The light died in his eyes to grim sorrow. Lines bracketed his mouth. “My poor love. My Citla. Perhaps she waits in Coatepec for me with the Mother of the Gods.”
I hadn’t seen anyone but Coatlicue at Snake Mountain, but that didn’t mean Citla wasn’t there, waiting for him to return. “You accomplished what Ra could not.”
His head tipped slightly. “Oh?”
“Mayte is a queen, and she has also delivered a queen of her own. You rejuvenated her house’s line.”
His face softened, and he laughed quietly, though I could hear the heaviness of sorrow still in his voice. “Two queens with the blood of Hummingbird walking the earth. Ra was right after all. Tenochtitlan rises once more.”
As we waited for the sunrise, I told him about my queen sibling and her daughter, the princess of unicorns. But all too quickly, the sun peeked above the horizon. Vivian said the best time to open the portal was when the first rays of light touched the top of the obelisk.
It was almost time.
Dawn waited for no queen.
Tears trickled down my cheeks. I sent one last surge of love through my bonds, straining to reach them all, even Frank back in New York City. My rat. My crow. My beloved grove.
:I will return.:
And then I closed myself off from them all.
Silence filled my head, blanketed by Nevarre’s gift of Shadow. Soft and cool and dark.
I stabbed the silver-tipped nail of my index finger deeply into my wrist and tore a nice deep slash. Huitzilopochtli quivered slightly, a quick inhale telling me he smelled my offering. But he didn’t move. Not until I lifted my wrist toward him.
“Forgive me, lady. This won’t be pleasant after so long.”
I nodded, already numb.
He locked his mouth over the wound and drank. At first, I only felt minor discomfort. I’d forgotten what it was like to bleed from an injury and feel nothing from it. He wasn’t my Blood. I felt no enjoyment or pleasure in his mouth on my wrist. His human teeth dug into my skin, tearing and gnawing at the wound impatiently. My breath hissed out. Pain, yes. But nothing I couldn’t manage. Certainly not worse than the aching hole in my heart where my bonds belonged.
As he drank, his power rose. He warmed, as I chilled. He leeched my power from me, and yes, that hurt. Terribly. It felt like he was stripping off my skin, layer by layer, stealing my energy with every drop of blood. My queen instincts screamed with alarm, demanding I fight back. My bonds were there. If I commanded the fog to dispel, I could find Rik. I could tap my reserves. I could save myself.
It took everything I had to surrender and allow Huitzilopochtli to drain me. Exactly why this would make a convincing story for Ra. No queen wanted to be drained to death. Especially a queen as strong as me.
I thought of my Blood, one by one. The way they smelled. Tasted.
Mayte. Her daughter. For Xochitl, I could do this. I could let myself die. I must.
He ripped tendons and muscles from my bones. Smashed my organs. My lungs. My chest caved in and my heart throbbed with agony. Burning. I couldn’t breathe.
Something moved in my line of vision, making me blink to focus. I’d fallen across Huitzilopochtli’s lap. Xin hovered at his shoulder, silver eyes burning ice cold. A blade in his hand rose toward Huitzilopochtli’s throat. I tried to reach for Xin’s bond, but his bond was gone.
All my Blood were gone.
I concentrated fiercely, commanding my lips to move. “No. Xin.”
I wasn’t sure that I made any sense at all, until he lowered the blade. The last thing I saw as darkness claimed me was the red track of tears down his cheeks.
30
Guillaume
I had found myself in some shitholes over the years, but never a place as bad as this.
With the phoenix’s blood still burning in my stomach, I’d easily passed through a portal that wasn’t apparent to the mortal eye, directly into Heliopolis.
A mockery of lavish luxury.
It was the kind of place where slaves shit on golden toilets and wiped with gold-leafed paper and died for a twisted god’s amusement.
Goddess preserve me, I will never again admire anything that glitters like gold.
Empty hovels the size of prison cells still stank of misery and pain despite the grandeur. Golden walls were streaked with old blood stains. Rotted corpses lay where they’d fallen. Delicate skeletons. The size of which told me they were women. Children.
Queens.
Tortured and dead. The sheer waste of such power and blessings from long-gone goddesses appalled me at a level deeper than even Desideria had ever been able to do. The thought that my queen had come to this place…
Deliberately weak.
Captive.
My blood boiled, and I galloped down golden streets filled with refuse and death. Even my burning hooves couldn’t leave a mark on the streets of gold, but centuries of bodies stacked and tossed carelessly like garbage marred my soul for all time.
There was no honor here. No hope. No love.
This wasn’t a place that my queen could survive unscathed.
In the distance, two shining obelisks stabbed the sky. Ra’s primary temple lay beyond. As I neared, I worried that the clatter of my hooves would alert the sentries to my presence, so I shifted back to my human form. I’d rather creep quietly through the streets naked and silent than gallop into a squad of armed skeletons. Surely Ra would have his Soldiers of Light guarding the temple. I’d battled them in Kansas City shortly after hearing my queen’s call, and they weren’t easy to fight.
They were already dead, the best of the best warriors over thousands of years.
I could make out a line of golden columns marking the temple entrance, when a geyser of fire shot up into the sky on the opposite side of the city. A high-pitched shriek made me duck down against a low wall. Hopefully that was the dragon’s fire blasting the sunfires’ lair, and not the demons roasting a dragon on a spit.
Without my queen’s bond in my head, I had no way of telling where the rest of her Blood were. Rik was supposed to be approaching from my left. Vivian was going to search the breeding grounds to the east. I shuddered at the thought. Could those buildings be any worse than what I’d already seen? I didn’t want to know.
I found a fallen skeleton soldier, his bones scattered across the road like he’d been plowed over by a tank. Hopefully a queen had succeeded in escaping, though the bones were so old and brittle that I couldn’t tell if it’d been recent, and the skeleton was simply that old, or if it’d been lying here, drying out like sticks for centuries. He’d carried a fine set of blades. Golden chainmail made me wince at the ridiculous opulence, but even malleable rings were a better protection than bare skin. Though I’d give up my favorite spine sheath for some plain, tightly woven steel chainmail.
I crawled the last few feet to a low wall that marked the outer boundary of the temple grounds. There was no shadow. No place to hide. My skin felt tight, my nerves jittery. I hated being out in the open like this unprotected. It felt like eyes watched my every move, though I saw and sensed nothing.
Carefully, I peered over the top of the wall. My eyes watered trying to make sense of it all. Glittering lights flashed in all directions, painfully bright. Blinking tears away, I finally realized I had indeed found the Soldiers of Light, dressed in their shining armor and armed with every sword, shield, and gold-tipped mace imaginable. They lined the columned aisle at least five deep. Easily one hundred dead, expert soldiers.
Not something I could fight singlehandedly.
A flash brighter than ever made me duck down. Even through clenched eyelids, the light roasted my eyeballs. I winced, waiting until I was sure the brilliance had faded, before I carefully peeked over the top of the wall.
My queen. Bloody. Apparently dead. Her eyes stared sightlessly up at the burning ball of light in the sky without a single tear.
Huitzilopochtli still gripped her wrist against his mouth, feeding on her blood. He’d d
oubled in size from when I’d seen him not even an hour ago at the plane. Our queen’s blood had worked a miracle in him, bringing him back closer to his former glory as a god of sun. He rivaled even Tepeyollotl now, the biggest man I’d ever seen.
Clutching her wrist in both hands to his mouth, he snarled at the soldiers, whirling away from them, a starving wolf fighting to keep his kill. He dragged Shara like she was a lifeless rag doll.
And I quivered. Enraged. At the dishonor.
My hands ached on the sword hilts.
My head throbbed with the fury of my heartbeat.
Yet my queen’s command rolled through my head. She hadn’t commanded me directly, only Rik, but my alpha carried her authority and had directed me to approach only once she was close enough to Ra to ensure the red serpent would kill him.
I hadn’t even seen the motherfucker yet and I wanted to kill them all. I wanted to gallop between the columns screaming a challenge and trample them all into the dust.
Panting and fighting myself, I almost missed Huitzilopochtli’s words.
“Tell him Huitzilopochtli brings a sacrifice worthy of Lord of Sun.”
Typical soldiers. They milled around, unable to make a decision for themselves. Maybe Huitzilopochtli knew that, or maybe he was just lucky, trying to buy us all time to approach. At least the soldiers were all focused on him, now, which allowed me to work my way along the wall to the side of the temple.
Vivian said there was a small niche on either side of the temple for observers. Nothing fed Ra’s vanity like having people watch his atrocities. If he still held any living queens captive, they might be commanded to watch, though Vivian thought it unlikely.
Finally, a ranking officer marched back down the aisle toward the main temple. I heard the heavy thud of his boots and the jingle of spurs. Former knight, I thought. He sounded like he carried a full set of armor.
I was close enough to hear him call out, “Greatest of Seers, one of the Lord’s conquests has returned with a sacrifice he claims worthy of Lord of Sun.”
A man stuck his head out from a royal purple curtain. He wore pristine white robes and a heavy gold and lapis lazuli collar around his throat. “Which conquest? What sacrifice?”
Huitzilopochtli heard the man and raised his voice, “Behold, Tenochtitlan shall rise once more! Hummingbird on the Left returns with a queen descended from Isis herself!”
Dragging Shara by her arm, Huitzilopochtli pushed through the soldiers with the ego of a former sun god. Miracle of miracles, they allowed him to pass unscathed. Or maybe they were too stunned by the dreaded word.
Isis.
The Great One’s name seemed to hang in the air like a massive charge of lightning, building until the hairs prickled up and down my arms.
“Who dares utter her vile name in my presence?” A deep voice bellowed through the curtains, making them dance and shimmer as if a mighty wind had blown through the temple.
I started to creep forward again, but something sharp jabbed me between my shoulder blades.
“You have too much meat on your bones to wear the golden wings of Ra.” The sword jabbed harder, ready to slip between my vertebra. A quick twist of the blade, and my spine would be a jumbled mess. Shara could heal it, sure, but not if she was dead.
With a sigh, I let the weapons fall from my hands and stretched out on the blistering gold stone.
Perhaps she could still make use of me yet.
31
Shara
Something was burning. It took me an embarrassing long time to realize it was me.
I was sure that I screamed, though I couldn’t hear anything. The pain was too great. Light burned into me, charring everything it touched. Nothing would ever blot out that light. It was too bright. Too hot.
I tried to flee. I tried to reach for help. Someone. If I could reach him—
Cool, dark Shadow enfolded me, and I sighed with relief. Emptiness. That was a good thing, though I couldn’t remember why.
“I told you. No bonds.”
I recognized that voice but I couldn’t place it immediately. The light dimmed slightly, enough that the pain went to from excruciating death to merely sharp agony.
“Where did you find her?”
I didn’t know that male voice. I tried to remember what I’d been doing. Where was I? Where was…
My Blood.
The cool Shadow whispered back to me.
Shara fucking Isador.
“She was stupid enough to resurrect me after you gave me to the Skye witch.”
Huitzilopochtli. So that other voice had to be… Ra.
But it didn’t sound magnificent and awe-inspiring, let alone terrifying.
He didn’t sound like a god.
“No bonds, hmm? Then what’s this?”
A body thumped down beside me. But I couldn’t see. A body? Goddess help me. If one of my Blood were dead…
“Pardon, High Lord. We found him outside the wall trying to worm inside. He surrendered peacefully enough.”
Who was it? I fought down the sobs. I couldn’t react. I couldn’t betray myself. I couldn’t have bonds or Ra would blast them out of me.
I needed my bonds to remain deep in the Shadow. Until it was time.
The light faded another notch and I blinked furiously, trying to get my eyes to work. They should be watery, teary, right? After that brightness? But every movement hurt, as if I was ripping my eyeball apart. I smelled blood, and realized it was my own. I bled from my eyes. I tasted blood in my mouth. I swallowed it, willing that small amount of blood to heal my eyes.
I had to see which Blood they’d captured.
First, I took in the three men standing over me. High above me, so I was on the ground. Huitzilopochtli was almost unrecognizable. My blood had pumped him up to rival my alpha’s rock troll. His dark skin was painted blue again, his eyes flashing like twin suns in a brilliant sky. Green and blue feathers rose from his ponytail in a high crest, and he wore a leopard skin around his waist. Definitely not what he’d been wearing on the other side of the portal.
The man beside him was dressed like a high official in a pristine white linen sheath complete with collar, but no crown. A recently-healed scar cut across his eye. The other man was dressed very similarly but his sheath was shorter, and he wore more gold. His eyelids were painted blue with dark kohl outlining them into a bold point, giving him a sinister look.
The first was bald, the second was not, but he wore a crown.
Something told me it wasn’t Ra, though. The crown wasn’t dramatic enough. Surely the Lord of Sun would bedazzle with his clothes.
But who’d hurt me with the light? Did his priests have the same power?
I closed my eyes a moment, even though the simple movement felt like razor blades slipping into my skull. I sank deep within myself, centered in Shadow. Whoever it was, I couldn’t react. They couldn’t know he was my Blood.
Or all would be lost.
We’d all die.
No one else could stop him.
Someone nudged me with their foot. “Look, witch, and tell us which Blood this is.”
Groaning, I opened my eyes and forced my head to turn. An inch. Two.
Guillaume.
Oh G. My poor Templar knight. What are they going to do to you?
I rolled my head back around and to look up at the three men. Huitzilopochtli wore a convincingly arrogant sneer. The bald one had to be a priest. The other man with the jewelry…
I wasn’t sure. He wasn’t Ra. Other than that, I didn’t know.
I swallowed painfully, trying to get my mouth to work. “No. One.”
The man with the jewelry smiled with a strangely benevolent look on his face. “He’s no one you know? Is that what you’re trying to say, witch?”
He said witch like a slur. I wasn’t a witch. At least, I didn’t consider myself a witch. I was a motherfucking badass vampire queen who also worked some magic thanks to the Great One’s blessings.
So
mething told me all women were witches in his eyes. We all deserved to be burned at the stake. Boy, was he in for a big surprise when I torched his ass instead.
He leaned down and I noticed a golden disc hanging about his neck, marked with the rising sun. It started to glow, and I tried to avert my face to save my eyes. But he seized me by the hair and forced me to look into the burning orb that grew on his chest.
My eyes. They were bleeding, melting out of my skull.
Panting, I curled up in a ball. I didn’t know how long he’d blazed into me. If I had any eyes left.
I heard their low voices whispering several feet away. I couldn’t follow the conversation, only that the evil one said, “no bonds,” but doubtfully, as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing.
Please, Great One, help me. Help me hide my Blood until it’s time. Help me to keep them safe.
I heard their footsteps nearing. Shivering, I curled tighter, seeking the Shadow once more. The balm of endless night filled me, taking away the agony in my eyes. But they wouldn’t let me rest in the Shadow. That would be too easy.
They seized me, wrestling me up to my knees. I was sure one of them was Huitzilopochtli. He touched me like a warrior with grim, unwavering hands that were calloused and hard. No priest would have hands like that. The other man was probably the priest. I didn’t hear any golden chains sliding or tinkling as they dragged me up.
“If this man is no one to you, then it should be easy for you to feed on him and kill him.”
Don’t react. Don’t betray us.
I didn’t dare open my eyes. Not until the fires stopped burning in my skull. I could only hope that Guillaume didn’t react too. He was the most honorable man I knew. He couldn’t possibly betray us.
No. I would betray him.
“Heal yourself, witch. You’re in no shape to entertain His Imperial Majesty until you drink. You’re easy meat right now. He likes a little fire and spunk in his whores.”
I reached out a hand, blindly feeling for my knight. He snagged my hand, drawing me near.
Queen Takes Checkmate (Their Vampire Queen Book 5) Page 22