Shara smiled. “I knew I loved that man, for many reasons, but this one takes the cake. Would he mind making a call to Keisha Skye’s consiliarius for us?”
Gina blinked rapidly. “He would do anything for you. But why…”
Shara smiled and it made the hairs prickle at the base of my neck. “She sent her lowest Blood to try and convince me to join her nest. She doesn’t know that I love Winston dearly, so I’m asking my butler to tell the queen of New York City that I intend to visit her town. After he refused to work for her.”
The last Templar knight smiled broadly. “That’ll fucking piss her off.”
Shara nodded. “That’s the general idea.”
Shara
The plan was starting to come together. It was strange, because I didn’t know exactly what I needed to do. It just was there, in my head, as if it was waiting for me to tap it. I had a feeling the goddesses had been busy planting seeds in my head while I’d been sleeping and making love with my Blood.
It’d been a delightful few weeks, but I couldn’t enjoy many more… until I dealt with Keisha Skye once and for all. Every day that I delayed in bringing her to justice was another day that a Blood suffered in her ruthless obsession to have another child.
Marne Ceresa hovered on the edge of my awareness, too. I’d have to come to some kind of deal with her eventually, but my war wasn’t with her. It was with Keisha, and then Ra. But I’d take the war to Rome if she wanted to fuck with me or my Blood.
Leaning back against Rik, I met each of my Blood’s gazes, and then focused on Gina, who’d pulled a chair up to the edge of the mattress.
“I need to know the implications of killing a queen. What happens to her Blood, nest, and sibs? Are there any repercussions from the Triune? Anything else along those lines that I haven’t thought of yet.”
“You can do whatever you want as queen, though there are always repercussions.” Gina leaned forward and took my hand in hers. “For all her faults, Keisha has a giant network of people who depend on her for their livelihood. Losing their queen will be a huge blow, both economically and socially. She’s a prominent member of society, both Triune and human. No offense, my queen, but you’re an unknown. They know nothing about you or how you’ll handle their businesses, problems, and families. Some of them may not have had much of a choice in the queen they serve.”
“People like me, Daire, and Ezra,” Rik said, stroking his big palms up and down my arms. “People sent by their queens, trapped by familial loyalty and treaties who would love to escape her, but can’t. They’ll be thrilled to be free of her, but they need to know what to do. Where to go.”
“If you get all of her sibs to swear to you…” Guillaume knelt beside the bed and held out his scarred hands to me. I slipped one hand into his but held onto Gina, too. With Rik stroking me, and them holding my hands, I felt grounded, steady, and focused. “You will rule America. You will be the American queen.”
“That’s not—”
“I know,” Guillaume broke in. “That’s not why you’re doing this. But maybe this is why your goddess set you on this path.”
“Nature abhors a vacuum,” Gina added. “Killing a major queen of America’s largest city will create a massive vacuum. We can’t leave those loose ends dangling without a plan, or you may find someone even worse than Keisha Skye stepping in. Chaos would be worse than Keisha’s rule.”
Chaos. Mother had said I was to be controlled chaos in the world. Isis wanted me to shake things up—but remain in control too. Which to me, meant I had to have a plan.
I nodded, even though my stomach tightened with dread. Taking House Zaniyah as sibs had been one thing. Taking a house the size of Skye… It was terrifying and overwhelming. “How many people are we talking?”
“We haven’t been in her court for over a year,” Daire replied. “But I’m guessing she has at least a thousand sibs now. She’s been actively increasing her base for a very long time.”
Xin nodded. “She probably gained a hundred sibs when my queen left San Francisco.”
“That’s only sibs,” Gina added. “Like you, she has many humans and weaker Aima scattered all across the globe who work for her house in some way. She will have properties in all the major cities. She will have staff and offices that need to know who to report to and how. Plus, all her finances will need to be accounted for.”
My head pounded. Rik slid his hands up to knead my shoulders, easing the tension straining up my neck. “I don’t care about her money. I have more than I could possibly spend now.”
“Yet it will be yours. If you take the queen, you take her house. If you take her house, you take her legacy.”
“Legacy wealth—or legacy power?”
“Both, if her goddess finds you worthy.”
Rik made a low rumble like distant thunder. “Which She will, without question.”
“Who’s Keisha’s goddess again?”
“Scathach,” Rik replied. “She’s best known from the Ulster Cycle for training Cu Chulainn. She had a training facility on the Isle of Skye.”
“Keisha’s a warrior?”
Daire huffed out a laugh. “Not at all. She loves to watch fights, the bloodier the better.”
“Like duels? Or what?”
He nodded. “Mostly hand-to-hand combat. She even has a cage built in her nest like the Ultimate Fighting Championships.”
“I need to know as much as possible about her nest too. How many Blood does she have? What happens to them when I kill Keisha?”
“What do you want to happen to them?” Daire asked. “We know you’re not going to claim them all as yours, if any, so we’ll probably have to kill them.”
At first, I thought he was being cheeky, but for once, my warcat was actually serious. “I’m not going to kill them all. I mean, if they fight us, and someone gets killed as a result, that’s one thing. But execution? Just because they served Skye? I won’t do it.”
“Blood need a queen, or they’ll turn,” Rik said. “Remember Greyson? Even when a new queen is found quickly, the bond doesn’t always take. Sometimes it’s kinder to kill them all cleanly, and some may very well ask for death.”
My stomach quivered. I’d been fully prepared to kill Keisha, but I hadn’t realized I might have to have her Blood killed too. It seemed so wasteful and horrible. If I died…
“We would all be dead too.” Boulders crashed in Rik’s voice. “We would not allow you to die and still live ourselves.”
“But—”
“No, Shara. There is no other option. In fact, I’ll make the formal request. Guillaume, if the worst happens and our queen falls, yet I still live, I order you to kill me.”
“On my honor, I will do as you ask, alpha.”
“And me,” the rest of my Blood said one by one. Even Mehen. Though he scowled at me. “You’d best not fucking die, my queen.”
I swallowed the lump trying to choke me. “I don’t intend to anytime soon. How soon after Keisha’s gone will I have to find her Blood a new queen?”
“It varies greatly,” Guillaume replied. “Some, like me, have gone for decades or even a century and more. Others can’t make it a week. It depends on the Blood’s strength of will, how strong the old bond was, and how strong the future queen’s call is. Your call was so strong that I would have crossed oceans of time to find you.”
“She had twenty-six Blood when we left,” Rik said. “Twenty were female, six male. Ezra, what was the count when you left?”
“Wes was killed in the ring; the male alpha, Conall, was barely alive; and you know how Kendall ended.”
“That leaves twenty-two, assuming the alpha is beyond your healing,” Rik said. “If you’d even want or be able to heal him after what Keisha does to them.”
His tone didn’t change, but I felt his tension straining against my back. I still hadn’t asked him exactly he’d seen in Skye’s court. How did Keisha torture the alphas? Did I need to know in order to defeat her? I didn’t see ho
w, and it would only upset him to drag out those old nightmares.
So, I changed the subject. “Should I assume that she knows how many Blood I have, and who they are?”
Gina grimaced and nodded. “I’m afraid so. Bianca betrayed us to Ra. We have to assume that she passed along other information, too, and she had full access to our guest list before we ever arrived. If Ra knows something that might hurt you, we have to assume he’d share that information with the other queens. He wants to sow chaos and discord among the Aima courts. If he can weaken you without striking you himself, he will.”
“She’ll know that I have Blood who are famous for killing other queens and alphas.”
“Which means if we do a formal procession, she would pair Xin and Guillaume with her best killers,” Rik said. “If she lets them inside at all. Honestly, she’ll probably refuse to let them inside her nest.”
I blew out a sigh. “That’s what I’d do if I were in her shoes.”
Guillaume didn’t move a muscle, but in our bond, I felt his hell horse pawing the ground and snorting flames. Blistering cold rolled from Xin, dropping the temperature around him enough that Nevarre shivered and rubbed his arms.
“So Mehen will probably be refused entrance too.”
“Fucking hell.” He threw himself down on the bed and glared up at the ceiling with disgust. “I was looking forward to spreading mayhem in New York City.”
“What about you, Ezra? Do you think she’ll let you back inside?”
“Definitely, because she’ll want to make sure I’m punished. Same with Rik and Daire. If she somehow manages to outsmart you, we’ll be made examples of.”
Even my rough and tough grizzly bear looked queasy.
Horrible images flickered through Rik’s head in rapid succession. A man, screaming, as he was slowly disemboweled. Castrated. Fingers removed. Hands. Feet.
I swayed. My face felt too tight, like the skin across my cheekbones had suddenly dried and shriveled up. Breathing hard, I pushed those images out of my head.
I pressed back against him and he wrapped me tighter in his arms.
:Sorry,: he whispered in our bond. :I would rather spare you the gory details.:
“How will you kill her, if you don’t have Guillaume or me to call upon?” Xin asked.
The trees whispered in my head. Blood. Fire. Blood. Fire.
My best weapons.
19
Shara
Winston flew to New York City with us, so he could meet the staff at the house and ensure their service was up to his level of expectations. Now, more than ever, I was aware of what immense wealth could do. The Isador property we arrived at had once been a small, but posh, Park Avenue hotel situated on the edge of Central Park.
Even after extensive renovations, the gorgeous marble floors, high ceilings, and gold-leaved plaster friezes spoke of old-world wealth. A blonde woman dressed in a very elegant black pant suit whispered quietly with Winston for several moments, and then stepped closer to me.
She dropped into a curtsey. “Your Majesty, welcome to your New York City home.”
“Thank you.” I held my hand out, intending to give her a polite shake, but she took my hand and bent even lower, pressing my fingers to her forehead.
“It’s such an honor to meet you, Your Majesty. When Winston called to let me know to prepare the house, I wept with joy that our Isador queen was coming to town.”
I imagined it must have been a fairly rare occurrence for any queen to come to New York City with Keisha Skye’s centuries of rule. “What’s your name?”
“Magnum, Your Majesty. For the duration of your stay, we’ll be at full staff. All of your clothing orders have been carefully unpacked and are hanging in the master bedroom for your approval.”
The nicest thing about being rich—I could shop without ever stepping foot into a store. Gina had placed a few phone calls, and Alice Wong, the designer I’d met in Dallas, Texas, had shipped several new gowns ahead. With our measurements in hand, Gina had also called several other designers and had probably emptied racks in dozens of stores to make sure I had a wide selection of clothes to choose from, both for myself and my Blood.
All for a few days’ stay so I could catch a Broadway play.
And kill a vampire queen.
We stepped onto an old-fashioned elevator with brass-plated doors and buttons. Rik had already sent three of my Blood up to scout ahead, and now he stepped in close to me, bumping me with his body. He slid a hand around my waist, spreading his fingers out to cover as much of my abdomen as possible. He dipped his head and rubbed his nose in the hollow behind my ear.
Yeah, my period had started yesterday and was going full force today. My alpha couldn’t keep his hands off me.
Itztli and Tlacel stood between me and the new woman. Neither of them looked at me, but I could feel the tension simmering in their bodies. They were fully aware of me and my need.
Mehen’s green eyes tracked my every movement, narrowed with anticipation. If Rik gave him an inch, he’d have me flattened against the wall of the elevator this very moment, audience be damned.
We stepped off the elevator into a marbled foyer, which opened up to a large room with walls made almost entirely of windows, giving spectacular views of Central Park on one side, and the impressive skyline on the other.
I couldn’t help but stare at one particular building only a few blocks away. Keisha Skye’s nest was in the largest residential tower in Manhattan. One-bedroom suites had easily sold for a million dollars before she bought the building twenty-some years ago. There were over one hundred units in the building, many of them two and three bedrooms. I couldn’t even guess enough zeros for the sum she must have paid for the entire building. Let alone the amount of money she must have put into renovations to combine apartments and blow out walls. Rik said the entire top floor had been renovated to combine four penthouses into one, providing her with jaw-dropping views.
Most of the other floors remained apartments, that she’d been filling with sibs.
So many vampires living right here in the heart of Manhattan.
We’d barely stepped off the elevator, when one of the other staff whispered to Magnum, and then came to me with a monogrammed envelope bearing a swirling S.
“Your Majesty.” She bowed even lower than Magnum had and held out the card. “This arrived moments ago for you by courier.”
I smiled wryly. “Just like Marne. They want me to know they’re watching me.”
This envelope didn’t bear a waxed seal. I pulled out the single sheet of thick paper and read it aloud.
“Shara Isador, I formally call upon Triune law and demand recompense for the Blood you’ve stolen from House Skye. You may repay this debt in person at House Skye’s court at your earliest convenience. The Blood known as Leviathan, Wu Tien Xin, and Guillaume de Payne will not be granted access to House Skye. In addition, the presence of Alrik, Daire, and Ezra Skye will be required to gain access to House Skye. I, Keisha Skye, demand satisfaction.”
“Only six Blood.” Daire snorted with disgust. “I fucking hate being called Skye again.”
“That’s more than I expected her to let me take in.” I sighed, looking around at my men, all of them furious, glaring, or in Itztli’s and Guillaume’s cases, testing the sharpness of their blades. “Gina, what Triune law is she referring to?”
My consiliarius was already on the phone with her staff, but she lowered the phone to say, “Blood for Blood, or at least an equal amount of blood they carry.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s a stretch, because they weren’t her Blood when they left. But she’s claiming their value as Blood from her house. She’s probably also going to claim value for Kendall, since he was Blood, and we did kill him, though you have not gained any benefit from the Skye blood he carried.”
“So, she’s wanting the equal amount of my blood to buy theirs?”
“In effect, yes. It’s meant to be a law that sp
ecifies an exchange of Blood between queens to solidify an alliance. She’d intended to give you Kendall. Under this law, she could have demanded an equal Blood from yours in exchange. If this case went to a Triune queen, she’d have to weigh the amount of Skye blood that each of your three Blood now bear, which you would repay in kind, if you weren’t willing to uphold the Blood exchange.”
“You’re not fucking giving her your blood,” Rik retorted, dragging me closer to him. “Not for me. Not for any of us.”
“With any other queen, it could be handled reasonably,” Gina said, shaking her head. “Any queen can call her blood out of anyone she wishes and leave them without a trace of her power. We call it Cleansing, and it’s especially important for ailing queens to do before they die, so their Blood are freed before her death. However, we all know that’s not what she’s after. She doesn’t want her blood back—she wants yours instead. Let me do a little research and study the precedents to come up with the best defense.”
“Does it matter, if I intend to kill her?”
“Yes. She invoked Triune law. Killing her before this debt is resolved could draw the Triune’s punishment. The last thing you want is Marne Ceresa ordering your execution because you broke Triune law and then killed the queen before she could bring the case before the High Court, even if that’s not Keisha’s goal at all.”
I blew out a disgusted sigh. “This is all really a ploy to keep me from walking over and killing her before she can hurt anyone else. In that light, it’s a very smart play.”
“Indeed,” Gina said grimly. “She’s been playing the game since long before you were born, my queen. The whole reason she sent young Aima males out in search of lost queens was to draw them to her and trap them into becoming her sibs. She planned to demand Blood recompense when she allowed them to leave. Why don’t you take a look at the gowns Alice sent while I talk to my team?”
“This way, Your Majesty.” Magnum led us down a short hallway to an imposing twelve-foot-tall wooden door. Fanciful animals were carved on its surface, including dragons, gryphons, and even a phoenix rising from the flames. “I hope you will find it satisfactory.”
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