Because as we entered the large pyramid, I had a feeling we would need every weapon at our queen’s disposal, no matter how small, just to keep her alive.
This pyramid was as lavish and orate as the other, but there was something wrong here. The gold was… melted. Soft. It still moved beneath my paws. I stuck to the carpeted areas to avoid leaving telltale wolf tracks in the malleable floors.
Brilliant light sparkled off the golden surfaces, compromising the wolf’s sharp vision. Shafts had been built into the pyramid, acting as giant sun lights to allow the punishing light to reach even inside a pyramid the size of a mountain. We seemed to walk forever, slowly making our way deeper into the bowels of the pyramid.
A tomb? That was all I could think of.
A molten gold river bubbled up from a crevice in the ground, making a liquid glittering lake. Streamers rose from the surface like solar flares. The air simmered with heat. Boulders rose up from the flowing gold, giving us places to hop and step. Otherwise it was like a lava fountain slowly flowing up from the heart of the pyramid.
Something moved beneath the surface of the lake. A head broke through streams of gold, then shoulders and torso as a giant rose up out of the molten lake. He waded through the golden river like it was a pleasant mountain spring, slinging droplets of liquid gold with every step. His massive erection jutted up like a golden log, and I feared greatly for my queen. I couldn’t see how any woman other than a goddess could take such a cock and live.
Beneath a large shaft of sunlight, he sat in a golden throne facing us. Rivulets of molten gold streamed down his face and body, spreading across the throne to drip on the ground. He wore a heavy, lumpy necklace around his throat, but coated in gold, it was impossible to tell what the objects were.
The High Priest began to chant in a sing-song voice. “Oh mighty Ra, Lord of Sun, Radiant Majesty of Heaven, Maker of—”
“Silence.” His rich voice oozed with dulcet tones that should have been pleasing to the ear. But there was something so… off about him. Like a beautiful poem marred by one misplaced rhyme, or a masterful rhapsody that crashed on a single discordant note.
He gleamed painfully bright. Gorgeously gold. His body was carved like the finest sculptures of the world. Perfect.
Yet he was rotten to the core and ruthlessly insane.
He might turn on anyone, even his High Priest, just because it amused him.
He leaned forward on his throne, puddles of gold pooling at his feet. He glared at my queen like the sun blasting a single snowflake that had been careless enough to fall on the brightest day of the year. “You. Smell. Like. Her.”
I loved my queen more than anything in this world, but even I was awed at the way she slowly inclined her head in a graceful move that belied the terror she must feel. The god was fully capable of rape and destruction. She’d known that, even before seeing him the flesh. If he touched her, he could melt the flesh off her bones with the heat of his golden form. How was she even supposed to survive his attentions?
Yet she showed no fear in the face of his immortal glory.
“I’m Shara Isador, last daughter of She Who is All that Hath Been and Is and Always Will Be.”
He threw his head back and laughed, showering droplets of gold up into the air that coated the sides of the pyramid in another layer of gold. “The last, huh? Then my desire has at last come to fruition.”
Shara waited for his mirth to quiet. Another few seconds for him to focus on her again. And then yet another deliberate pause to be sure she had his full attention. “I thought your desire was to sire your very own sun queen.”
He leaned back in his throne, sprawled carelessly in all his grandeur. Yet for all his casual positioning, his erection grew even larger. The tip started to whiten, as if thousands of years ago, Isis had touched that massive organ with the tip of Her finger and cursed him to always remember Her despite his roaring solar power. “I’d rather see her line dead than sire a queen of my own.”
“As you will, my lord.” She lowered her head and said nothing else, but shifted subtly, her hand slipping gracefully down the front of her body, between her breasts, to rest low on her stomach where she’d carry a child. Drawing the god’s gaze to the darkness between her thighs. The blood that pooled between her thighs as surely as gold puddled at his feet.
“Why have you come to me?” His words sharpened, shards of glass to rip and tear at our senses. “Your kind know to fear me. Yet you allowed the Hummingbird fool to drag you here. Don’t tell me that was an accident. Surely, you aren’t that stupid.”
She kept her face down, her lustrous hair shining like black silk in the cruel light of day. “All queens are stupid. Isn’t that what you think? Where is Huitzilopochtli? What have you done with him?”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Why do you care?”
I knew she was deliberately tugging on his pride and ego by pretending to care about the other man, but it was like playing with matches on top of a mountain of explosives.
“If you have no interest in giving me a daughter, then perhaps he will do.”
He laughed again, but there was a darker thread running through his mirth that made the wolf’s hackles rise. “Oh yes, I remember having this conversation with another witch desperate to conceive.”
Shara didn’t lift her head but peeked up through the cascade of her hair. “I’m not desperate, my lord. I know what Keisha Skye did not.”
Ra didn’t immediately respond, but finally raised his hand and gave a careless twitch of his fingers. A molten lump of gold moved from against the sloping wall. My nose worked hard, trying to discern who or what it was, but I couldn’t smell anything beyond the metallic stench of gold. The lump seemed to stagger under its weight but finally came to stand near enough for Ra to lay his hand on it.
The gold dripped away, pouring off the shapeless lump to reveal Huitzilopochtli, his blue paint smeared and melted away. His body quaked beneath the god’s palm, but he locked his knees and stood firm despite the pain of being encased in molten gold.
“How could a lesser sun god give you a child?”
Shara blinked up at the mighty god, tilting her head quizzically. “He’s done it before. Surely he can sire another queen for me.”
34
Shara
A fresh wave of gold spilled down over Huitzilopochtli’s head, melting his face. He screamed, gurgling on liquid gold. I refused to react. I couldn’t. The game was too deep for me to show any regret or fear now.
When a queen played chess with the Lord of Sun, she couldn’t feel anything remotely like remorse. Or worse, pity.
For Ra would certainly never show pity to me.
Mentally, I counted the thousands of humans who’d been sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli. Innocents. Warriors. Women. Children. I couldn’t be sure.
The list was longer than I could imagine. Citla would have been on that list, if he hadn’t fallen in love with her. Mayte would never have been born. Neither would the princess of unicorns. House Zaniyah would have been decimated by him without regret.
Finally, he fell to his knees, and that seemed to satisfy Ra enough that he ceased the fresh flood of hot gold.
“Lies,” Ra whispered.
I didn’t leap to defend myself. I didn’t need to. Though sweat trickled between my breasts as I waited, barely breathing, for the confirmation I needed from another source. One that Ra would actually believe. Had the priest left the pyramid? I didn’t dare look behind me. Any reaction at all could tip my hand. No doubts. No fear. No hesitation. I couldn’t crack my calm, confident reserves.
The red serpent tightened on my throat, reminding me of its presence. Urgency coiled its scales into my flesh. I had to get closer. I wouldn’t have a second chance.
The High Priest finally stepped forward several paces to my left, his hands clenched tightly together. “Your Imperial Magnificence, I’m afraid the witch speaks truly. We did find a child queen in Mexico recently. We lost her only than
ks to this one’s interference. But the avatar did taste the child enough to recognize Zaniyah.”
Ra’s lips twisted as if he’d smelled something vile. “The house I sent him to destroy centuries ago.”
The High Priest bent low at the waist, not meeting his god’s eyes. “The very one, Lord.”
Ra looked back at me, his eyes whitening, the solar brightness sheeting over like glass.
“Then it’s a pity that Hummingbird is no longer immortal. He will be of no use to you.”
I inclined my head in a single, measured nod, but I didn’t break eye contact with Ra. “A pity, my lord.”
“What do you know that Keisha Skye did not?”
Now I did allow my gaze to slip from his, but only to settle on his cock. He made Guillaume look like a pony, and that was a terrible thought that almost shattered my cool reserve.
My poor knight. What have I done?
I swallowed, trying to use any emotion that had flickered on my face as one he’d recognize, and appreciate, as a man with his particular lusts.
Fear.
Dread.
And yes, shame. All things he wanted women to feel at the prospect of sex. Goddess forbid a woman fucking enjoy her sexuality and revel in it.
Ra chuckled, arching his hips up in an air thrust. “Ah, yes, she enjoyed staring at my rod, too. All queens do.”
Carefully, I reminded myself. Slowly.
Pretending nervous shyness, I flicked my gaze back up to his as I sidled a single step closer. “Did she find pleasure in your arms, my lord?”
He thrust again, deliberately drawing my gaze back to his dick. The same frost spread down his shaft as in his eyes, as if he’d already jizzed and it had frozen on the tip. “The better question is how well did she please me?”
“Did she, my lord?” I whispered, running my gaze down his legs to his ankles. Had the book said which ankle had been bitten by Isis’ snake? I couldn’t remember. It might not matter. “Did she please you well?”
“No.” His voice sharpened, slicing my skin like razor blades. Blood dripped down my cheek, and cuts on both of my arms oozed blood. “She did not.”
A hint of something not gold flashed on his left outside ankle. A trick of the light? Or a scar from a snake bite that had never fully healed? I took another step and jerked to a halt. I curled my arms around my waist as if I’d had second thoughts. I looked back to Huitzilopochtli, braced on his hands and knees, head hanging as he coughed and vomited up chunks of gold stained with my blood.
Was he my pawn, a sacrifice moved to distract the king? Or could I count on him to be my bishop and protect my flank? I couldn’t be sure.
I stepped closer. I could feel the heat rising off of Ra’s body. My skin prickled, uncomfortably dry. He was too hot to even make me sweat. I didn’t want to touch him. I didn’t want to melt.
The snake coiled tighter on my throat, a faint quiver of anticipation. A spring waiting to launch it at our target.
Ten feet. Nine. It wasn’t enough, and the High Priest watched me suspiciously.
“Keisha conceived her daughter, my lord, but Tanza was not a queen. She certainly wasn’t the Sun Queen.” I added emphasis, a stroke to his ego. “She failed you, my lord.”
Ra flicked a finger at me, scattering an arc of gold droplets in the air. “Disrobe.”
My fingers shook as I pushed the single strap of the linen sheath off my shoulder and allowed it to slide down my body.
“Inspect her,” he said to his priest.
Greatest of Seers bowed even lower. “I did, Your Imperial Majesty. So did the High Lord Vizier.”
“She has no Blood bonds? A queen of this strength? I deem it unlikely.”
“We both examined her and found her empty of bonds. The High Lord searched her twice, pushing deeper than any queen has endured before.”
Ra made a low sound of distrust, eyes narrowed on me. “And what of this snake on her throat? Have you examined that?”
The red serpent on my throat didn’t move, locked in place like a tattoo.
“We did, naturally, Your Imperial Majesty. Given your history with snakes—”
“Silence!”
The priest fell down on his knees and bowed forward to press his face against the golden floor. “I beg your forgiveness, Oh Mighty Sun of Radiance!”
Ra sneered at me, his eyes whitening to solid ice. “What is the significance of the snake, witch? And remember that when I touch you, I can sense a lie. I’ll split you in half on my cock and feed you to my sunfires if you try to lie to me.”
What could I say that wasn’t a lie? I hoped my face wasn’t as panicked as I felt. House Isador didn’t lie, even to kill the god of light. But what could I say to buy myself some time?
I was still too far away to launch the serpent. I didn’t need Carys’s probabilities to tell me the serpent would fall short. And then what? What would become of me? My Blood?
I’d already killed Guillaume.
I had no idea where the rest of my beloved Blood were.
I couldn’t feel them. Anywhere.
I was desperately, hopelessly alone.
Fighting down waves of panic, I dropped my gaze to the floor, my mind racing.
And I saw one delicate print in the soft golden floor. A print I recognized.
My wolf. Xin.
My eyes burned, but thankfully I was too dehydrated to worry about tears.
“A gift,” Huitzilopochtli rasped as if every word shredded his throat. “From my daughter.”
I dared a quick breath. So he was to be my bishop and partner in this match, not the sacrificial pawn. Good. I couldn’t wait to tell Mayte how much her father had helped me. How much he must have loved her mother and would have loved her.
Assuming we ever escaped Heliopolis.
Ra dropped his hand on his head again, but at least this time, he didn’t try to drown him in liquid gold. He listened a moment and then nodded.
“No wonder you’re so strong. You’ve formed a coven with his illicit daughter.”
My knees quivered faintly but I didn’t otherwise react. It wasn’t a lie. Mayte had given me the snake, through her goddess. “I love her dearly.”
“Love.” Ra slammed his hand down on Huitzilopochtli’s back, knocking him down to sprawl on his stomach. “A ridiculous weakness that brings a man to his knees quicker than anything else. Better yet, come to me, witch. Show me how much you love my dick, and I’ll let your pet Hummingbird live another day.”
35
Shara
It shouldn’t have surprised me that Ra was so dismissive of my coven, as he called it, with Mayte. He was dismissive of all women. Naturally, the friendship and love, sisterly or carnally, between women wouldn’t alarm him in the slightest.
If only he knew that was the main reason I was here. To protect other women, but specifically, Mayte’s daughter.
I would die before I’d allow him to take another child from her mother and torture her, like he’d done to Vivian and countless others.
I’d even suck the giant dick he was so proud of, if that meant another woman would be spared. But it wasn’t going to come to that.
Shara fucking Isador loved sucking dick. But only the dicks she loved.
This bastard would rot in hell before I’d ever love him.
I paused, giving him another sly, playful look beneath my lashes as I slipped my right hand down over my pelvis. I watched his face as I slid my fingers deeper, stroking myself just enough to bloody my fingers.
Lightly, I trailed blood up over my stomach. His eyes burned blizzard-white. His mouth tightened in grim disapproval. His nose wrinkled, his lips turning down with disgust.
Though his dick surged toward me, seeking my bloody heat.
“Was Keisha breeding when you fucked her?” I whispered, sidling closer.
“No. I fucked her until she started breeding. I made her come into heat.”
“Did you taste that blood you made her shed for you?”
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He closed his eyes in a one long, deliberate blink. He looked blind, his eyes completely white, but I was sure he saw everything. “A necessary evil for your kind, but nothing I would ever indulge in otherwise.”
“A pity,” I whispered, holding out my bloody fingers out toward Huitzilopochtli.
Braving Ra’s wrath, he lunged up and sucked my fingers into his mouth.
Ra was too disgusted to react. He stared at me, too appalled to even pretend otherwise. My actions had completely shaken the foundations of his world.
I tossed my head, throwing my hair back over my shoulders to stand proudly naked in front of God of All Things Light and Day.
But he was not the god of me.
I was darkness. I was chaos. I was death, destruction, and finally, rebirth. I carried the bloody proof between my thighs.
“Did you love her?”
He blinked again, dragging his gaze up from my pussy. “Why would I love a witch?”
“No, I meant did you love She Who Is and Always Will Be?”
He seized me by the throat, sealing my neck in liquid fire. My fangs shredded my lips, but I didn’t scream. I refused to give him the pleasure.
I was close enough now. I could use the serpent.
But it was trapped beneath his fist.
Don’t move, I whispered frantically to the snake in my flesh, hoping it would hear. Wait. I will get you free.
“She Who Lies and Cheats the Light of Day?” He roared, shaking me so hard that something popped in my back. “Why would I love her? She healed me, so she said, but then left me to fuck Osiris. The poison of her touch remains. She burns in me to this day!”
I couldn’t breathe, but I wasn’t panicked. Yet. The pain was terrible, yes, but not nearly as bad as what the vizier had done to my eyes. I had sense enough to shove my other hand between my legs, and then I wrapped bloody fingers around his cock.
He dropped me like I was the one burning him. I fell against his thigh and the throne, which sizzled against my skin like a branding iron. But I held on to his dick, refusing to let go.
Queen Takes Checkmate (Their Vampire Queen Book 5) Page 24