Queen Heir (NYC Mecca #1)

by Jaymin Eve

Two hours later I was ready for the dinner. Dressed in a lace-up corset dress that was the color of blood, I had a knife strapped to my thigh, and another in my ankle boots. My hair had been expertly braided, and Calista had instructed the makeup artist to dramatically enhance my eyes with black smoky shadow. They looked larger, and their aqua color was bright and striking against the kohl. My lips, too, were covered in a bright red gloss. I finished off my outfit by donning golden arm cuffs, designed to protect my wrists in battle. I was mixing dining attire with my standard battle dress to send a message. I could be pretty and proper, but I could also kill.

  As an heir, my appearance was examined closely, especially during the Summit. I would have to get used to it. It hadn’t been so bad before the Red Queen’s death, I could wear whatever I wanted – except on official duty days – but when I was queen I would have attendants waiting on my every need and would be expected to wear the finest clothes and have my makeup and hair ready at all times. It was my least favorite part of the job, but appearances were important when you were under the scrutiny of millions. Our NYC packs were only tens of thousands, but as a queen I would be linked to the entire wolf-shifter community. They no doubt were sitting with rapt attention at their computers now, waiting to hear word of a new queen. The power loss here affected them all too.

  Just before we left, Calista pulled me in front of the mirror. “Say the phrases.”

  I rolled my eyes. Not this crap again.

  Her glare cut through me. “I’m serious. It works. Say them.”

  Calista thought you could affect reality by being overly confident and saying positive statements. It was cute and she was my dearest ally, so I humored her.

  “I am going to be the next queen. I will pass the Summit with grace and ease. I will win.” The words left my lips and I did feel a bit more in control, a bit surer. Maybe Calista wasn’t completely crazy, even if it was a placebo effect.

  Calista smiled and we made our way to the dining hall with twenty guards at my back, a mix of royal house guards and my own.

  I arrived a little early because I knew that would carry favor with the council; they were sticklers for punctuality. And sure enough, all eleven of them were already seated along the huge banquet table. As I strode across the room toward them, I was pleased to see Finn waiting for me, his huge body seated near my place at the table.

  The dining room was huge, the large rectangular table in the center. The heirs would be at the head of the table with the bear councilman. The queen’s council and other important dignitaries were already seated along the rest of the length. Stepping further into the room, I sighed at the pure overindulgence here. There were three large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, each the size of a small car, and must have held a million glittery crystals to be sending off sparkles like that. The walls were lined with priceless pieces of art, and the floor was marble inlaid with gold.

  Closing in on the table I could see the settings were ornate, and overdressed as always. We wouldn’t want the bears to think we were poor or something. I noticed from the corner of my eye that Breanna had arrived and was crossing the room. Looked like Selene was late, I tried not to smile at that. I stepped across to greet the council, as duty dictated, but I was cut off as the doors to the far end of the room opened.

  A massive, bearded man strolled in, Gerald, looking even more mammoth than in his photo. He wasn’t wearing formal attire, and instead was outfitted with dark denim jeans, a tight black t-shirt, and leather wrist cuffs, a huge sword hanging from his belt. Sucking in a deep breath, I straightened my shoulders and prepared myself for this test of my queenliness. Turning from the council, I took a few steps toward the male, opening my arms in a welcoming gesture.

  “Welcome to Manhattan, Bear Shifter Councilman Gerald. Please take a seat.” My voice was even, not overly pleasant but not yet on the verge of killing him.

  He surprised me by bowing deeply and unsheathing his sword, laying it on the ground near the edge of the room before he joined us at the table. Torine caught my eye and it was clear that we shared the same thought. He came in peace. No man unsheathed his sword before declaring war.

  Because I got here early, I chose the center seat at the head of the table, with Breanna taking the chair to my right after she quietly greeted our guest. Finn settled in at my back, and I knew he’d keep me safe. I gestured for Gerald to sit to my left for many reasons, most of which was to irritate Selene when she arrived and saw the seating arrangement. The queen’s council and other honored guests were all seated now. Our guards stood around the perimeter, and staff scurried about the space, making sure everyone had drinks.

  The huge, ornate double doors opened again and Selene strode in looking like she was attending the opera. We were all formally dressed, but Selene had clearly taken it too far with her lacy geometrical hairpiece and golden-painted swirls of glittery artwork along her arms. The extra time had made her late, and would cost her valuable points with the council. She spied the seating and scowled at me.

  “Thank you for inviting me, Your Highness,” Gerald told me as he gripped his water glass with a big meaty paw.

  Close enough now to hear his words, Selene groaned. “She’s not the queen yet, just an heir.” Those words should not have been the first thing he heard from her, and I could see the disapproval cross the councilors’ faces.

  I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep my retort in. “You’re welcome, Gerald. We’re always welcoming of all visits in the name of peace.”

  He gave me a nod, those dark glittering eyes assessing me closely. I was usually very good at reading the emotions of others, but he was keeping everything inside. He was very contained for a shifter. His bear scent was earthy and filled with forest tones, foreign but pleasant. Gerald eyed Finn, who remained behind my chair, and was staring at him.

  “Is that your familiar?” Gerald asked, the slightest of awe in his tone.

  I simply nodded and Gerald smiled. “Bigger than some of our female bears.”

  I gave him a polite smile, and as the waiters began to serve the first course I focused on the plate in front of me and tried to mask my confusion. The bear war councilman was making light conversation, being polite, smiling, and unsheathing his sword. What the hell was he here for? Didn’t he know our queen was murdered?

  When everyone was served, we all stared at him, waiting for him to take the first bite. As a guest it was the protocol. Instead he just sighed, hand hovering over the plate before he dropped his fork, looking at me. For some reason he seemed to have chosen me as the one he was going to focus on tonight. Despite the fact that I hoped to be queen very soon, I wasn’t queen yet, so his disregard of everyone else was a little unexpected.

  His voice went deep, husky with emotion. “I don’t want to do the political thing tonight. Can we speak freely?” He was still looking at me, but I knew everyone else was listening in.

  Some of the tension eased within me. His attitude was refreshing. And I was very curious about what he was going to say. Still, I wouldn’t let my guard down too far. This could be some ploy to gain my trust and then declare war or kill me.

  I nodded. “By all means. You may speak as freely as needed.”

  “We didn’t kill your queen.” He dropped that bomb and the room fell silent. The only movement was from the guards as they took a minute step forward. Gerald continued: “I know it’s the only logical explanation, but we didn’t. Someone attacked us too, possibly right at the moment your queen fell, and tried to take out my king. We lost twenty royal guards in the battle.”

  Holy shifter! Why hadn’t I heard of this? Probably because we’d been focused on our queen’s death and the Summit. Still, Calista was usually up-to-date on this type of data. I suppose our two sides didn’t exactly share information easily.

  Gerald regarded me, waiting for my answer. I knew I had to tread carefully. The entire council was watching and I didn’t want to seem weak.

  “Thank you for your stat
ement and honesty. Our queen was killed alone, without guards, and by my reckoning there is only one person alive that’s strong enough to defeat a queen with the power of mecca flowing through her veins.”

  He exhaled loudly. “My king, yes. We agree this is the logical explanation, but that is why I am here to tell you he didn’t do it. If we wanted to overthrow you, we have many plans which could be enacted at any time. Top of that list was one which involved killing all of the heirs and then the queen so there would be no one to take over. This would weaken your boroughs, and we could step right in and claim the power. But our king was not planning on attacking the wolves. He has no plans to ever attack unprovoked. War is not his style.”

  That was interesting. War had always been the bears’ thing. They loved to brawl and battle. They loved power. Seemed the rumors about their new king were right; he was different.

  “We have surmised that the simultaneous attacks,” continued Gerald, “both aiming for our leaders, by a small group of magically enhanced individuals, was a means to play our packs against each other.”

  Exactly what Calista had surmised. But again, we were left with the question of what magical individuals could have done this? The witches had died out, and no other enhanced humans had emerged in all the years since.

  The silence extended for many moments as I mulled over all of his information. It did sound as if the same sort of magically disguised people who had attacked me at the portal entrance had attacked the bears. There must have been more of them if they almost took out the king and destroyed twenty of his army.

  “How many attacked you?” I asked.

  “Three separate groups of fifteen. We fought back and managed to kill many of them, and as more of our people arrived they started to retreat, taking their dead with them. We have one body left, which our magic born is examining. So far they have found no evidence of it being anything but human.”

  His eyes locked with mine and I knew both of us shared the same thought. They had definitely not been humans. I needed to ask Calista if there had been any bodies left from our attack. She had been handling the cleanup and investigation for me. I’d had to focus solely on the Summit.

  For some reason I completely believed Gerald. Not only did I sense nothing but truth from him, it also made sense. His admission that should they have wanted to take over our boroughs they would have taken out the heirs first was a good plan. It would have completely destroyed shifter hierarchy and thrown us all into chaos.

  Apparently not everyone was of the same thought though. Selene’s nasally voice came across the table: “Why should we believe you?”

  The council scowled at her and Gerald shrugged. “You don’t have to believe me. You can continue on your own and good luck finding out who killed your queen. Or we could share information and try to find out together.”

  That sounded an awful lot like an alliance. As heirs we could not agree to anything like that yet.

  Torine spoke up: “Our investigation is ongoing, and to be honest we don’t have anything solid yet to go on. If you have anything more to share, then please do.”

  The bear shifter’s features tightened, and I understood why. Torine was wanting to take without giving, and that was not a great foot to start off on. This was one of the reasons the council annoyed me. They thought they could make these type of decisions, even when the queen had been alive.

  I decided to go out on a limb. “Before I arrived to the Summit I was attacked in the Bronx. Just as your attackers were, they were magically disguised to look like humans, but with the strength and ability far beyond any human. At the time I figured your bear magic born were involved.”

  Gerald nodded. “The people who broke into the palace looked like frail humans but they certainly were not. They ripped through us in seconds, and it was only through sheer numbers and the power of our king that we weren’t all destroyed. Just as you did, at first we thought it was wolf shifters, but then…” He trailed off, looking around the table and the room. “Can we speak privately, Your Highness?” he said in a low voice.

  Breanna looked affronted, getting in before Selene this time. “She isn’t queen yet.”

  Gerald pinned her with a look. “I know a queen when I see one.”

  I managed to contain the smile trying to curl my lips.

  Torine stood. “Please join us in the drawing room.” He gestured to Gerald and me.

  Oh my God, he was going to allow it. I stood quickly before Selene or Breanna could say anything to screw this up, and Gerald and I swiftly followed Torine into the drawing room. The ancient wolf shifter closed the door so we would have some privacy. Finn followed and sat on the other side of the door. He would hear everything I heard anyway, and it was sometimes better he wasn’t right in the center; his presence unnerved most people.

  Gerald gave me a calculating look. He was gauging whether or not he trusted me. Now I was certain of two things. One, he had big news. And two, I was dying to know that news.

  I broke protocol and stepped within his personal space. Despite my height I still had to look up to him. “Please, tell me.”

  Torine scowled but I didn’t care. And Gerald nodded. Some of his assessing stare faded away.

  “Were any of your magic born present when you were attacked in the Bronx?”

  I frowned. “No, we only have one in my borough, and she was out of town.”

  He nodded. “We also only have one on Staten Island, and luckily he was present during the attack.”

  Okay…

  Gerald leaned forward and whispered: “He said that for the most part there was nothing but human weakness in their scent, but for a split second, when they retreated, he scented an old magic, a magic so powerful that it was reminiscent of fairy tales he was told as a child.”

  Chills crept up my arms, because I knew then exactly what he was talking about.

  “The fae,” I breathed.

  Gerald nodded. “They’ve come back. The Tuatha de Danann have returned from the Otherworld.”

  Torine nearly had a heart attack. I saw his face drain of color, and he actually reached out for my arm to steady himself.

  “That’s impossible. They were…” I tried to find the right words, “eradicated.”

  Gerald shook his head. “They vanished. No one eradicated them. Legend says they went to their world, which lies somewhere in a realm parallel to ours. Now it seems they may be trying to come back.”

  I knew nothing about the fae. They hadn’t been seen in over five hundred years, so they were not a part of my studies. I don’t think we even had books of them, just tales told from mother to child. I would have to ask Calista.

  “Our legends say the Tuatha de Danann used to rule this land. They were revered as gods. They built the mecca here in New York City as a means to control the power, but then, for some reason, moved on to another world, the Otherworld.”

  Torine’s voice startled me. I had forgotten he was here even though he was still holding onto my arm. I gently shook his hand off and tried to get a hold of myself. Despite the fact that we all knew the fae had once existed, it had been so long ago. The possibility never even crossed my mind that they could be behind our attacks.

  Gerald then bowed deeply to Torine and me. “I rushed over here to warn you before war was declared by your side. We cannot be divided right now, we must work together to learn everything we can about the Tuatha de Danann. Once you have completed the Summit, my king would like a word with the new queen. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to bury my people.”

  I could only nod as he walked away, exiting the drawing room. I moved to follow and see him out properly, but Torine grabbed my arm again. In many areas council members were above protocol, but still, he should not be so forward with a queen heir.

  “Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone else. Focus on the Summit, we will deal with everything once the queen is crowned.” Chills danced up my spine again. I met his eyes and was shocked to see a deep a
nd biting fear there. Maybe Torine knew more about the fae than I did. My first duty as queen would be to pull every piece of knowledge of the fae from the council until I had enough to write a book. I would not be ignorant in the face of my enemy any longer.

  Chapter Four

  Power drunk is worth the hangover.

  The next day I was awoken early by Calista. I’d barely slept last night, the bear councilman’s message continuing to reverberate through my head. Fae. Was it even possible? It would explain so much, and yet we had no idea why they were emerging again. Or why they might have killed our queen. Not to mention simultaneously attacking all of us. Maybe they had been hoping it would create a war between the shifters, and if the new bear king wasn’t so reasonable it would have.

  With a sigh I rolled over and stretched myself out. I knew there’d be no answers this morning, so I forced myself to focus on what today would bring. The second test was arguably the most important of the Summit. It involved a test of our magical strength. For reasons unknown to us, each heir had the ability to harness the magic of the mecca and funnel it out into the shifters around the world. That ability was in our blood, in our house lines, and was the reason we had familiars. There had been some “heirs” born into the right line and house but who never received a familiar. They were automatically rejected as possible heirs. Their connection to the mecca was too weak.

  On top of our familiar, we were also tested at birth to make sure we were in fact heirs. There were a few different tests, one which included holding a cell phone. Heir’s magical ties to the mecca should be strong enough to short circuit all cell phones and most laptop and tablet devices when we came in contact with them. Electronics hated us.

  Just another part of being a queen heir.

  Today would be the biggest test of all, our true magical potency. A leader weak with the mecca could mean a weak race, and the council would not allow that.

  I hated this part. My belly was tied up in knots because I had no control. No strategic training, cunning mind, or physical strength would matter here, it was up to fate and your blood. Rumor had it that if you didn’t do well in this round you were automatically booted by the council. They would not tolerate a weak heir. I’d seen the vortexes rip a submissive wolf in half. It was nothing to be messed with.