Huitzilopochtli leaped to his feet and shoved both of his hands into the molten gold streaming down the pyramid wall. I could smell his flesh burning, but he didn’t howl with pain.
No.
The one howling was Ra.
Neck and shoulders straining, head back, he gripped both arms of his throne and bellowed like I’d cut his dick off. The frosted white of his eyes spread across his cheeks, and his dick felt like a giant icicle in my hand, though the spurt of his seed was hot on my flesh. He came so hard I felt droplets landing in my hair and on my shoulder, burning like acid. I couldn’t imagine taking that come inside me with the hope of bearing a child. It must have felt like icy-hot pokers stirring Keisha’s insides.
Only to fail. Even the God of All Things Light and Day had not been able to give her a daughter. She’d resorted to dark magic, trading a life for a life in the process.
His roar of release turned into a deep, rumbling chuckle. “You waste the gift of life.”
His hand came to my head and he petted me. Almost fondly. Before he seized a handful of my hair and pulled me up on top of him.
I didn’t fight him. Not when I now had him exactly where I wanted him. His skin didn’t even burn me any longer. The molten gold had run off his body, revealing more of his true features. His head was bald, but he had a long prince’s lock at the base of his skull that hung down his back, probably to the floor. He wore a chunky necklace, the chain heavy enough to hold at least a dozen large charms. I fingered one of them, trying to make out what it was. Gold had settled over the carvings, blurring the image, but it looked like a scarab.
A heart scarab. The amulet that was worn over the deceased’s heart to protect it on its journey through the underworld.
One of these probably belonged to each of the sun gods he’d absorbed. Including Huitzilopochtli. I didn’t look up to see what he was doing. I didn’t want Ra to realize he’d moved.
He gripped my chin, a little too firmly, as if he was out of practice. Staring into my eyes, he gave my head a tiny shake. “Tell me. If you’re her true daughter, then you know what I want to hear. What I’ve yearned to hear since the beginning of time.”
I nestled closer to him, pressing my breasts against his chest.
And he took her heart to heart, so her body would know his secret name.
Smiling up at him, I reached up and cupped the back of his head, pulling him down closer to me. As if I would kiss him.
“What makes you think that She could ever love a monster like you?”
His eyes bled back to molten gold. His skin started to sizzle against mine. With a fierce scowl, he gripped my waist so hard it felt like he was bruising internal organs. But he couldn’t dislodge my hand on his neck.
I closed my eyes and whispered, “now.”
The red serpent tore from my flesh and sank fangs into his face, directly over his left eye.
He erupted from the throne to his feet, tossing me aside. Molten gold sprayed from his mouth like a geyser rather than any sound. It poured from him, a flood of liquid sun, dimming his harsh brilliance.
The High Priest screamed, “Witch!”
Something brushed past me, invisible fur, a whisper of death. My ghostly wolf materialized as he tore out the priest’s throat.
Ra still stood, screaming out liquid gold like I’d punctured the sun itself. I needed my power to finish him. All of it.
I touched the Shadow buried inside me and commanded it to dispel. Thousands of wings fluttered through me like rushing winds. My ears roared as my bonds blazed to life inside me.
:Rik!:
36
Rik
I waited.
My head braced against hot golden stone. Sun beating down on my head and shoulders. Barely breathing. Waiting.
She would call me. She would.
When it was time.
Not before.
I could endure. I could wait as long as it took. She would be enduring far worse.
That thought didn’t help in the slightest.
Rock crumbled to dust beneath my grip.
Yet I waited.
My queen’s bond slammed into me so hard that she knocked my rock troll over on his back. I stared up at the brutal sun and fried my eyeballs, but I didn’t care.
:Rik!:
I shoved up and leaped toward her like a deadly rock slide. :Go! Get her out!:
Her Blood responded immediately. A fireball shot out of the sky, followed by a dark, massive dragon, a shrieking gryphon, and a giant crow.
They flew past the temple, guided by her bond, and disappeared through a wispy veil.
Goddess. It felt so good to have her bonds in my head again.
Itztli’s black dog reached the temple first, followed by his brother. Tlacel wheeled over the temple and sent me an image of a body on the ground.
Guillaume.
Panting, the rest of us finally reached the scene. The knight sprawled on his back, mostly naked, except for a golden chainmail vest he’d picked up somewhere. Blood pooled around him and his throat gaped open in a horrible, vicious wound that bared the white of his spine.
It took me a moment to realize the flesh was knitting back together. He wasn’t slowly dying from a neck wound—but rather slowly growing his head back to his body. His eyes met mine, his hand flopping beside him. Reaching.
For a weapon. Even in death, he was ready to kill for our queen.
I picked up one of the swords and pressed it into his palm. “Join us when you can.”
:We need the lighter Blood,: Mehen roared in our bond. :We can’t fit through the door. A handful of skeletons guard the pyramid, but we’ll have them finished before you get here.:
The twins were already racing that direction with Daire on their heels. Ezra and I hurried after them, though my mind was locked on Shara.
I pushed into her bond, invading her mental space, but I couldn’t help it. I needed to feel her. I needed to access her health and ensure she wasn’t too badly injured. She could have locked me out, but thank the goddess, she let me in.
She was naked, had a few scrapes and cuts, and burns in half a dozen places, but she was otherwise unharmed. A golden giant loomed over her, head tipped back as liquid sunlight poured out of him. A red snake clung to his face.
Good. She’d done it.
I refused to think about the cost.
I will pay it. In a heartbeat. Please, just let me hold her one more time.
Yelling in his language, Huitzilopochtli raced toward Ra and launched a heavy turquoise spear. It struck him directly in the chest.
The golden stream slowed, and Ra lowered his head. It took me a moment to realize he was laughing.
“You fool. Your Fire Serpent lost all its power when I took your immortality.” He pried the spear out of his body and tossed it aside like it was a toy. Then he reached up and jerked away the serpent dangling from his eye. “And you, witch. Did you honestly think a snake could end me, when she failed exactly the same way?”
He seized her in both hands and held her out in front of him. My queen began to scream as liquid gold poured over her head.
Shara
Blistering agony. Liquid fire. My flesh melted. I screamed and fought mindlessly a moment, before remembering what I was.
Who I was.
I was more than this screaming, flailing creature. Let him roast me alive. Goddess help me, I’d take him with me.
I drew hard on my bonds, calling my reserves to flood me with power. Eleven Blood bonds emptied a bottomless well of magic directly into me.
I wrapped my body in the Morrigan’s Shadow, and the agony ceased immediately. With a thought, I healed my burned flesh. I hung suspended in a flood of liquid gold and stared back at the god who’d hurt so many.
My voice echoed through the Great Pyramid, rising with power. “I am Shara Isador, last daughter of Isis, She Who Is and Was and Will Be. Lady of Heaven, Queen of the Gods, hear your daughter’s prayer. What You began, allow me
to finish in Your blessed name.”
I shoved my fist into the hole that Huitzilopochtli had made with his spear and closed my hand around Ra’s heart. With a shout, he threw me aside, but I clutched his beating heart in my hand and took it with me.
I fell into solid granite that clutched me like I was a baby kitten. Rik. He cradled me in his arms but didn’t try to stop me. He knew, as I did, that my greatest work yet remained.
Lifting my hand into the air, I held Ra’s thumping heart above us. “The red serpent made you mortal, Lord of Sun. It gave you a heart.” I paused, watching the horror slipping across his face like a frosted glaze of ice. “A heart that can be judged.”
He fell to his knees. “No. It cannot be. The Lord of All Things cannot be judged. I am immortal.”
A gong echoed through the Great Pyramid, resounding off the golden walls. A set of scales appeared before me. Whispers flowed down from above, though I couldn’t understand the words. I looked up, and the top of the pyramid was gone. People looked down from a balcony on all sides, watching the proceedings. From the Isador book, I knew they were the forty-two judges.
Beyond them, where the peak of the pyramid had been, I saw only clear, blue sky, shining like a single eye.
Something drifted down from the upper level and came to rest on one side of the scale.
Ma’at’s feather of truth.
Ra crawled on his knees closer to me, hands rising beseechingly.
Rumbling with fury, Rik braced against me. My wolf and black dog both crouched in front of us, hackles rising. My warcat pressed against Rik’s leg and roared. Ezra rose up on his hind legs, all nine feet tall of sheer bulk and vicious teeth. My gryphon let out a piercing shriek.
Tlacel and Nevarre streaked in above us, circling on silent wings. I didn’t turn to look behind me, but I felt the heat of Leviathan’s fire and smelled the burning cinnamon and myrrh of my phoenix.
Tears flooded my eyes, my throat aching. The only Blood missing was Guillaume.
Last Templar knight, made headless by my own hand.
Had this death been final because I dealt it to him? Was his life the price for the red serpent? Please, I prayed, closing my eyes. I can’t. Please don’t take him.
:What the fuck took you so fucking long?: Ezra retorted.
:You fucking made her cry, asswipe,: Mehen growled. :Fucking headless knight.:
Beloved hands cupped my cheek. Fingers once broken and twisted, now made whole, wiped my tears away. “My queen. Take me. I’m yours.”
I didn’t open my eyes but flung my free arm around his neck. My knight. Fully healed. I hugged him so hard he grunted, but my joy was short lived.
I still had to lose someone.
But first, I had to finish Ra.
I pressed a soft kiss to Guillaume’s lips. Rik set me on my feet and I stepped closer to the scale.
“Begin the Declaration of Innocence,” a deep voice boomed from above.
I laid Ra’s heart on the opposite scale, and for a moment, it balanced perfectly with Ma’at’s feather. Until he began to recite the required script.
“I have not done crimes against people…”
The heart tipped heavier. A tremor shook Ra’s shoulders, almost completely white now. His sun power leeched away, draining into the golden lake.
“I have not done any harm. I have not blasphemed a god or goddess.”
With each sentence, the heart tipped the scales and the whispers above grew louder.
I lost track of his declaration. We all knew he was guilty. We knew he deserved eternal damnation.
But the one to deliver that justice… was Ammit, the Devourer.
Me.
In my mind, I saw the legacy box open once more with the four jars inside. As soon as I focused on the one with the conical top that looked like a crocodile snout, the jar tipped over with a clink, and the lid fell off.
My heart pounded, waiting for the gift to swell inside me.
“I am pure,” Ra said.
Something rumbled deep inside me. Claws clacked across my ribcage. Scales slithered up my spine.
“I am pure! I am pure! I am—”
Fury welled inside me. This man, this god, had been a creator. He was supposed to represent hope and light, the promise of a new day and new beginning. Instead, he had destroyed entire houses of our goddesses’ children. He had raped and tortured countless women. He had tortured his own children. He had corrupted the lives of humans and destroyed the natural balance of the world. He corrupted everything he touched. He spread hate and vileness throughout the world.
I opened my mouth to tell him to shut the fuck up, but a roar came out instead of words.
“Please,” he whispered. Perfect crystal tears glistened on his cheeks.
Even that pissed me off. He wasn’t allowed to fucking cry. He couldn’t possibly be sincere. He only cared that it was time to pay for all the horrible things he’d done. He’d wallowed in pain and suffering for countless millennia. Did he honestly think a few tears were enough to wipe away those sins?
“I only wanted her to love me.”
Of fucking course. Rage pounded in me. So many lives destroyed. Magic wiped from the face of the earth forever. Because this man’s ego was bruised when a woman he fancied chose another man over him.
I shot forward and hit the scale with my snout, knocking his frantically pounding heart up into the air. It was a fucking pleasure to chomp on that foul meat and swallow it whole.
Wailing, Ra began to puddle in his gold, losing his form.
Ezra huffed with disgust. :If I ever see another fucking gold leafed anything, I’m going to puke. At least our queen is smart enough to only eat the heart, huh, dragon?:
Leviathan huffed a plume of noxious smoke over us that made my crocodile eyes water. :I hope he doesn’t give her indigestion.:
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to feel relief. I’d done it. Ra was dead. Xochitl was safe.
But one of my loved ones still had to die.
I turned my head and Ra’s golden monstrosity of a throne was replaced with a jade throne. Two serpents rose above the goddess’s head, facing each other with their fangs bared. Two jaguars, one black and one golden, sat on either side of Her feet.
Coatlicue. Mother of the Gods.
My heart thudded heavily, aching as if the Great Pyramid had suddenly collapsed on top of me.
I stepped closer to the waiting goddess, not surprised that I’d shifted back to my human form. Diaphanous linen flowed around my legs and my head felt heavy. I reached up and felt Isis’ crown on my head, the sweeping horns holding the red sun disc. Good. I would need all the help and authority I could get.
The whispering witnesses were gone. My Blood gathered around me as they shifted. Their hands touching me, assuring me that they were all here with me.
One last time.
“Well done, daughter of Isis.” Coatlicue looked the same as I remembered from the dream. Full, heavy breasts. Stomach rounded from carrying many children. Kind, loving eyes, gleaming with sadness and joy both. She wore a living skirt of snakes like the one She’d given to me to use on Ra.
Turning her head, She held out Her hand. “Thank you for returning my most beloved son to me.”
Huitzilopochtli stepped closer to his mother and dropped down on one knee before her. He laid the turquoise spear on the ground in front of him. “Forgive me, Mother, but I’ve lost Xiuhcoatl. He breathes fire no more.”
She laid Her hand on the back of his head. “All that matters is you, my son. Now you may return to Aztlan, where your beloved star awaits.”
He lifted his face, hope burning in his golden eyes. “Citla waits for me?”
“She always has.”
He laughed with joy, settling back on his heels. “Thank you, Mother. Thank you.”
My Blood knelt around me. Rik beside me, his right arm around my waist. Daire pressed against my other side. My first two knights. Losing them would destroy me.
Losing any of my Blood…
“Great Mother.” Rik’s voice rang with authority, drawing Her gaze to him. “As alpha, I ask that you take me for the cost that must be paid.”
“No,” I whispered, pressing harder against him. “No! I won’t allow it.”
Coatlicue nodded. “Very well, child. Which would you ask me to take in his place?”
I trembled. Tears choked me. I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t say a single name. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t ever choose just one of them. Not to love. Not to kill.
I loved them all.
I needed them all.
“It’s as I thought,” She said, not unkindly, but as a weary mother who had lost many children in a long lifetime. “It’s never easy to choose.”
She plucked one of the writhing serpents from Her skirt and gave it a gentle toss in my direction. It plopped in front of me and rose up several inches, scanning us all. Its tongue flicked out, as if trying to decide who might taste better.
“The oldest Blood?” Coatlicue asked as the snake slithered closer to Mehen. Emerald eyes glittering, he gave the snake a sardonic bow. “He’s certainly had plenty of lifetimes already, but so few days with a queen he loves.”
“The headless knight has already paid a cost for your love,” She said as the snake bypassed Guillaume. “The bear’s grumpy attitude is needed to help you laugh. I think I should not take him. This time.”
The snake passed to Nevarre and hesitated, its head swaying back and forth.
“Ah, now, this one is quite interesting,” Coatlicue said. “He was already dead, but the goddess of life and death returned him to you. He’s a likely choice.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Nevarre. My Celtic raven. No, please, Great One. Not him.
Daire snorted. “You can’t take him. She’d miss his kilt too much, and he has the best hair.”
“I beg your pardon,” Vivian retorted, slinging her fiery red hair over her shoulder. “If anyone should be taken, it’s me. I’m her greatest enemy’s daughter.”
“No,” Llewellyn said roughly, pushing to the front of my Blood. He dropped down beside Huitzilopochtli. “I’m the logical choice. I served her mother faithfully for hundreds of years. Send me to her side and spare her daughter any pain of losing one of her own Blood.”
Queen Takes Checkmate (Their Vampire Queen Book 5) Page 25