“You went to Ra,” I said softly.
“Yes. He agreed that we needed to do something drastic to conceive, but fucking the god of light wasn’t enough, though he was only too eager to be used as long as I wished. He told me the only way I’d conceive was a life for a life.”
Chills raced down my arms. That was exactly what Coatlicue had told me the cost of the red serpent would be. One of my loved ones would have to die for me to kill Ra. Evidently, he’d told Keisha something very similar.
“My alpha at the time was willing. Men are so stupid, Shara. Surely, you’ve come to realize that by now. Look at poor Llewellyn, waiting all these years for you to come save him. He refused to die because of a ridiculous promise he made to your mother. Silas was the same. He allowed me to kill him to give me my heart’s desire. Tanza was born, and I was so happy. Very happy. But the cost of her existence did not end with Silas’s death. As she neared puberty, she had no desire for blood. All she wanted was pain, and a great deal of it. She feeds on suffering, not blood, and her need is great.”
My stomach churned. It all made a terrible kind of sense. “That’s why you torture the alphas. Not to conceive another child, but to feed her.”
“Yes. I don’t usually let her have them to play with directly until the very end, because she kills too quickly. Slow torture is better for her. It keeps her happy, and I’ve learned how to make them last as long as possible. That’s where you come in, Shara. I went back to Ra, furious that he hadn’t told me that she’d need the constant pain of others to stay alive. She’s stuck at this stage, desperate for pain, tormented by her own hunger. She can’t develop any further, until you heal her.”
“Me? What do I have to do with this?”
“Ra told me that your mother would make a similar bargain. A life for a life. You would be born with the key to unlocking Tanza’s pain and end her suffering for all time. Your power would be great enough to heal her. But then she disappeared, and no one could even remember her existence. I knew she’d done it on purpose. She’d left with you to keep you safe from me. To keep you from healing my child who’d been born first. I searched for any sign of her for years, and though no one knew where you were, or what had happened to Selena after she left her nest, I noticed that no one mentioned inheriting the Isador legacy. It was still locked to Isador blood, rather than passing to the Triune. So, you had to be out there. Somewhere.”
I closed my eyes, breathing too fast and shallow. “You sent them to find me. Rik. Daire. You wanted me to be found.”
“Yes,” she answered with a shrug. “They were my bait. The complaint to the Triune was my ploy to get you here in front of me, but I never wanted Blood for Blood, Shara. I want you.”
28
Shara
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t see a way out. My mind felt like a delicate, hand-blown vase that had been dropped from the hundredth floor to shatter into dust on the asphalt far below.
“The blood circle is hers,” Keisha continued. “I can’t get him out for you. Only you have that power. You can exchange yourself for him and heal her.”
“No,” Rik retorted, locking me against his side. “There’s no way you’re stepping one foot into that circle.”
:Can I break it?:
I knew what the answer was. They’d told me the same thing when we’d gone to Zaniyah’s nest. A blood circle could not be broken, unless it was broken from within.
From within.
:No.:
Despite his adamant answer, an idea started to tickle in the back of my mind. I felt again for Ezra’s bond, drawing on my power until my heartbeat pounded in my skull. I could barely feel a thread where he should be. He was there, but extremely distant, as if someone had shot him on a rocket to Pluto. I tried to draw on our bond, but the tiny thread dissolved.
He didn’t have enough of my blood for what I wanted to try.
Rik’s bond weighed like a massive boulder in my mind. :Tell me.:
I didn’t want to tell him, because I knew what his answer would be. We’d already talked about something like this, and I refused to risk his life.
Keisha was right in one regard. Men could be absolutely ridiculous in what they would do in the name of love and honor. I tried to think of any other way. I knew exactly how I wanted to finish Keisha. I’d already played it out in my head, how I would pull the Skye blood from my Blood and give it back to her. So easy. So clean. The Triune wouldn’t be able to come after me, and my debt to her would be satisfied.
Then I’d fucking kill her.
But she’d never be satisfied unless I saved her daughter, who looked back at me with the glittering obsidian eyes of a demon.
Ra might be the god of light, but he’d managed to conjure something into Tanza that wasn’t of this earth or any realm in our goddesses’ dominion.
:Shara. Tell me.:
:Our bond is stronger than mine with Ezra. I can’t reach him through the blood circle.:
:But you could reach me.:
I swallowed hard, my stomach fluttering with anxiety. :I think so. The circle has to be broken from inside. If I can reach you through the circle, then I can break it.:
:We make the trade. I take his place. You get her to publicly acknowledge the debt is satisfied. Then you use our bond to break the circle and we kill them all.:
My heart was trying to strangle me. He sounded so calm. So assured. So confident without a single doubt in my ability to save him. To save us all.
:You’ll have to sell it to her, or she’ll suspect that you have something planned. Be furious. Be sad. But don’t let on like we know a way to beat her.:
Then he stepped forward and shoved me behind him. “Take me instead.”
Keisha arched an eyebrow. “Oh? You’re volunteering?”
“No, Rik!” I grabbed at his arm, tugging on him uselessly. My alpha could never be moved when he didn’t want to be. “Please, don’t do this!”
“I’m not letting my queen in that fucking circle until she does some research and figures out a way to break whatever curse Ra has put on your daughter. Let Ezra out, and I’ll take his place. Tanza can feed on me while we figure out the best plan.”
“No!” I was crying. I was fucking pissed. It wasn’t an act. But it certainly helped sell our plan. “Rik, I won’t let you do this. There has to be another way.”
“I’ll do it,” he retorted, ignoring me. “But you have to swear before our consiliari here and now as witnesses that you’ll immediately declare that House Isador’s debt has been paid in front of all your sibs. The rest of Shara’s Blood are free to go. She loves me too much to leave me here, so you’ll get what you want. But I want to be sure her house is secure and safe first.”
Keisha looked at me and I felt her power on the air like a massive static electricity charge. I didn’t try to hold back my sobs. The thought of Rik being hurt in any way fucking tore my heart out and shredded it to ribbons. How quickly would Tanza start to hurt him? How long would it take for us to get Keisha to live up to her promise, assuming she’d even accept Rik’s deal?
I squeezed my eyes shut. Goddess, Isis, please tell me this is the right thing to do. If anything happens to Rik…
I gulped back another sob. I’d use the fucking red serpent. I would. I would do anything to save him. Even if someone else had to die. I couldn’t live without Rik.
“Agreed,” Keisha finally said. “I, Keisha Skye, Queen of Scathach, agree to publicly declare the blood debt with House Isador satisfied.”
“Immediately.” Rik’s voice vibrated with intensity. “As soon as you go upstairs. You’ll make the announcement.”
“Yes. Now I want to hear Shara’s oath that she’ll return here to heal Tanza.”
Each word tore from my throat. “I, Shara Isador, the Great One’s last daughter, will return to my alpha as soon as the blood debt is satisfied.”
“Not good enough,” Keisha retorted.
“I’ll free Tanza from her suffering as
soon as I figure out how.”
Keisha nodded. “Yes. Agreed.”
“Duly noted,” Madeline said. “Gina, are you satisfied with the clarity of these terms?”
Gina was crying too, but she squared her shoulders despite the tears tracking down her cheeks. “I support my queen one hundred percent.”
Keisha looked at her daughter. “Okay, babydoll, let’s make a trade. You let the bear go, and you can play with this alpha.”
Tanza clapped her hands and nodded. “My alpha. Hungry.”
“Make him last,” Keisha said. “We’re going to work some magic and get you all better, okay?”
“Okay, Mama.” Tanza reached toward Ezra. He flinched away, but she grabbed his arm and pushed him toward us. He stumbled and fell out of the circle on his knees. Panting, head down, he shuffled closer to me, crying as hard as I was. “Come play, alpha.”
I clung to Rik’s arm, but he shook me off gently. Without hesitation, he stepped into the blood circle with the demon.
Like the fucking prime alpha he was.
29
Shara
I couldn’t stop crying. Which I supposed helped sell the deal all the better to Keisha. Gina and Ezra both had their arms around me, supporting me as we rode up to the hundredth floor again.
The doors opened, and my Blood immediately breathed a sigh of relief when they saw me.
Until they realized Rik wasn’t with us. Until they saw my tears.
Daire jumped up and draped his paws over my shoulders to lick my face frantically. :Where is he? What happened? I can’t feel him.:
I buried my face in his fur and clung to him a moment. I wanted to say, be glad you can’t feel him.
Because his pain had started as soon as we left the room.
At least I could still feel his bond, though it felt stretched and fragile. We’d shared so much blood that even Tanza’s blood circle couldn’t keep me fully out of my alpha. But that meant I knew exactly what she was doing to him.
He wasn’t bleeding. Yet.
But she screeched so high and shrill that his eardrums had almost burst, and he’d fallen to the ground, clutching his skull.
The less Daire and the other Blood knew, the better we’d be able to conceal our plan. But it fucking broke my heart to let them believe that I’d actually be willing to trade Rik’s life for mine. I shook my head, refusing to answer Daire even in the bond. He paced frantically around me, his tail lashing my legs, but he sensed a purpose in my actions. He trusted me to have a plan. To do something.
Even as we stood in front of Keisha’s throne, waiting for her sibs to come filing back in.
Rik was bleeding now from his eyes, nose and ears, and Tanza hadn’t even touched him yet. She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, giggling.
While my alpha twitched and bled and moaned with pain.
Panic welled inside me, but I beat it down. I wouldn’t allow panic to affect my judgement or control. We had a plan. It would work. I just needed to get through this without falling apart.
Leviathan bellowed in my head. Night had fallen while we were down in the basement and I saw him fly past the cracked windows. Keisha had warded them with her magic, so even though the glass had cracked, he couldn’t break them open, though he made a great show of trying. He landed on the roof and I felt him clawing at the stone and cement, trying to break through to reach me.
I clenched my jaws and clutched Gina’s hand in mine, our knuckles white with strain. She didn’t know the full plan either. Hopefully she knew me well enough to know that I’d never sell my alpha to save my own hide.
Finally, Keisha stood and raised her voice. “House Isador and House Skye have come to an agreement. The blood debt has been paid. Shara Isador is free to take all her Blood from Skye Tower when she leaves us. I formally withdraw my petition from the Triune.”
“Duly noted,” Madeline said, typing furiously on a small laptop. “I’m communicating your agreement to the Triune. It’ll take a few minutes…”
I swayed, fighting down another wave of pain from Rik. I could only imagine how bad it really was. Even through the dimmed bond, the pain was nauseating.
Blinking away the tears, I focused on Keisha. She stood before her throne, smiling at everyone. Even me. She’d gotten what she wanted. She believed that once I healed Tanza that their lives could continue however she wished. All those alphas who’d died to keep her daughter alive were commodities. A sad casualty in her war to keep her daughter alive. If Tanza could live, she’d snuff out every single life in this room, if necessary, even though they’d sworn their blood to her for one reason only.
Her protection as the Queen of Skye.
Something flickered behind her.
Xin. He silently flowed closer to her, no longer in his wolf form, but still invisible.
My assassin Blood, who couldn’t carry a blade on his wolf.
I met his gaze, his eyes flashing ghostly silver. Swallowing my tears, I let go of Gina’s hand and stepped closer to Keisha.
She focused on me, a frown spreading on her face. A moment of doubt. Her eyes narrowed. She started to turn toward her consiliarius, but Madeline looked up with a bright smile. “Marne Ceresa replied. The Triune acknowledges and nullifies the blood debt.”
I smiled at Keisha. Xin materialized and seized her, one arm around her waist, the other around her throat. She pulled on her power and lightning crackled and arced around her, but Xin refused to let her go. I lunged forward and sank my fangs into her throat.
I drank her down. Her power. Her blood. I claimed her in front of her people. She struggled a moment, wind tearing at me, whipping my hair and dress in a furious, desperate hurricane, but my assassin Blood had her locked tightly in his arms.
She tore at his skin, reaching back to claw at his face, but another Blood came to our assistance. The gryphon chomped down on her arm and held her pinned while she screamed.
Her mind opened to me and it was a horror story I didn’t want to see.
I didn’t care how much she loved her daughter.
All I could see were the countless broken, bloodied bodies of alphas who’d died to keep Tanza alive. The head rolling across the floor. The screams and wails of pain while she’d stood at the edge of the circle and watched her daughter feed on their pain. She’d known her daughter was possessed by something dark and demonic. That Ra had corrupted her from the beginning.
Yet she’d refused to end her daughter’s torment.
Her power filled me. The deadly might of a hurricane. Million volts of lightning. The thousand lives that looked to her for support and protection. They fluttered into my consciousness like frantic moths circling the last gleaming lamppost in the middle of nowhere. They were mine, now.
Not that I gave a fuck about any of them.
The cold chill of the grave filled me. I remembered going to Isis’s pyramid the first time, when she’d given me Her power. All Her powers, because I was Her last daughter. Keisha’s mind flickered like a candle almost blown out. Its wick burned to nothing. I felt the choice. I could release her. Let her live. I could pull her back from the grave, like I’d done for Rik before.
But I chose death. I chose retribution.
The goddess’s cold, hard smile confirmed Her acceptance of my choice.
30
Shara
I raced down the darkened hallway to the room where Tanza held my alpha. He was still alive, but his body blazed like she’d tossed him in a pool of boiling acid. I could taste her blood in his mouth.
She’d forced her blood into him. Contaminated him. The same as Ezra.
I gripped Rik’s weakened, stretched bond in my mind and prayed I wasn’t too late.
Breathing hard, I stopped and made sure I found the edge of her blood circle. Now that I knew what to look for, I could feel the emptiness, the absence of warmth and life that marked the edge of her circle. If Ra was the god of light, which gave all things life, she was the opposite. The anti-life. T
he complete and utter blackness.
In some ways, we were very much the same. I had been conceived and born in absolute darkness. But the light of love still glowed within me.
She knew nothing but her hunger for pain.
He lay on the floor, his head in the child’s lap. It could have been sweet and innocent, if he wasn’t writhing with pain while she laughed, a sweet, high-pitched sound of pure enjoyment so evil that my stomach heaved. I almost vomited all of Keisha’s blood on the floor.
He turned his head and met my gaze. Black blood dribbled from his lips, but he still managed to smile. :Shara. You did it. My queen. So fucking proud.:
His voice came from a million miles away, but I could still hear him.
Closing my eyes, I sank into our bond. I didn’t dare force my will too fast and hard down the fragile bond tying us together, for fear it would dissolve into nothing. His pain washed over me. Stronger. I breathed through it, letting it flow through me. Tears trickled down my face. I shredded my lips, fighting the need to scream. He didn’t scream, so I wouldn’t, either.
I sank further into him. My rock, unshakeable. The low rumble of an earthquake. His extreme gentleness, utter loyalty, and selfless love. My alpha would lay down his life for mine in a heartbeat.
And I would pull him back from death’s door to keep him with me.
For all his strength and alpha will, he surrendered to me. He had from the first moment I’d met him. I remembered the gentle way he’d pressed his forehead to mine. His big hands so careful when he held me. A man of his size and strength could take anything he wanted from a woman, but he’d never do such a thing. My pleasure and enjoyment had been his number one priority from the first moment we met.
If that meant rolling over on his back and letting me have my wicked way with him, he’d be there for that, all night and all day, every day.
Queen Takes Rook (Their Vampire Queen Book 4) Page 20