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Locking Shara inside with them. Where none of us could fucking reach her.
:I can reach her, dragon,: Sekh said. :Surely you didn’t forget how much fun you had welcoming me inside her blood circle when she Blooded me.:
:Even three?: I retorted, tucking my wings close to my body. Ready to slither forward before the last droplet fell into place and seize our queen. Drag her out by my teeth. :They saw the wolf.:
:I See him too, and yes. Even three. She will not be trapped inside for long. Not with us here to kill them all. Imagine the feast, dragon, and be ready to fill your belly.:
Now that I could get behind.
Ketea closed her circle. Green glistened on her forehead. It took me a moment to realize it was sweat. Her hands trembled as she turned to face the glowing table.
The fucking high queen was scared shitless.
And my queen was trapped inside with her.
48
ITZTLI
The last time I’d gone to the battlefield expecting to die, I’d worn the traditional weapons of my people, the macuahuitl and atlatl. Today, the only weapon I carried was the obsidian blade of Teotihuacan. Yet I was deadlier than any Mexica warrior could have hoped to be.
I carried my queen’s power, and she’d blessed me well. Rather than carving out the evil I’d inherited from my sire’s line, the Flayed One, she’d embraced every dark urge and honed them to a vicious edge.
Today, I refused to die. My queen loved me so much she’d sworn to die if I fell. So I must find a way to live.
Though the odds were against us. We were outnumbered nearly seven to one.
I watched the other two groups of Blood, assessing their abilities and strengths. The Gorgos Blood had greater size and numbers, but the Kijin Blood carried themselves like warriors. Soldiers used to warfare and battle. I saw long, slightly curved swords in Guillaume’s bond, and he played out a few battle scenes from his memories, showing me how they’d fight.
:We need to split up,: I told the other Blood outside the nest. :If we spread out, the other Blood should deploy in response. Get a group of Gorgos between you and the Kijin but don’t shift unless a fight breaks out. We won’t draw first blood, but we’ll finish it.:
Vivian and Nevarre circled overhead with a huge flock of crows, providing an aerial view of the three groups of Blood. Though the phoenix focused on the biggest Kijin king.
Ezra and Daire immediately strolled off along the beach as if they were looking at seashells. Llewellyn locked his arm around Thierry’s waist but they didn’t walk away.
:He can’t walk,: Llewellyn whispered. :I don’t want him to appear weak before the others.:
:Understood. Tlacel and I will draw their notice away.:
My brother fell into step beside me, our stride automatically synchronized as we moved up the beach away from the others. Sunlight sparkled on the water, and I estimated the sun would begin to set in another hour. Let it not be my queen’s last day.
“We haven’t made an offering to Coatlicue together since the day our queen came to House Zaniyah,” Itztli said.
Nodding, I halted, casually turning toward him so I could scan the other groups of Blood. The Gorgos Blood hadn’t moved. They didn’t look at us or the other smaller groups of Blood. They simply… stared. At nothing. They didn’t smell like thralls, and they didn’t carry the scent of rot and death like Thierry. They didn’t act like Blood ought, assessing each other. Preparing to defend their queen to the death.
Unnerved, I shifted my gaze to Tlacel’s. “You’re right. We should offer the Mother of the Gods a sacrifice and beg Her blessing.”
He didn’t unsheathe the blade he carried. Instead, he held out his hand. Wanting me to draw his blood.
By the grace of our queen’s bond, I could do so without fear. Because she had looked into the darkest corner of my heart and embraced what she saw there without hesitation. My loved ones were safe now. Thanks to her.
I drew the obsidian blade across his palm and then mine. Together, we held our fists out, squeezing our blood through our fingers to splatter on the sand. The Kijin Bloods’ heads immediately snapped in our direction, but the Gorgos didn’t care about the scent of blood. Even their enemies’.
“Coatlicue, Mother of the Gods, please accept our sacrifice.”
“Teteoh Innan, send us a sign,” Tlacel said. “Guide our footsteps to victory.”
A buzzing sound drew my attention to the left of my brother’s shoulder. Hovering in midair, a blue-green hummingbird shimmered in the late sun. Red breast flashing like blood.
