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“Huitzilopochtli,” I breathed out. Hummingbird on the Left.
The hummingbird hung frozen for a moment, his wings stilled, catching the light like delicate stained-glass windows to another dimension. Then the blue-skinned god stood beside us, gazing at the battlefield. Coatlicue’s son, patron god of Tenochtitlan, House Zaniyah’s former home before it fell to the Spanish. Dressed in his full regalia of long green and red feathers, his famous atlatl, Xiuhcoatl, in his right hand. God of the sun, blood sacrifice, and war.
Also our sister’s sire.
Before Shara had gone to kill Ra, she’d resurrected Huitzilopochtli, and then returned his heart stolen by Ra. Returned to his full glory, he’d gone to live forever in Aztlan with his love, our mother, Citla, his star. Though her heart had been nearly destroyed by our sires in House Tocatl before she ever delivered her heir.
“Sons of Zaniyah, our Mother is well pleased with all you’ve accomplished.”
Still gripping the obsidian blade, I pressed it over my heart and bowed to him. “Greetings, Lord of Sun. May you glitter and shine forever.”
He held out his hand to me. I wasn’t sure why he might want it, but I handed him the obsidian blade.
Lifting the knife up to the sun, he admired the thin, transparent edge. He lowered the blade to his nose, sniffing from the tip to the hilt, as if he could still identify every single drop of blood the knife had ever tasted.
He smiled, nodding to himself. “This blade has been well fed, yet it will always hunger for more.”
Yes. I would always carry this monstrous hunger for pain, but it didn’t shame me any longer. Not when our queen used me so well.
He touched the blade to Xiuhcoatl’s curved tip. “Now itztli is kissed with tletl.”
I knew he meant obsidian, the blade, not me. Yet a searing hot flame rippled over my skin, gone before I could even feel a singe or smell burning hair.
Huitzilopochtli handed me back my blade. I bowed low, pressing it over my heart again. “Thank you, Lord of Sun. You honor me.”
He turned to Tlacel and smiled. “How may I bless you, precious serpent?”
“May I ask a question regarding blood?”
His eyes flared with interest. He knew all things regarding blood. He should, after reveling in the blood of thousands of sacrifices in his name. The steps of the Templo Mayor had run red with the blood of his offerings. “Always.”
Tlacel inclined his head to the group of Gorgos Blood who stared straight ahead, still unmoving. “What’s wrong with those Blood?”
Huitzilopochtli stared at the Blood for several long moments. His nostrils flared. Sun glinted around him, bouncing off the golden ornaments around his neck. His upper lip curled with distaste, and he shook his head. “The queen planted a command inside their skulls that controls them. It strips them of their free will.”
“Like our Blood bonds with our queen?” Tlacel asked.
“This is violent. Vile, even.” Huitzilopochtli shook his head. “They’re forced to serve. Her command destroys their will without providing any power or sustenance at all. Beware, for it spreads like cuitlacoche, though you won’t find it edible. Their blood will not be an honorable sacrifice to anything but the earth from whence it came. Toss their heads into a pyre and don’t touch their blood.”
Cuitlacoche was a prized, tasty fungus that grew on corn, spreading from a single drop of rain inside the husk. If we couldn’t touch their blood… then I had to be the one to dispatch the twenty-four Blood. Me—and the Kijin. The shifters couldn’t risk sinking their teeth into something that might spread to them.
Tlacel pressed his fist to his heart and bowed. “Thank you for the assistance, Lord of Sun.”
Huitzilopochtli inclined his head sharply to him and then me. “Please convey my eternal gratitude to your lady for protecting the Daughters of Coatlicue. Through my line, Tenochtitlan rises once more. When Shara Isador has need of me, I will answer her Call without fail.”
With a loud droning buzz, he disappeared in a flash of green and red feathers.
I touched the other Bloods’ bonds. :Leave the Gorgos Blood to me.:
:You can’t fucking take on twenty fucking Blood by yourself,: Ezra retorted.
I bared my teeth in a vicious smile. :Watch me.:
49
SHARA
Chills crept down my spine, but I stood still, my shoulders straight but relaxed, my face calm and collected. Hiding a tumult of anxiety crashing like Rik’s mighty fists.
