Gina nodded grimly. “I’ll have the jet standing by.”
“Winston, I need a place where I can sit quietly for hours to read and think. With lots of tea, coffee, and snacks.”
Turning around with a platter already loaded with exactly that, he stepped toward the door. “Right this way, Your Majesty.”
As we walked down the hallway, I marveled again at the size of this house. There had to be at least ten rooms on this level that I hadn’t even seen yet. Plus, the bedrooms upstairs for guests, and the very top floor for the winged Blood to come and go easily. It was beautifully decorated and well maintained, but… cold. Empty. The only room that held any hint of my mother’s personality was the one bathroom where she’d delivered me. Otherwise, anyone could have lived here.
He paused outside a door, and Magnum stepped around us to open it for him. “Your mother’s library, Your Majesty. I took the liberty of lighting the fireplace. If you’re too warm, please let me know.”
“Thank you.” I followed Winston inside. Expecting the room to be large and spacious with wall-to-wall books, I was surprised to find it small, cozy, and dark, like we were tucked up beneath the stairs. In front of the fireplace were a couple of easy chairs, with lots of cushions and pillows on the floor. On the opposite side of the room was a high work table with stools. Modern track lights hung over the table for targeted lighting, though they weren’t turned on now.
There were shelves all around the room, but only a few actually held books. The rest held antiques and collectables, though there were several cabinets behind the work table with shelves and doors that could have hidden anything.
“This room has no windows, so it’s safe for any spells you wish to work,” Magnum said.
Startled, I looked around the room as it dawned on me. This was my mother’s magic room. A place of darkness, hidden from Ra, so it was completely safe. She must have plotted how she would conceive me here.
As I walked around the room trying to take it all in, my throat ached. How many days and nights had she come here to shut out the world outside? How long had she worked and plotted and suffered to make sure that I would stand here, now, and see the things she’d left behind for me?
“Countless years,” Llewellyn whispered beside me, his voice raw. “Sometimes she refused to allow me inside, but I could feel her pain, and her joy. She would have done anything to make sure you could stand here now.”
It made me remember the writing on the wall upstairs where she’d delivered me. Lo, Father of Monsters, look down from Heaven and see what we have wrought.
What she had wrought. She’d dedicated countless years of planning and careful manipulation to ensure her—and my—success. She’d sacrificed everything for me, including her life.
Which was why I was sure that whatever information I needed for this final battle with Ra would be here. Either in her room, or in the book she’d left for me. The pieces were on the board. The puzzle was ready to be solved. The game, won. I could feel the threads vibrating closer, straightening, ready to snap into place.
This time, I would be the hungry spider at the center of that web.
25
Rik
We held our queen for hours while she read in front of the fireplace. I lay on my side behind her, so she could use my chest to support her back. Daire was wedged partway between us, his purr a steady drone. The rest of her Blood came and went quietly, taking turns to refill her cup, bring her something to nibble on, or answer a question.
The latter was mostly Mehen and Guillaume, her oldest Blood who’d seen more than I could even begin to comprehend. Mehen, especially, had a wealth of knowledge about the ancient world, as if he’d accumulated the memories of every person he’d ever eaten. For all I knew, maybe that was exactly how he knew so much, though the man also loved books almost as much as he loved our queen.
The questions were so varied that I had no idea what she was planning. Once, she even asked Nevarre for her phone so she could call her queen sibling in Mexico.
“What do you know about Huitzilopochtli? Even stories that you might not think are important.”
“Hold on a moment, my queen.” Mayte was silent for several moments before continuing. “I’m sorry, Shara. I needed to make sure no one overheard this discussion. Several years ago, when I wanted to find Tepeyollotl and have a child of my own, Grandmama finally told me about how Mama conceived me. I don’t know for sure, but we suspect that he’s my father.”
Fuck. I didn’t like that at all. Now Shara had not one, but two people in her house that were descended from sun gods.
Shara didn’t seem to be bothered by it. I could only hope that Isis’ blood in her was strong enough to combat anything Ra or Huitzilopochtli’s blood might throw at her.
“I suspected,” she replied softly. “You were the last Aima queen born in recent memory. That’s why my mother talked to you in dreams, isn’t it? To be sure she could replicate whatever your mother did to have me.”
“That’s how I knew to find a god of my own to have Xochitl, but I’ve been careful to try and never even say his name, especially outside my nest, just to be safe.”
“Tell me everything you can.”
“You remember how my brothers were conceived, right?”
As a young queen, Mayte’s mother had been fostered in a larger house, where the unspeakable happened. She was raped by their queen’s Blood.
I couldn’t comprehend how any Blood would even consider such an evil act on any woman. Let alone a queen, even a queen not his own. Our queens were so rare. Even five hundred years ago, Aima numbers had been declining rapidly.
If Shara ordered me to rape another woman, I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, even with her bond compelling me to complete her orders. Perhaps I was naive, but I couldn’t believe that our goddesses would have ever allowed such an atrocity to happen. I couldn’t be Shara’s Blood, let alone her alpha, if she would ever command me to do something like that.
It wasn’t in me. It wasn’t in her.
“Mama wasn’t ever right after that,” Mayte said. “She rarely talked and often just… existed. One bright sunny day, a hummingbird was flying near her, like she was playing with it. When Grandmama came back, Mama was gone. Even Grandmama’s alpha couldn’t find her. It was like she stepped outside the nest and disappeared. She was only gone two days, but when she came back, she was incredibly happy and better than she’d been in decades. She told Grandmama that he was coming back for her on the summer solstice, but he never did.”
“Did she know why?”
“Not at all. Mama fell into a deep depression, and Grandmama worried every day that she’d lose me. Weird things started to happen. Horrible storms. Giant spiders coming out of the jungle. Mama was terrified of them, but few people would know that.”
“Why was she scared of spiders?”
“House Tocatl, where she fostered, was dedicated to the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan. Even Grandmama doesn’t know much about Her, but She’s always pictured with spiders. Since few people would know that, Grandmama assumed that meant he was trying to kill Mama before she could deliver me.”
Shara didn’t reply, and I felt the turmoil in her mind. She didn’t want to give Mayte false hope, or worse, alarm her, but she didn’t want to deceive her either. Would she want to know about the mummy we’d found? Or how Shara intended to use him? Because her bond hardened with a cutting edge when she thought of the sun god hidden away in the basement of her building.
“If the attacks were targeted at me, wouldn’t they have continued all these years? Wouldn’t I have sensed him watching me? Hunting me?”
“Not necessarily,” Shara replied softly. “I found him in Skye Tower. He’s been here for a long time as far as we can tell, and very much dead.”
“Dead?” Mayte whispered. “But he’s a god.”
Through my queen’s bond, I felt Mayte’s shock and sorrow. She’d feared her father, but she’d also wanted to know hi
m. She’d hoped that maybe…
Maybe he would love her.
Even two-hundred-year-old vampire queens still mourned for parents she’d never known.
“He’s been mummified and his body is definitely dead. Though I’m sure I can bring him back.”
Mayte gasped softly. “But should you? What if he really was trying to kill me? Would he go after Xochitl too?”
“Nothing is certain, but I think he must be a part of how I will take down Ra. In fact, some of Ra’s human goons broke in last night and tried to burn the mummy. I think Ra is just as scared that I’ll resurrect Huitzilopochtli as you are.”
“But why?” Mayte’s voice rang with bewilderment. “He’s a sun god. He joined Ra as far as we know.”
“Exactly. As far as we know. I won’t know why he’s mummified and locked away in a queen’s nest until I wake him. Keisha was definitely scared of him and had put every protection she could think of on his prison, even though he’s dead. That tells me a lot about why he might have been there. I might not have tried to resurrect him, until they tried to destroy him.”
“But maybe that’s exactly why they tried.”
Shara sat upright rather than lounging back against me. “Maybe. Though when I laid the blood circle, I distinctly heard his voice telling me to wake him. He’s part of this, as surely as you are. That’s why I need to know as much about him as possible.”
“Well… Let’s see. He was one of the patron gods of Tenochtitlan. He was the god of war too. His mother was Coatlicue and according to the legends, he loved her dearly. There’s one story where he even killed his sister to protect his mother. They found a huge stone carving at the base of the Templo Mayor that shows her body cut up into pieces in his rage.”
Something clicked inside of Shara’s mind. It made me sit up quickly, alert for any danger, though she didn’t otherwise react. “Coatlicue must love him very much too. She gave me the red serpent so I could kill Ra and avenge Her son. She wants me to free his soul so he can return to Aztlan, whatever that is.”
“Archeologists think it’s the place where the Mexica people originated, but let me tell you that I spent twenty years searching for the location, and it’s not a place on a map. Aztlan is more than that. It’s like an entirely different realm.”
Another click in Shara’s head reverberated through our bond, like a thief methodically cracking a safe. “Through a portal.”
“Yes. I used an obsidian mirror to reach Tezcatlipoca, my jaguar god’s other aspect. Humans have lost their souls after touching Aztlan. Mama drowned in the cenote trying to reach her lover, and that golden bird Ra sent to attack us almost took my daughter through the same portal.”
Shara’s breath sighed out softly, her mind racing from ideas and scenarios so quickly I couldn’t keep up. Tension hummed in our bond, as if she was on the verge of something momentous. “Vivian.”
The new female Blood immediately dropped down to her knees in front of us. “My queen?”
“You said Ra’s priests are constantly trying to cure him.”
She nodded. “There’s a poison in his blood that burns, driving him into a frenzy.”
“Do you know where the poison originated?”
“There was a story whispered in Heliopolis, but I don’t know…”
Shara nodded impatiently. “Even if it’s just gossip, I need to know.”
“When I was still a fledgling, the oldest captive queen said he was bitten by a snake.”
Shara flipped through the Isador book on her lap, quickly turning pages until she came to one near the beginning of the book. “The mighty sun god walked the land, proud of his creations, but the heat of his passing began to damage what he had wrought. The ground dried and cracked in misery. The Nile withered to a modest stream. Crops failed. Crocodiles and leopards hunted the people, desperate for food as their prey died.
“Thus Isis decided to persuade Ra to move aside and allow the people to flourish. She made a snake out of Ra’s essence and sent it to lie in wait for the sun god. When it bit him, the snake made him very ill. Ra has power over all things of sun and day, but he couldn’t heal himself since the snake was part of him.
“Isis promised to heal him, but only if he agreed to tell her his secret name of power. She knew that if she asked him to distance himself from the world, that he would refuse. He was too proud. He wallowed in his achievements and the adulation of his people. They couldn’t praise him enough. He would never willingly lose their worship.
“Finally, the pain forced Ra to agree to her bargain. He disappeared to a secret place, and took her heart to heart, so her body would know his secret name. Now, the mighty sun god’s power was hers, and Isis stood equal to him in power. She commanded him to withdraw from the world.
“And so he did’”
Mehen let out a disgusted huff. “Took her to a secret place and held her heart to heart? You know what the fuck that means, right?”
Shara laughed, shaking her head. “I suppose the gods and goddesses all took turns with each other, wouldn’t they?” Her laughter faded, and she read through the next page to herself. “Though I don’t get the impression that it was an experience she ever indulged in again. Whoever wrote this passage says that Isis believed that Ra helped Set murder Osiris to punish her.”
“He definitely holds a grudge,” Vivian said. “But that doesn’t explain the poison that still burns in him.”
I’d been silent for so long, that when I spoke behind her, Shara jumped a little. “Maybe it’s like your venom in me. You healed me, but your venom is still in my blood. He probably still carries the antivenin from that snake’s bite.”
Shara turned slightly to face me, her fingers cupping my cheek. “And when they lay heart to heart, he fed on her. Or she fed on him. Or both. Now he hungers for more Aima blood, but especially an Isis queen.”
My jaws ached from clenching too hard. “Then he will especially hunger for the last Isador queen.”
I didn’t like the look in her eyes. Sadness. Regret. That heaviness in her eyes had me pulling her closer, as if I could shield her.
She blew out a sigh. “Now I know what bait to use to gain access to Heliopolis.”
Shara
I wasn’t sure which one was more furious, Rik or Vivian.
“No,” they both retorted at the same time.
“I won’t let you out of my sight,” Rik growled, his shoulders bulging like towering cliffs of granite.
“You don’t know what he’s like,” Vivian added. As her rage blazed higher, Smoak burned hotter. If she wasn’t careful, I had a feeling she’d light my sweater on fire and torch the fragile papers of the Isador history. “I know you’re strong, my queen, but his power is literally painful. It hurts to even be anywhere near him, and the closer he gets, the more it hurts.”
“If he lays one finger on you…” Rik trembled with the force of his fury.
I said nothing, allowing them each to vent their emotions. Even Mehen practically frothed at the mouth at the idea that I might go in alone to deal with Ra.
When that was exactly what I’d done to bring Leviathan to heel.
“That was entirely different and you know it.” Mehen’s eyes glittered like green fire, his words snapping between us. “I only wanted to eat and kill you to win my freedom. I would have made it quick. He’ll want to fuck you first and deliberately torture you as long as possible before maybe someday you die in horrible agony.”
“And that’s exactly why I must go, so that I can stop him.”
“How?” Rik’s neck and shoulders corded, veins standing out in stark relief against his skin. “How will you stop him?”
I didn’t say anything, but only touched the scales embedded in my throat.
Mehen seized my arm and whirled me around to face him. He leaned down into my space, each word quivering with fury. “And how close will you have to be to that monster to use the serpent? This close, Shara? What will stop him from blasting you into s
mithereens as soon as you put one dainty toe on Heliopolis soil?”
I leaned in and pressed my forehead to his. He crumpled against me, hauling me tightly against him. “I’ll have to be close, of course. I’ll need a distraction, or at least a reason for him to not kill me right away. And that’s where Huitzilopochtli comes in.”
I’d dropped the phone, but I heard Mayte calling my name. I picked it up, though I was still smashed against Mehen. “I’m here.”
“You can’t trust him, Shara. At all. If he would kill his lover, why wouldn’t he kill you too?”
“Even if he did indeed try to kill your mother before you were born, I don’t think he could kill me if he tried. He’s mortal. He’s mummified. I can resurrect him by calling his soul back to his body, but he won’t be the Aztec god of war and sun any longer. He’ll be… Well, I’m not sure. More than human. But not a god.”
“Are you sure?” Mayte’s voice quivered and I felt her in the bond, clutching Xochitl as tightly as Mehen held me.
Tears burned my eyes. I felt her dread and absolute terror. I couldn’t blame her for fearing for her daughter. “As sure as I can possibly be. I swear to you that if I have any reason to distrust him, I’ll put him right back into the grave. Isis gave me Her power over life and death for a reason. I won’t need the red serpent to suck his soul out and leave him an empty shell again. He won’t hurt you or Xochitl.”
I didn’t say, unless something happens to me first. Everyone was already upset enough.
Rik fisted his hand in the neck of my sweater, picked me up, turned me around, and dropped me into his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face against his throat, content to hold him until some of his worry for me eased.
“Tell me.” His rock troll wanted to start tearing shit apart to reach me, even though I was still right here, in his arms. “Tell me your plan.”
Queen Takes Checkmate (Their Vampire Queen Book 5) Page 19