viola said.
“We’re surrounded by 300 feet of ice. What do you think is going to attack us?” Kira said.
“I saw a pretty rude looking polar bear.” She thought her trumpet might splinter the ice and echo if she let loose. That would buy her time to get into the air.
“Dinner,” Amaranthe said, and hunger gripped Viola.
Amaranthe didn’t speak as much as she envisioned feelings and emotions. As she sat there, Viola prodded the magic spell in the weave and it responded like Jell-O. She was careful not to let it engulf her. She didn’t want to end up like Amaranthe, whose essence was tightly bound inside it.
“Humans are easy prey,” Kira said. It was obvious she was getting used to the red goat head. Viola didn't have much control over it, so she’d have to fight Kira if she decided to bite Sergei.
“They’re forbidden and what got you killed,” Viola responded.
“Tasty,” Amaranthe agreed, the horse’s head was slower to respond but had yet to not creep her out when she joined the conversation.
“Your mate has changed,” Kira said. “At one time, he would as soon piss on a Queen than he would dive for fish.”
Viola squinted. “What the heck is he carrying in his claws?”
“Whale,” Amaranthe said.
Sergei dropped the poor thing and if it wasn’t dead from fright or Sergei’s claws, the impact would have killed it. As it was, Viola thought she heard the ice crack.
“When I said I was hungry enough to eat a whale, I didn’t mean it literally,” Viola examined the colossal beast even as her other two heads dove in.
“You need the protein and the mass of food. There’s no warehouse store to purchase your meat in bulk.”
Viola still felt squeamish, even though she could taste how delicious the food was through her other heads—which was weird. “Is this an endangered species of whale?”
Sergei tore off a strip. “It’s not as if I brought over a baby seal appetizer. Think of it as a sea cow.”
Viola took a nibble and was happy that it tasted like fresh sushi.
“Good provider,” Amaranthe thought, and then faded back into the spell, much to Viola’s amazement.
“That was unpleasant,” her white horse head said, shaking off the effects of the ancient Queen.
“I am not that easily appeased,” Kira said, glaring daggers at Sergei.
“What just happened?” he said.
“Amaranthe is no longer possessing my right head.”
“Is she gone for good?”
Viola shook her head. “No, but I think she’s trapped in the spell and can only leave it for short amounts of time. She feeds on the Queen that resides here.”
“Is she feeding on you?”
“No, the whale was enough. Have I told you that you’re brilliant?”
“He’s an assassin,” her right head said.
“He’s the father of my soon-to-be hatchlings.” Viola knew she had no right to feel giddy.
Sergei sank his head on the ice. “Yeah, I still am trying to wrap my head around that.”
“You’re pleased, though? Aren’t you?”
“Of course,” he leaned in to kiss her, but Kira snapped at him.
“You’re cramping my style,” he said to her goat head.
“Good, you wretched thug.”
They finished their dinner in relative peace and then flew back to the top of Sermitsiaq to rest inside the ice palace.
“Do you think we could build a lair closer to civilization? It’s too cold for my alpacas up here.”
“It’s too cold down there, too,” Sergei said, moving as close as Kira would let him.
“How do you feel about musk oxen?” Viola had seen a herd while they were out flying around.
“Ambivalent.”
“I think I can spin wool from their coat.”
“Sounds odiferous.”
“Yeah,” Viola said. “I’ll have to see if there is a way to de-stink it. Maybe Carolyn will have a book for me on it.”
They lumbered toward the throne room.
“Can we get someone to take down the dragon heads? It's creepy.”
“You two disgust me,” Kira said. “You are the apex predator of the world and all you can do is cuddle and mewl around in an abandoned ice palace. We should have minions. We should have a harem of studs to serve our needs.”
“All I want is Sergei,” Viola said.
“What about my wants?”
“You’re dead. You would have gone into the weave, except there’s this spell that’s preventing you. It may only work here in Greenland.”
“Which is why we shouldn’t leave,” Kira said, panicked.
Sergei cocked his head. “So if we decided to fly back to Vermont and your lovely alpacas, Kira might get absorbed into the weave from there?”
“I won’t go.”
Viola concentrated on the weave. “No, she’s caught in the spell like a bug in a spider’s web. The very worst that would happen is she would come back here and possess the next Queen to come along.”
“What about the best-case scenario?” Kira asked.
“You’d come along for the ride.”
Kira snorted. “I don’t know why I’m worried. You won’t be able to leave. I couldn’t. I have not left this ice-capped hell in centuries.”
“I have a theory on that. Maybe we could work a deal,” Viola said.
“No deals,” Sergei broke in.
“Shut up, thug,” Kira snarled. “I’m listening. What is this theory you have?”
“Can you see the tendrils surrounding you and Amaranthe?” Viola said, her voice far away.
“I don’t like this,” Sergei said.
“Of course,” Kira said.
“Then you can see the cords now around me as well.”
“What?” Sergei stalked around her, his tail waving in agitation.
“So what?”
“When I freed Mei Hua, the tendrils grabbed me. I’m as connected to this island as you and Amaranthe.”
“Why did you do that?” Sergei said.
“It’s not as if the spell came with an instruction manual,” Viola said. “Anyway, Mei Hua was able to leave Greenland. Kira, were you hatched or shifted?”
“I was hatched,” she said turning her nose up in the air.
“But you and Mei Hua were—” Sergei said.
“Shifted,” Viola finished. “So because we shifted into dragons instead of being hatched, I think the spell won’t hold me here.”
“Well, then let’s go,” Kira said.
“What’s in it for me?” Viola said.
“I told you that I would not pursue the assassin’s death as long as the Queens who allowed him to do it are sanctioned.”
“Not good enough. I want to be able to shift back into human whenever I want.”
Kira tilted her head. “I like having a body.”
“I want to have privacy with my mate.”
“So while you’re in dragon form, you’ll allow me use of this head?”
“As long as when I’m human you’re out of my head,” Viola countered.
“I’m not sure I want to have a half life.”
“Not even to fly again?”
Kira frowned. “I’d rather have my own body.”
“You can’t have Viola’s or one of the babies’,” Sergei growled.
“Why are you so eager to get off this glacier, anyway? You’ve got your mate and musk ox. Who could ask for anything more?” Kira sneered.
“There are one hundred missing Queens,” Viola said, hoping to appeal to her sense of righteousness.
“How does one misplace one hundred Queens?” Kira cried.
“The night we all shifted,
they were kidnapped. I can find them in the weave. Once we find them, we rescue them.”
“What about the studs who dared touch them?”
“It’s up to the kidnapped Queen.”
“Mei Hua had her rapists hunted down and executed,” Kira said. “I liked that about her.” She glared at Sergei. “Fine. I have no desire to experience rutting with this thug anyway.”
“Okay,” Viola smiled at Sergei. “Let’s get off this rock and go save some Queens. I want to head back to Vermont. That was where I felt Margery the strongest. I think I’m stronger in my own lair.”
“This is your lair,” Kira said.
“No, this is your lair,” Viola corrected.
“True. Maybe one day I can come back to it.”
The thought filled Viola with a quaking terror. The world wasn't ready for either Kira or Amaranthe.
Chapter Twenty-Four
By the time they got to Vermont, Viola was so exhausted that when her feet hit the ground, she tumbled into human form. She was slightly aware of Sergei carrying her to their bedroom and curling up next to her. Viola halfheartedly moved to grope him, but fell asleep before her hand ever reached him.
She knew she was dreaming because she was swimming through the weave. Viola floated for a moment to get her bearing and then felt Margery pulling her. And suddenly, she wasn’t in the weave anymore, but in a dark hole with the sky dragon.
Margery was slumped in a corner, her gossamer scales shed around her. She resembled a hairless cat with droopy wings. Her life force was leeching into the weave, dissipating her energy.
Hold, Kira told her. Her powerful energy boosted clarity into the vision.
“Hold her?” Viola asked. After weeks of searching and the barest contact, Kira’s power amped the vision. Viola spun around, determined to take in every detail she could.
This isn’t a hole in the ground. It’s a ship’s hold.
“Margery, can you hear me?”
Margery could barely lift her head. “Dying.”
“Can you give us any information on how to find you?” Viola’s heart beat sped up. She couldn't lose her now. They were too close.
“Champ,” Margery coughed. “Lane.”
“Can you show me the faces of your captors?”
Margery sank her head down to the filthy deck and faded even more into the shadows.
“I’ve got to help her,” Viola said, searching around for any other clue. Frustrated, she sank deeper into the weave, but it slingshot her out and she woke up in bed with a shout.
“Mmm,” Sergei said and curved his palm around her breast.
“Not now,” she said, smacking his hand. “But definitely later. In fact, I’ll give you a world-class blow job if you know where Champ Lane is. It’s by a body of water.”
Sergei propped himself up on his elbow, smiling down at her. He blew a breath across her nipples to see them pucker. “Is this a trick question? Because I’m not going to stop you if you want to go down on me.”
“You know where it is?” Viola grabbed on to his shoulders. “Tell me. Margery is in the hold of a ship near Champ Lane.”
“Or is she on Lake Champlain?”
“You’re a genius.” Viola kissed him hard on the mouth, breaking it off when his fingers dipped between her legs. “And I’m an idiot.” She twisted away from him and started to get dressed. “I knew she was nearby, but I was searching on land.”
“We haven’t eaten since the whale yesterday,” he reminded her.
“Sergei, she’s dying.”
“Okay,” he sobered up. “Let’s go.”
They were soon flying over Lake Champlain.
“What’s this ship look like?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know it was a ship until Kira pointed it out to me.”
Kira’s head was too busy scanning the surface of the water to make a smug comment. They soared over the lake and over the bridge, coming down low in the water when they
spotted the ferries and the passenger boats. Viola shook her head, even as her picture was being taken by tourists and commuters.
“This is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Kira said, angling her face to enjoy the breeze.
“It’s not like Champ to do something like this,” Sergei said. “I don’t know him well, but he seems a good sort.”
“Who?” Viola said.
“Champ lives in the lake. He’s a water dragon. A bit of a loner, like me. The Queens have no use for him because he can’t fly. He can only swim.”
“Wouldn’t that be an excellent reason for trapping a Queen of his own?” Viola could name a few studs who’d leap at a chance.
“Not every stud is evil,” Sergei said.
“There,” Viola said, pointing to a boat that was anchored in the lake. It appeared to be a ferry boat reconditioned as a pleasure boat. A few men stood on the bow peering up at them with binoculars. “She’s there.”
Sergei swooped in and Viola followed, trumpeting a battle cry that echoed off the lake’s surface.
“So much for stealth,” he said in disgust.
“Everyone knows we’re here,” Viola said. “Let’s give them a show.”
“Die!” Kira shouted at the scurrying humans below.
They were brandishing assault rifles and shooting up at them. Sergei angled himself as her shield as they headed down.
“Don’t take any risks,” he said, grimacing as a rain of bullets punctured him.
She trumpeted, making the humans drop their weapons to clamp their hands over their ears. They landed on the wide, open deck, which rocked menacingly as something large and angry rose out of the water.
It had a long neck and even though its teeth weren’t pointed, they were big and sharp.
“It’s the Loch Ness monster!” Viola said.
“That was his mother,” Kira said. “Lovely lady.”
“Why do you attack the humans on my lake,” he growled out, banging his bulk against the ship so the humans fell and rolled away from Sergei’s stinging tail.
“They have a Queen trapped in the hold,” Viola cried out.
“Impossible,” he said, water sluicing from his shaking head.
“Champ, this is my Queen. She speaks the truth. She’s heard her cries for help,” Sergei said.
“She’s dying, you oaf,” Viola yelled. “Her name is Margery. She’s a sky dragon and they locked her in a dark, dirty place.”
“If you’re lying,” he warned.
“If she dies,” Viola growled back.
Champ lowered his bulk under water. A mighty push from below had Sergei and Viola taking back into the air as the humans went flying into the lake. The ship was overturned.
“Holy crap,” Viola said. “He tossed that like it was a toy sailboat.”
Coiling his body around the ship, Champ rammed his head into the underside of the ship. He dented it enough to put in a small tear in the metal. Then he used his jaws to rip open the bottom of the boat like he was peeling a banana.
“Margery!” Viola cried.
For an awful moment there wasn’t a sound.
Champ turned to Sergei with a menacing growl. Then he stopped and sniffed the air. Turning around as the sky dragon peeked her head out, the river dragon’s mouth dropped open in shock.
She was weak, but she dragged herself toward the sunlight. Her scales were badly damaged and she resembled a plucked chicken. Her wings flopped uselessly and her wide blue eyes filled with tears. In her arm was a stuffed toy that had seen better days.
Viola did a double take. It was a Talon Industry Smooshie. One of the toys. Were those things everywhere? She shook her head. Smythe would click his pen to death if they caught it on camera with her.
“You found me,” Margery said, blinking at Viola. “You’re real.”
“You’re safe now.”
Margery gave her a weak smile.
Viola asked, “Champ, can you do something about the pleasure boats coming in to in
vestigate? And help me round up the crew in the water. We need some answers.”
“Yes, yes we do,” Champ said. “Ma’am, my name is Remy. This is my lake and I offer you my protection while you’re on it and in my territory.”
She nodded. “I’m not sure about the dragon formalities. I’m an investigative reporter—or I was until I shifted. I’m not feeling very well.”
“Come with me,” Viola said. “We can get you to safety.”
“They were going to sell me to the river monster in exchange for him looking the other way while they smuggled drugs across the border.” Margery coughed.
He reared his head back, affronted. “I’m not a monster, and I would never have allowed that, ma’am. I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. I just returned from Scotland this morning.”
“I have so many questions. I need to call my editor.” Her eyes rolled back into her head and she neatly slid into the water. Her body collapsed in on itself and she was a naked woman about to drown in the lake. Ducking his head, Champ pushed her back to the surface. Viola grabbed her and flew her to shore.
“I got her, now.” Champ said, emerging from the lake as a human. His clothes weren’t even damp. He tossed his Lake Monster ball cap on top of Margery and it shifted into a one piece bathing suit. “I’ll take her someplace safe. If you don’t mind keeping the tourists away, that is?”
Viola pushed herself up into the air. “Leave it to me.”
They did it! They saved her! And it was easy. Well, easy for her. Margery had a longer road ahead.
Viola beamed at Sergei—they’d done it together.
Unlike the majority of humans, Champ’s fans seemed oddly protective of him and kept the tourists away as he carried the Margery toward his truck. Sergei physically blocked the road from anyone who followed, and Viola roared at the more tenacious ones that tried to go around him on foot.
After about an hour, people for the most part lost interest, especially since Sergei and Viola reverted into their human forms when the tourists went back to their vacations. Sergei was on the phone with Reed, filling him in on the details, so Viola decided to test the weave again to see if there were any other Queens in the area.
The harbor patrol had picked up the slavers from the water and were questioning them. What she wouldn’t have given to be in on that conversation. As she looked out on the lake, there were bobbing stuffed animals around the breached barge. Squinting, Viola saw they were more Smooshies. Why would the ship be carrying Smooshies? It’s like the damned things were haunting her.
The Queen's Flight: The Emerging Queens Book 2 Page 22