The Queen's Protectors (A Throne of Blood Book 1)

by Scarlett Snow

  “Let me rephrase my question,” I say, contemplating my ruby nails, “tell me which royal sent you, and I will prevent my Protectors here from ripping your body into shreds.” I train my eyes on her again. Her smile melts from her smug face. “I can hear your heart pounding in your chest, little fox. Does the thought of being torn apart by my Protectors have your tails in a knot? It certainly should.”

  I keep my expression cool while I scrutinize her. I’m not used to playing the bad cop. I’ve never needed to. But there is something about this girl that reeks of death. It’s like a dark cloud hanging over her, seconds away from erupting. I imagine she’s killed many people, humans and shifters alike, without a second thought. It’s just a job to creatures like her.

  “The queen asked you a fucking question,” Kaleo spits out, kicking the side of her chair. The assassin flinches and a bead of sweat runs down her forehead. “A scumbag like you would do well to answer, or else I’ll start gnawing your fucking fingers off one by one.”

  “He is rather famished,” Ronan snarls, tightening his arms over his chest.

  I suppress a grin. It’s odd to imagine Kaleo eating fingers like carrot sticks. “I know one of the royals sent you,” I tell her, maintaining my calm façade as I lay my hands on the table. “I know they want me dead. I’d just like to know which royal to pay a little visit to first, shall we say? Now, who sent you, and how much did they offer?”

  Ronan shoots me a glance, probably wondering where I’m going with this line of questioning.

  “It’s not just me,” the girl scoffs, leaning back in her chair. “Every assassin out there. Two million, dead or alive. You’ll be lucky to go to the bathroom now without one of us trying to kill you.” She peers through her thick lashes at my Protectors. “Although, your muscles over there do look like they could do some heavy damage.” She shrugs. “Maybe you’ll survive another day. Maybe you won’t. The world’s a shitty place to live in anyway.”

  I ponder for a moment, digesting what she said and contemplating my next question. I doubt honesty will get me anywhere with her. The royal assassins won’t care about me wanting to claim my right to the throne and unite our species. I’m nothing but a contract to them. A lucrative one, at that. Two million is what my life as their queen is worth? I want to fucking laugh.

  “Will you tell me who sent you or not?” I ask one final time, my patience wearing thin.

  The assassin rolls her dark eyes. “I told you. I fucking can’t.”

  “What do you mean you can’t?” Ronan demands, unfolding his arms. He shifts over to her side and yanks at her hair. Her head snaps to the side with the impact, and Ronan pins her face-down on the table. “Answer my queen’s question, or I will break your little fucking neck, you unworthy piece of shit.”

  I fight an urge to cringe at his actions.

  Surely there’s a way to get answers without using violence?

  I soften my tone. “Ronan, let her go.”

  He obeys me, albeit with reluctance, and steps back, his eyes incinerating. They make me shudder and squeeze my thighs, knowing what his rage is capable of doing.

  I keep my focus on the girl as she sits back up. “Look, I don’t want to kill you. Trust me. I’d much rather be back home sipping a margarita than being stuck in here. All I’m asking is that you tell me the name of your client, and I’ll let you go. Simple as that.”

  When she provides no answer, I add, “You do know I’m the queen, right? But I never asked to be born into this. I’ve spent my entire life hiding from people like you. All I want is to find the creature who killed my mother. Wouldn’t you want to avenge your loved ones, too?”

  The girl gazes at me for a moment, her eyes pinched and lips slightly parted. She eventually stares down at the table. Her voice pitches low when she says, “I had no choice. We were starving. My sisters are sick, and I needed the money. When I saw your name light up my phone, I thought I’d finally be able to feed them and get the meds they need.” She looks at me with tears in her eyes. “My mother was a waste of space. She left us and flew back to China after giving birth to her second litter. But not me, I won’t abandon my family. I’ll do anything for my sisters.”

  I’m surprised to find myself touched by her words. Either she’s telling the truth, or she’s a damn good liar.

  “I get it. I really do,” I say, my voice no longer full of hatred. “Sometimes we’re forced to do terrible things in the world to survive, but those choices, our past, they don’t define us.”

  The kitsune’s eyelashes become glazed with tears. She offers a stiff nod of assent but doesn’t speak.

  “I can help you and your sisters. But first, do you think you could tell me the name of your client? I think they could be the ones who killed my mother.”

  The assassin shakes her head, her rainbow-colored hair drifting over her collar bones. “You don’t get it. Once I joined the academy, they—” She suddenly buries her face into her chained hands and stifles a scream. “Arghhhh, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

  I shoot up from my chair, my hands outstretched toward her. “What is it? What’s happening to you?” Kaleo and Ronan rush to my side, but I hold up a hand. “Kitsune?”

  When she removes her face from her hands, a trail of blood oozes from her nose and each eye. “Don’t you see? I can’t fucking tell you. If I do—” Another scream erupts from her lips, bouncing off the walls and clawing through my body. She rocks in her chair, hands over her face, and blood trickles between her fingers. “I just fucking can’t! My sisters need me alive. I can’t tell you. I can’t!”

  I go to her side, much to my Protectors’ disapproval. “Where do they live? I can help them. I can help you.”

  Her face still hidden, she mumbles into her trembling hands, “Pic…Piccadilly. Under the railway bridge. Two stops after the… the station.”

  I place a hand gently on her shoulder. The second I do, I can feel the tremendous amount of pain she’s in. It presses on my chest like a crushing weight, stealing my breath. It takes a strong amount of effort to keep my voice level so not worry my Protectors. “I’ll make sure your sisters are taken care of, Kitsune. You have my word.”

  “Why?” she breathes, her voice a hoarse croak. She peeks between her blood-covered fingers at me. “Why would you do that? I tried to kill you.”

  Her pain emanates from her body and suffocates my senses. I don’t know why or how I am able to feel her emotions like this, but I can, and they are so tainted and full of agony that I release her shoulder with a gasp. I see a child locked within her mind, surrounded by stormy rain-clouds, begging for my help. She’s holding a litter of kitsune in her arms and blood-red tears drip from her eyes just as they do right now.

  In the back of my mind, a violent beeping noise invades my body. I feel like my head is about to explode.

  “I want to help because… because I’m your queen,” I reply, my legs trembling. I take a deep breath to calm myself and return back to my chair on unsteady legs, waving Kaleo and Ronan off. Her pain begins to fade from my system, but the beeping noise persists, growing louder by the second. I wonder if my Protectors can hear the noise too. “If I’m to become queen, my duty is to protect my people,” I rasp, touching my parched throat. It’s like I’ve swallowed a bag of razors. “Not allow them to kill others for a few scraps of food.”

  I cross my legs and clasp my hands with the hope it will cease their trembling. It doesn’t. What the hell just happened to me? I literally jumped inside the girl’s mind, felt her pain as though it were my own suffering. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.

  I try to calm my heartbeat and reach a shaky hand over the table. “Killing to survive is not how this world should be. It’s not how my world will be. That’s why I want to help you. All I ask is that you help me in return. Can you do that for me, kitsune? I’ll honor my word to help you and your sisters.” I give her a weak smile. “I never break my promises, even if it’s to an assassin who tried to kill me.�
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  A part of me still distrusts her. Assassins aren’t exactly friends you’d invite around for dinner. But I can’t help but hope she will utter that one name I so desperately need.

  The girl wipes her eyes and looks up again. Her eyes are swollen and bloodshot, her cheeks stained with blood. “I can’t tell you his”—she takes a huge, deep breath—“name. I just can’t. But… but there’s a royal… shadow ball,” she grits out, her voice weak and breathless. Is this damn beeping noise coming from her mind or my own? I place a hand against my temple and apply pressure. “It’ll be on… on All Souls’ Day and he’ll… he’ll be there.”

  I struggle to make sense of her words through the incessant beeping pounding in my head. “He’ll be where?”

  More blood oozes from the girl’s nose and eyes. A prominent vein throbs along her temple. She has suddenly become pale and lethargic as she rests back on her seat. “It’s in…” She stops and tries again, her features so washed out I think she might lose consciousness. “It’s in Va—”

  BANG.

  A blast of blood explodes in my face, coating my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

  I sit frozen, drenched in the girl’s blood, and stare at what remains of her corpse, trying to grasp what just happened. Scraps of her flesh dangle from chunks of bone and a half-severed spinal cord. Only scraps of her sweater remain, and the smell of her singed hair permeates the room, suffocating my senses. There’s hardly anything left that resembles the assassin sitting there a moment ago.

  Finally, reality catches up with me, and I find my voice. “Wh… wh… what the…”

  My words catch in my throat.

  I scramble off my chair, unable to breathe or make sense of the explosion.

  What the fuck just happened?

  Kaleo’s arms envelop me. He presses my face into his hard torso, obstructing my view of the aftermath. But I can smell the assassin’s burned flesh, taste her blood, and I can still picture the little girl surrounded by those treacherous rain clouds. I can no longer hear the beeping noise. It was in her head all along.

  Kaleo somehow manages to lead me from the room. I vaguely recall Elliot entering. I don’t look back as Ronan gives him instructions. I am taken into a spacious bathroom with flagstone tiles and three enormous cubicles. Kaleo runs the taps and fills a sink with soapy water. He drenches a cloth and begins to wipe the blood from my face and neck. The taste of the girl’s blood on my tongue twists my stomach. I hunch over the other sink and expel my insides down the drain. Kaleo’s warm hands are soothing as he holds my hair back and runs gentle strokes down my back.

  “What… happened?” I demand between gasps, coughing up more of the girl’s blood and flesh.

  “I’m not certain,” Kaleo answers, his voice low with concern. “I think the kitsune had a chip in her head.”

  “Could you hear it… the… the beeping noise?” I push off the sink and grab a hand-towel to wipe my face. Taking a deep breath, I try to pull myself together. “I kept thinking my head was about to…”

  Sickened by what I was about to say, I decide not to finish my sentence.

  Kaleo fumbles inside his suit pocket. His clothes are also covered in blood but not nearly to the extent I am. I look like I’ve just swam through a pool of blood and not the appetizing kind. Singed flesh doesn’t make an appetizing garnish for my meals.

  I hunch over again and vomit more of the foul waste into the sink. I rinse my mouth out with handfuls of water, gurgling and spitting it back down the drain. Her skin is literally clinging to my insides, my hair and my dress.

  Kaleo holds out a peppermint, “I couldn’t hear a beeping noise. But I sensed she affected you somehow the moment you touched her shoulder.”

  I take the mint and slip the disk onto my tongue. “You think she had a chip in her head? Do you think that’s why… Oh, God. That’s why she couldn’t tell me his name, isn’t it? Or say anything that would lead me to him. The chip would kill her if she did. I’m so fucking stupid!”

  Kaleo wraps an arm around me. “What happened back there was out of your control.”

  I nod at him, though I am doubtful of the validity of his statement. If I’d picked up on the signs from the beginning I would have realized there was no way to question her.

  “I want her sisters looked after,” I whisper into Kaleo’s chest, blinking the tears from my eyes. “Give them anything they need, and… and tell them that I’m sorry.”

  His arms tighten around me. “Anything, Your Majesty. Please remember none of this was your fault. You had no way of knowing she was chipped.”

  I stay quiet and allow him to think I believe him. “I need to shower.”

  He lets me go and points to the cubicles. “I’ll fetch you something fresh to wear. Elliot will wait outside. You also don’t have to deal with him tonight,” he adds, probably sensing my exhaustion. “The kid can wait until tomorrow.”

  I force myself to grin. “No. I could probably do with a naughty distraction.”

  Anything to not let me feel this crushing guilt over the girl’s death. Assassin or not, she was also my kin, and in the end, she was willing to die to help me find my mother’s killer. To help me claim my throne. She didn’t deserve to die like that. If only I’d been more observant. Now, a family of foxes will never see their sister again.

  Kaleo chuckles and leaves me alone to shower. When I finish, I wrap a towel around my body and open the cubicle door. Kaleo, now washed and freshly clothed in a white shirt and black pants, is standing by the sinks. He holds a silver dress, and a pair of stilettos dangle from his fingers.

  I can tell by the smell that they belonged to my mother even before I get a good look at them.

  I hesitantly take the items from him. The dress slips through my fingers, soft and luxurious. I can actually remember the night my mother wore this outfit. I recall thinking she looked like a goddess. It was on my birthday eight years ago. She surprised me with a visit a few days before, and we’d spent the entire weekend together. Just my mother and I, laughing, drinking, and shopping like a normal mother and daughter.

  Once I am dressed, I drape my damp hair over one shoulder and begin to braid. My insides coil into a tight knot when I look in the mirror. I scrubbed my skin raw in the shower, yet I still see myself covered in blood.

  My mother. The kitsune.

  Their deaths are both because of me.

  There’s got to be something I can do to honor their sacrifice.

  The assassin hinted the royal responsible would attend the Royal Shadow Ball taking place on All Souls’ Day. All I have for a location is two letters. I make a mental note to speak with my mother’s lawyer tomorrow. Now that I’m privy to the secrets my mother kept from me, I imagine he’ll be able to help, or at least point me in the right direction. I just need to know where the ball will take place, and then I can stop by to… say hello.

  “What do you plan on doing with Elliot?” Kaleo asks, and there’s a lightness to his tone that I find soothing. “Will you accept him as a Protector?”

  I worry my bottom lip. “I think so. I felt our connection the instant we met.” I tighten the band around the tip of my braid and smooth a hand down my side. As silly as it might sound, in this dress, I feel like my mother is right beside me.

  Kaleo chuckles and flicks a loose strand of hair over my collar bone. “I guess bringing a donut maker into the bond isn’t such a bad idea.”

  I grin at him in the mirror. “Yes, but first, I must punish him for the little stunt he pulled earlier.” I turn from the mirror and face Kaleo. His eyes trail all the way from my stilettos up to my face. His huge cock hardens in his pants as he takes me in. I rub my tongue over my lips and force myself to peel my gaze from his erection. “Care to do the honors, Kaleo?”

  He growls with lust. “It would be my pleasure, Your Majesty.”

  I wait for Violet in the private room with Elliot. From the corner of my eye, I watch him tap his foot nervously against the floor.

>   “You’re going to wear a hole into the carpet if you keep doing that,” I comment, pouring myself a double whisky. “Do you drink?”

  Elliot freezes in his seat. “Umm. Tea?”

  “Alcohol.”

  “Oh. No.” He shakes his head, causing his mop of dark curly hair to shake over his features. So puppy-like, and to my surprise, so endearing. I find myself wanting to scratch his head just for my own pleasure. “I stopped drinking booze once I opened up Dunk n’ Go. I couldn’t deal with the early morning hangovers. They hurt like a bitch.”

  I drop a single ice cube into my glass and turn to him. “Have you owned your business for long? You don’t sound like you’re from England.”

  He relaxes his shoulders a little and only lightly taps his foot. “I was born in Ohio. My brother didn’t want me to move over here, but I wanted…” He pauses and then takes a deep breath. “Well, I wanted to study and get a job. Start fresh. I never thought I’d be making donuts for a living. But hey, they’re delicious, and I used to love making them.”

  Used to? That suggests he no longer enjoys his day job, which could make his potential new duty all the easier to accept.

  “You have a brother?” I inquire, rolling my sleeve up with my spare hand.

  “Had,” Elliot corrects me, his expression becoming somber as he peels his eyes from my hand.

  I take a seat beside him and sip my drink, waiting for him to continue.

  He shifts beside me, and my ears pick up the sound of his heartbeat accelerating. “My brother’s the alpha of our pack, you see. Well, the pack I was born into before I moved over here. He never forgave me for leaving the pack behind. I came to the UK with my then boyfriend, but I’ve been living on my own for about six years. I never looked back.”