The Queen's Dance (Emerging Queens)

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  “Buenos días, my friends. It is I, Casimiro.”

  “I need your phone, Casimiro,” Reed said.

  “Carolyn, you look lovely as ever.”

  There was a thump that Margery interpreted as Reed pushing him away from his mate and into a wall. Casimiro would have tried to kiss Carolyn on both cheeks.

  “Cretin,” Casimiro sniffed. “Is it true what I hear about Cassandra?”

  “What did you hear and from whom?” Reed snarled.

  “I see it is.” Casimiro’s singsong voice was smug. Jeez, she used to hate it when he got like that.

  “Change the subject.” Reed’s tone promised icy death. Margery shivered in spite of herself.

  Casimiro cleared his throat. “Right. I don’t want to start off on the wrong foot by upsetting our newest Queen.”

  Reed grunted and slammed out of the cabin.

  “I see she is a little shy,” Casimiro continued as if he hadn’t just pissed off a powerful black dragon. “Why don’t you come out from behind…Chump? Is it?”

  “Champ,” Remy said in an easy drawl that belied his tense stance.

  “Pardon, my English isn’t that good.”

  “Oh, bullshit, Cas,” Margery said, collecting herself. She wasn’t going to hide behind Remy. It was time to put on her big-girl panties and see her old lover face-to-face for the first time since she broke it off.

  “I beg your pardon, my Queen, have we met?”

  And that was the thing, Margery thought. What would be worse? If he remembered her and how little he’d thought of their relationship, that he never called to ask why she broke up with him. Or if he gave her that blank look he got when he knew he should remember something but couldn’t recall it.

  Margery pressed her forehead against Remy for support and then gathered up her pride like a tattered cloak and stepped away from him.

  Casimiro’s smarmy smile froze and then slid off him, taking the mask of the Latin lover he put on for strangers with it. His knees actually buckled, which would have been flattering if his next line wasn’t, “I’m an idiot. You were a Queen.”

  “What the hell is going on here?” Remy asked.

  “I have found my consort,” Casimiro said, opening his arms.

  Casimiro was ridiculously attractive, with finely chiseled cheekbones and smoldering dark eyes that promised wicked delights. His black hair was always artfully tousled to fall broodingly across his face. He had a body like a dancer, and the swivel of his hips ensnared his fans almost as much as his voice. There had been a time when Margery would have run into his arms gladly. But that was a few years ago.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “But not a chance in hell.”

  Chapter Five

  “Is this some kind of a joke?” Casimiro asked, his nostrils flaring as he breathed in her scent. “You are my lover. I am your consort.”

  “Wha-at?” Carolyn drawled. “I can’t believe Reed is missing this.” She stood on her tiptoes and peered out the window.

  “We were lovers,” Margery said. “A few years back, I was so excited to get an interview with the great Chinese dragon Casimiro.”

  “I don’t give them out to just anybody.” He preened.

  “Too bad you can’t say the same thing about your dick.” Margery raised an eyebrow.

  Carolyn snapped her fingers. “Burn.”

  “Margery, a dragon has needs.”

  “Are you seriously going to go with that one?” Remy asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. It made his muscles bulge out, and Margery did a double take.

  Damn.

  “Shut up,” Casimiro growled.

  “My house. My Queen. You can leave if you’re not going to show respect.”

  “You are her consort?” Casimiro sneered.

  “He is my protector,” Margery said. “And my friend. He saved my life.” And he’s standing up for me. When was the last time anyone had done that?

  “Who would dare harm you?”

  “Apparently lots of people,” she said and gave him the lowdown on the past few days.

  “Well, you obviously can’t stay here.” Casimiro pulled out another phone and started tapping on it. “If the Cult can take out Cassandra, they can get to you.”

  “What?” Remy said.

  “Shit. That’s classified.” Carolyn punched Casimiro in the arm. “Shut up.”

  “What cult?” Margery asked, looking at Remy for clarification. But he seemed as confused as she was.

  “Don’t be frightened,” Carolyn said to Margery. “But Cassandra is dead.”

  Margery forgot to breathe. She needed to call her editor. Like now. Like right fucking now. The elder Queens were dropping like flies. First Lerisse. Now Cassandra. Holy shit. There were only three elder Queens left. “Has the media gotten hold of this yet?”

  “Not yet.”

  Margery saw stars in front of her eyes. What a scoop! This was the stuff careers were built on. But, she sighed, she wouldn’t act on any of it unless they were on the record. And Carolyn had made it very clear they were not.

  “The Council of Elders are figuring out how to spin it,” Carolyn said. “The Cult of Humanity—the douche bags who were behind the spell that stopped us from shifting?”

  Margery nodded.

  “Well, they took her out. I guess they figured they could sacrifice her to fuel another binding spell.”

  The dragon magic stuff was so beyond her. But Margery figured she’d have to learn all about that now. Idly, she wondered if they’d mind if she wrote some articles on that. It would be a nice break from all the gossip columns and sex scandals that got inches in the papers and on the news sites.

  “Did they get a spell off?” Remy frowned.

  Carolyn shook her head. “No, Sergei—Viola’s consort—was first on the scene and took them all out.”

  “What does that mean for the remaining elder Queens?” Margery asked. The three left must be closing their borders and beefing up their security.

  “Normally, there would be panic. But Cassandra was a first-class bitch in her own right. With all these other Queens emerging, she won’t be missed much. Still, the Cult has to realize their best shot is to take out one of the newer and less protected Queens.” Carolyn bit her lip. “Can you see how crazy it would be for you to go back to your New York apartment and your old life?”

  Unfortunately, Margery did. She could hide from the studs, but if this cult could take out a Queen who’d been alive for thousands of years, she didn’t have a chance.

  “Name me as your consort and we’ll be on our way,” Casimiro said.

  Remy crossed his arms over his chest. They shared a look, and she knew instinctively that he would back her, no matter what she decided. But she got the impression he didn’t approve of Casimiro. Or maybe that was her own instincts.

  “I have to think about this,” Margery said. Everything was moving too fast for her. One minute she was given Vermont as a temporary territory after being kicked out of her Manhattan apartment, and the next minute Casimiro had flown back into her life and wanted to whisk her off into the sunset.

  “What’s to think about?” Casimiro looked up at her in confusion.

  “As a lover you were unfaithful, distant, and arrogant.”

  “I was never arrogant in bed.”

  Remy rolled his eyes.

  Margery snorted.

  “Well, you have to admit it was with good reason.”

  “I’ll be outside,” Carolyn said. “Bleaching my brain.” She hurried out of the cabin, slamming the door behind her.

  “How can you be my consort if you’re never around?” Margery asked.

  Casimiro reacted as if she slapped him. “Of course, you would travel with me. You would never be out of my sight. I have a personal security guard of both humans and dragons that will see to your needs when I’m not around. And now that I see you are here, alone and unprotected, I will not leave without you.”

  “Want to take bets on tha
t?” Remy drawled.

  “I am not a bunch of drakes with nothing to lose. If you fight me on land, Chump, you’ll be the one to lose.”

  “Let’s go.” Remy cracked his knuckles.

  Margery stepped in between the two and put her hand on each of their chests. “No fighting.”

  “I’ll make this easy for you, Margery. Come with me and live the glamorous life. You can travel the world in first class. Eat at all the best restaurants. I’ll buy you diamonds and jewels. I will help you build your Queendom with every penny I own and with my very soul. I can protect you in the sky, on land, as well as in the water. What can he offer you?”

  Remy glared at Casimiro and didn’t say a word, but a muscle in his jaw twitched.

  “Exactly,” Casimiro said. “He can’t even take you on a sky dance.”

  Margery frowned. “I don’t even know what that is.”

  “It’s how sky dragons mate.”

  “I still don’t know what that is.” Did he mean that she had to get it on in the air? Or was it a type of ritual dance thing?

  “They said you were a sky dragon,” Casimiro said. His smile slipped off his face.

  “Yeah, and about a month ago, I was human. I’ve spent the majority of my time as a dragon locked up in a ship.”

  He cleared his throat. “It’s how sky dragons mate,” Casimiro said again. He made hand gestures this time, but it looked more like he was conducting an orchestra than talking about a bodily function.

  “Mate or have sex?”

  “With a Queen it’s the same thing. I enjoyed our last dance together.” He trailed his fingers down her cheek. Margery frowned and pulled back.

  “But it wasn’t a sky dance, was it?”

  “Why would it be a sky dance? You were human.” Casimiro looked at her like she’d just sprouted fangs and a tail. “It was a tango in a shitty little club in Buenos Aires.”

  “You brought it up. Are we talking sex or dancing?” Margery cocked her head. She was pretty sure they were never in Buenos Aires. She narrowed her eyes at him and saw he’d just come to the same conclusion.

  “Whichever.” He shrugged. “I mean to say, don’t you remember how good we were together?” Casimiro held out his hand.

  “While it lasted.” She batted it away and folded her arms across her chest.

  Remy snickered. “So he talks a good game but doesn’t last very long?”

  “I want to infiltrate Smythe Industries,” Margery blurted out when she saw the skin start to flake away from Casimiro’s face. She figured they were both seconds away from going full dragon and trashing the place.

  Both men looked at her, and she realized she liked it better when they were glaring daggers at each other.

  “No.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Well, at least they agreed on something.

  Margery talked fast, hoping to distract them from going all dragon on her instead of each other. “Just because Smythe’s lying low doesn’t mean he isn’t plotting his next move. What if no Queen will have him? Or what if he decides that he’ll sell his pills to the dragons who aren’t consorts? We need to bring him down before another woman dies.”

  “That’s a job for the dragon embassy,” Casimiro said, straightening the collar of his silk shirt.

  “They don’t give a shit about humans.” She smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand. “You know that.”

  “Reed has a staff that’s capable of handling things. He may have already captured the drakes from last night,” Remy said.

  Margery walked outside, hoping that they would follow. “Let’s see what he found out, then. He was calling in the situation to the embassy.”

  Carolyn brightened when the three of them stepped out of the house. “Is everything all settled?”

  “Not exactly,” Margery said. “Where’s Reed?”

  “He’s called in some backup. We need a cleanup crew here, anyway, and then a few more guards while we establish a perimeter around the house.”

  “I’m not staying,” Margery said.

  “That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all day,” Casimiro said. “Come with me and we’ll dine in Japan tonight. I have open reservations at Kitcho.”

  “Choyo’s not going to like a Queen with a powerful stud in her territory,” Carolyn said. “And with the elder Queens’ ranks shrinking from five to three, I wouldn’t piss any of them off right now. It could get deadly.”

  Casimiro puffed up. “Choyo grants me boons for services I give her.”

  “Yeah, I bet,” Margery said.

  “Concert tickets, my little dove. You will be the only Queen for me.”

  “What about the humans?”

  “Insignificant.”

  Pain cut through Margery. She hadn’t expected it to hurt that bad. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known what he’d thought about her when she was human. It was hearing him say it so matter-of-factly. She closed her eyes and held a hand to her gut, where it felt like he’d just slipped in a knife.

  “What is wrong?” Casimiro asked, tilting her chin up with his fingers.

  Remy cracked his knuckles and took a step forward.

  She blinked away tears. “You broke my heart.”

  “You left me.” He snatched his hand away as if she burned him.

  “How long did it take you to notice?”

  “This is a pointless conversation. We’ve both changed.”

  “And that’s why I can’t be your consort,” Margery said. “I haven’t changed.”

  “You’re a Queen now.”

  “I was never insignificant,” she said, punctuating each word with a stab of her finger into his chest.

  Reed came back at that moment and raised an inquiring brow. “Did I miss something?”

  “Boy, howdy,” Carolyn said.

  Reed frowned at her. “What does that mean?”

  “It means Margery used to be dragonstruck and shared Casimiro’s bed,” Remy said, his lip curling.

  She whirled on him. “I was not dragonstruck. I was in love. He was witty and charming. He listened to what I had to say, and he made me laugh.”

  “I suppose his money and fame didn’t mean a thing to you,” Remy said, a scowl darkening his handsome features.

  “We wouldn’t have met if he wasn’t famous. But that’s about it. I didn’t go to Kitcho with him. We ate on the road or at local places where he would go incognito. We went to this bodega in the worst neighborhood I’ve ever been to—and I’ve covered wars.”

  “I remember that place,” Casimiro said softly, a faint smile on his face.

  “I still dream about that paella. I’ve tried many times to recreate it, but there’s always something missing. He haunted me like that, too.”

  Remy looked away.

  “I didn’t have any illusions that we would get married and have two-point-five kids and live in a house with a white picket fence. I’ll admit in my heart of hearts I wanted that. But I knew it couldn’t be. I thought we were special, though.”

  “We were,” Casimiro murmured, trying to hold her hands.

  “When we were together,” she agreed, turning her back on him. “But as soon as I was out of your sight, I was out of your mind. I broke up with him on his world tour.”

  “You left me a voicemail, you coward,” he said, heat in his voice.

  Oh, no, he didn’t. Margery whirled to face him and went back to poking him after every sentence. “After you hadn’t called me in three months. After not returning my calls. I called every Friday night. Sometimes on Sundays, too.”

  “A world tour requires a lot out of me.”

  “One call.” Margery threw up her hands.

  “What?”

  “All you would have had to do was call me once and I would still be yours.” It was the damned truth of it. That’s how much she had loved him.

  He was silent.

  “One call in three months. You weren’t that busy. No, wait. You were busy, all right.
I had you on a Google alert.”

  “Stalk much?” Casimiro said in a petty, bitter tone.

  “Nadia, Imogene, Kelly, Dahlia, Betty, Yukio, Renee. Those are all I can remember off the top of my head. When they went to the ladies’ room, when they fell asleep, hell, when you left them sleeping and got into your limo—one call.”

  “Aim higher,” Remy said.

  Margery smiled at him. “Where were you then?”

  “Right here.”

  “Where you always are,” Casimiro said. “Where you always will be.”

  The two men squared off again.

  “You made me fall in love with you.” Margery stepped between the two dragons again. She wasn’t going to let Casimiro goad Remy into a fight. “Why put in the effort for a mere human if you weren’t serious?”

  “He does that.” Carolyn frowned at him. “Did you use your dragon magic to seduce her?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Not good enough,” Carolyn said. “Think harder.”

  Casimiro blew out an exasperated sigh. “I can’t remember. Margery, did you ever feel like this?”

  Margery felt the lure in his gaze and looked up into his deep, brown eyes. Remembered desire coiled through her. He used to wear the vetiver cologne she gave him because it was her favorite. She inhaled deep, hoping to catch a trace of that arousing scent. But it wasn’t there. Instead, Remy’s woodsy scent circled around her with a trace of the lake breeze.

  “What am I supposed to be feeling?” she asked after a minute of watching Casimiro’s hooded eyes.

  “You are not the least bit tempted by me?” Casimiro pursed his lips, tilting his head to look at her as if she were a strange, exotic creature.

  Margery shook her head. “Been there, done that. Got the T-shirt. Literally, I bought your world tour T-shirt. I’d wear it when I was feeling great about myself to remind me not to get so cocky.”

  “Make a note to burn that shirt,” Carolyn said to Remy.

  “Anyway, we’re ancient history, Cas.” Margery dusted off her hands. It was better this way.

  “I can change your mind if you would just let me.”

  “I have better things to do right now,” she said. “Starting with stopping whoever is behind smuggling those BabyDragon pills in the Smooshies. What did you find out?” Margery looked at Reed.