Looking at them, my sweet, protective, yet deadly men, my throat tightened up and my eyes burned. I’d never dreamed that even one man would care for me as much as they did. Let alone four.
Xin might be the newest, but I felt the same promise in his bond.
Nothing would ever get through him to hurt me. Never.
“Do you think this couch is big enough for you all to hold me?”
Evidently that was a silly question. Guillaume swept me up in his arms and turned to sit down. Daire squeezed in beside Rik. And then G sat back down with me so I was on top of them all.
It was interesting to say the least.
And not exactly comfortable. Not with four walls of muscle. Or erections.
But I wriggled around until I was comfortable. Tucked under a blanket on the laps of four men, their big hands a steady, gentle stroke on my body. Not to arouse, but to touch. Something they’d been denied even longer than me.
I tried to read more of the book but my eyes were too heavy. Lulled by their steady stroking, I drifted off to sleep.
18
Shara
I heard whispers in the darkness. I had no idea where I was, but everything was gray and cold and still. I took a step so silently that I paused and looked at my body.
I was Xin’s silver wolf. No one would hear or see me.
I ghosted closer to the voices. Two women. One was angry, pacing back and forth, her voice rising with fury. The other woman occasionally murmured an answer, calm to her agitation. But the wolf smelled condescension in her polite and sympathetic tone.
“She killed my Blood. I want justice.”
My stomach tightened, my ears tight to my head. They were talking about me. The angry one was Keisha Skye. Who was the other woman? She had to be another queen. Her Paris ally? Marne Ceresa herself?
“What did you expect?”
“I expected a civilized response.”
The other woman laughed, a sweet tinkling sound of lightness that jarred with her wormwood scent. “She’s as close to civilized as you are to the Triune.”
Keisha gasped softly as if a blade had slipped between her ribs. “But you said… You promised…”
“You can’t even plant your own eyes and ears in a fledging queen’s nest. Oh, I’m sorry. She doesn’t even have a nest yet. Why should I put forward your name for the third seat?”
Marne. It had to be.
I crept closer, using every bit of silence and stealth the ghostly wolf possessed. I wanted to see the greatest queen of the Triune. I wanted to have a picture of the woman who put a geas upon both my mothers: the one who birthed me, and her sister who raised me.
So close. I could hear their heartbeats. I pulled the fog tighter around me, making sure I was as hidden as possible, except for my eyes. I wanted to see. I needed to see her face.
The fog thinned before my focus, revealing two women, but they weren’t together. Mist flowed between them and they didn’t look at each other. So how were they communicating? Maybe a blood bond.
A staggering thought. A queen of Keisha’s status… with a blood bond to Marne. Did all the queens have a bond with her? Were they her sibs? Her pawns?
What chance did I have of escaping her net if all the queens were hers to command?
I wasn’t sure which one was Marne. They both reclined like an empress being carried on a litter. One was dark skinned, the other blonde, both classically beautiful with long model’s legs and Grecian goddess faces carved from marble without any sign of age. Keisha was at least a couple of hundred years old to have gained control of New York City, and my first two Blood were nearly one hundred. In her court, they’d been young. Marne was much older, but neither woman looked like a thousand-year-old vampire.
“I’m the most powerful American queen,” the darker woman retorted, giving me my answer. Keisha. “We have no representative on the Triune.”
The blonde woman laughed. “You’re like the evil stepmother queen in Snow White declaring yourself the most powerful of all, ignoring the message in the magic mirror.”
“Are you saying she’s more powerful than me?”
The amusement wiped from Marne’s face, replaced with a grim tightness that sent a surge of glee through me. Yes, be afraid of me. Maybe she’ll leave me alone. “I haven’t felt her power directly, but Isador was always strong. Even her mother. Though why Selena ever loved that human I’ll never understand.”
My heart thudded painfully and my ribcage banded tight, making it difficult to breathe.
They didn’t know that Selena wasn’t my mother.
It didn’t make sense.
Maybe I made some soft gasp. I wasn’t sure. But Marne suddenly looked straight at me. I froze, sure that she couldn’t see me, though she must have sensed someone watching.
“Even a half-human queen of Isador is a threat.”
I closed my eyes and willed myself away. Cool, wet mist enveloped me and I drifted in silence, my mind racing.
If Marne hadn’t put the geas upon everyone that prevented the living from saying my mother’s name… Then the only person who could have done such a thing was Esetta herself. But why? It didn’t make sense. Why would she want to be forgotten?
“To protect you. To hide you.” The voice rolled through my head, a soft whisper carried to me on a ghostly breeze. A voice I knew deep inside. It rang like the tinkling chime of the goddess. My mother must have whispered to me often when I was a baby, though I didn’t remember it. “To lose you in the world so you would have time to grow and develop as you wished. Not in a court of Aima so unable to change and adapt that they die and do nothing to save themselves.”
I was afraid to say anything aloud, for fear that Marne might have followed me, or would hear. But I whispered the words in my head, sure that Esetta would hear. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Be true to who you are. That is all. You are controlled chaos. You are She, Goddess incarnate. Live, love, and make magic in the world. Embrace your nature your father and I died to create. Loose the wild hunt. Revel in the blood of your enemies. Some will worship you. Others will fear you. And no one will be able to stop you.”
My father and she both died to create me? Guilt and dread settled in my stomach like cold lead. I shivered, hugging myself. The wolf was gone, leaving me alone huddled in the cold mist. “Was he Leviathan?”
“No. Your father was a dying god. I was his last love. And you are our only hope.”
Then why had Greyson told me he was my father? My head ached and I was suddenly exhausted. Tired of trying to untangle half-truths and guess at political strategy that was alien to me. I was glad I wasn’t raised in a nest, but on the other hand, it handicapped me. I didn’t understand court politics.
“Take your king before it’s too late. Soon he’ll pass and be only a whisper on the wind like me.”
Something howled in the distance, a faint sound of crazed agony. The snake-monster thing I’d dreamed before. I had no idea where he was. And honestly… I didn’t know if I wanted to find him or not. All that rage, all that pain. How did you soothe someone who’d been tortured and trapped for so long that he didn’t even remember who or what he was any longer?
“He’s your destiny.”
Something tugged on me deep inside, a razor wire that tightened and burned like molten steel. With a sigh, I stood in the fog. Xin’s wolf flowed back over me. Nose tipped into the breeze, I took in all the smells of the world and filtered them out one by one until I found the scent I needed. Snake. Serpent. Dragon. Pain. Rage. “I’m coming.”
19
Rik
Even alpha Blood occasionally needed a nap. I opened my eyes, surprised that I’d drifted off when I was so crowded. Daire’s head was on my shoulder, his weight heavy on my arm, Shara’s head on my thigh. Guillaume’s head was tipped back against the sofa and he slept too. Only the new Blood, Xin, remained awake, giving me a slight nod of acknowledgment. Grateful at least one of us had been alert in case w
e came under threat, I nodded back. He closed his eyes and stroked his fingers lightly on her ankles. A look came over his face that made my chest ache, even the big, mean, alpha Blood.
Reverence.
Yeah. Me too, buddy. Me too.
I didn’t want to move and disturb her rest, but she’d be hungry when she woke up. We needed to get the nest established, both for her safety and to have a staff take better care of her. I didn’t want to feed my queen takeout pizza all the time, yet I didn’t relish leaving her side a single moment.
Her phone buzzed on the coffee table. I carefully leaned forward, cradling her head so I didn’t wake her, and snagged it, in case we had an issue that the security guards needed assistance with.
The text was from Gina. I have an updated list of repairs for your house in ES. Thought I’d bring dinner and discuss what other changes you’d like made.
Ah, now that was a consiliarius that was thinking ahead and trying to anticipate her queen’s needs. I texted back. This is Rik. She’s sleeping, but that sounds great. What time?
7 PM. How many?
I grinned. Definitely a good consiliarius—who knew her queen was calling Blood to her as quickly as possible. 4 plus her.
Got it. Thanks.
That settled, I started to put the phone back down but Shara opened her eyes, suddenly wide awake. The sleeping Blood snapped alert with her, even Xin who’d only rested a few moments.
“My queen?”
“I know where he is. I have to find it on a map. And Marne doesn’t know who my real mother is.”
Uneasiness pitched through my stomach but I didn’t react outwardly. “Gina’s coming tonight for dinner. I’m sure she can help you find the location.”
She stared up at me, her mouth tensing. “Why are you upset? You’re my alpha. Nothing will change that.”
I drew her up into my lap, cradling her against my chest. “I’m not upset jealous. I’m worried for your safety.”
Guillaume fingered a small blade like he’d start gutting the man. “Who’s he who turns our alpha’s stomach into a pit of acid?”
“Say her name and Ceresa is dead, my queen,” Xin said right after.
I forgot that he and Xin had only just joined us. They didn’t know all the tangled plots in which our queen was embroiled. “One of her gifts is dreaming, and she’s been dreaming of a king.”
“Fuck that shit,” Guillaume muttered.
“Not you too.” Shara sighed. “What’s so bad about a king?”
“He won’t be Blood,” Guillaume replied, shaking his head. “That means he won’t be dedicated to you, let alone obey you. The only king I ever heard of killed everyone in his mother’s nest. Blood, queen, human, it didn’t matter. He slaughtered them all.”
“Why?”
“He was crazed. He shifted into his beast and couldn’t control it. When he finally shifted back, he found himself sitting among the torn apart remains of his entire family. So he killed himself. He wasn’t even twenty one yet.”
“You two are older, right?” She turned to look at Xin and Guillaume. “So do you know of a king who was some kind of serpent monster or dragon?”
Xin didn’t have to think very long to reply. “Leviathan, a king born to the Skolos court.”
“You asked me about Leviathan last night,” Guillaume said. “But I didn’t know he was a king. I thought you said he was your father?”
“I don’t think so now. Not after that dream.” She nibbled on her lip, staring at Xin. “How old are you? Or is that a rude thing to ask an Aima?”
The corner of his mouth twitched, as close to a smile as I’d ever seen the eerily-quiet Blood give. “I wouldn’t ask a queen how old she is, but this Blood doesn’t mind. I was born to Princess Taiping’s court in the year 712.”
Her mouth fell open and his smile widened. “Smart Blood—who are very good at killing—live longer than their queens.”
“Okay, smarty pants. What can you tell me about Leviathan?”
“Not much, only that he was born to Skolos many years before me, so that he was a legend in my time. He inspired the sea monster stories, the monster from the depths. All the old religions and mythologies of the world reference a mighty serpent monster defeated by their god. Supposedly he was chained in the depths of hell to await his judgment.”
“Judgment for what?”
“By the time I heard of him, no one remembered.”
“I hate going into this blind.” Frowning, she sighed heavily and reached over for the Isador book. “Maybe there’s something in here. She said to hurry, that he was going to pass soon. If he was born before Xin’s time, why would he die now?”
Embroiled in unraveling the mysteries of her dream, she didn’t realize how hungry she was. I gave Daire a mental nudge and he reluctantly pulled away to rummage in the kitchen. :Not a sandwich this time. She needs a variety. Preferably beef. She’s bleeding. She needs plenty of iron. Gina’s bringing dinner later, but she needs something now.:
:I’ll grill some steaks,: Daire replied.
Guillaume stood too, though I didn’t ask him to. He caught my gaze a moment and tipped his head at Xin. :In case she wants to break the new Blood in now rather than later. She might appreciate a smaller audience and I had my turn last night.:
Flipping through the book, she certainly wasn’t thinking about sex. Or blood. Or a new Blood starved for touch.
Though I didn’t think it would take much to remind her.
Shara
While I’m sure the ancient histories of my family line were very interesting, I went straight to the spoilers and skipped to the end of the book again. I’d work my way backwards and see if what I needed was in the final pages that my mother had written. I didn’t have much to go with yet, so I hoped there would be something there.
What had she said? A dying god. Their last hope. Geez. Talk about the weight of the world on my shoulders.
The last page didn’t have a date, but when I backed up a few pages, I found dated journal entries.
November 1, 1994
It is done. He’s gone. I can’t feel his presence any longer. The world seems somehow thin and gray without him yet life goes on around me. No one but me feels his loss. And that is why he was willing to die for me. For us. I feel her growing in my womb already. I know she’ll be a queen to be reckoned with. My child.
I already know your birth will be the last thing I accomplish, but I won’t fail you. I’ll endure until I hear your first cry and know that you live. That you’re strong. I’ll hold you, so you know that you’re loved. You’re so loved that I’m giving my life to have you. Then I will join your father in the mists of time. It’s been so long since he held me, though it was only days ago. It feels as though we’ve already endured lifetimes apart. My Blood are gone. Only the god’s memory remains. And my daughter. I already have her name picked out.
Shara.
My throat ached but I didn’t cry. I flipped back again, looking for the start of the previous entry.
October 30, 1994
The arrangements are all made. The nest is dissolved. The geas is laid. No one remembers me, even my sister and my own beloved Blood. Without their blood to sustain me, it took the last of my magic to accomplish, but it’s necessary. I need to step out of Aima memory before I go to him. Or all is lost.
I dreamed of him again. He knows I’m coming. I’m sure She has told him and prepared the way. I heard on the news that Mount Vesuvius is stirring. I don’t need to ask why. I hope it doesn’t erupt when I rouse him from his long slumber.
Father of monsters—your bride is coming.
I slammed the book shut, my mind racing.
“What is it?” Rik stroked his fingers through my hair.
“Um, well…” I hesitated, not sure I wanted to find out what they knew about my father. Or if it would change anything between us. “I found a few clues to who my father was.”
“Was? So you know he’s dead?”
Nodd
ing, I set the book back on the coffee table and drew my knees up, pressing into Rik’s side. “So is my mother. They’re both gone. They died to have me.”
His arm came around me and he pulled me close, dropping his mouth to my shoulder. He didn’t tug on my shirt or even try to find skin. He just put his mouth on my sweater and inhaled. Like he couldn’t get enough air if my scent wasn’t in his nostrils. Which made me want to smell him too. Only I wasn’t quite so polite about it. I pulled his biceps up to my nose and pressed my face into the crook of his arm.
“Who?” He murmured, that low rock-troll rumble that vibrated through my bones.
It took me a moment to remember what we’d been talking about. “She never referred to him by name, but she called him a dying god, father of monsters.”
Rik lifted his head. “Your father was a god that fathered monsters? Xin, ring any bells?”
His tone told me he knew, but he was looking for confirmation. I lifted my face from his arm and looked across the couch at Xin. He didn’t move or say anything, but the intensity of his eyes seared me. Wolf eyes. Hungry. So hungry. The better to eat you with, my dear.
And yeah, I knew Rik had done this on purpose. He’d reminded me of the other Blood, who sat so silent and still that it was easy to forget him. Even me, his new queen. I only now realized the other two Blood had left the room too. Again, probably deliberately. Though I didn’t know if I wanted to have sex on the couch.
Xin’s eyes flickered a moment, a sheet of silver flashing through the darkness of his eyes like lightning.
“Xin?” I asked softly, my attention locked on him. “Do you know who my father is?”
He swallowed so hard I heard it. “Typhon. Father of monsters. Ancient god of Greece I believe. My queen.”
Queen Takes King (Their Vampire Queen Book 2) Page 11