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“Shara,” I said firmly. Though he’d only slipped up once and called me by my given name.
Dressed in a sleek navy-blue pinstriped suit with a soft pink tie and mirrored black shoes, he inclined his head with a slight smile. “Shara, my queen, there’s a small matter I wished to run by you when it’s convenient.”
“Of course. What is it?”
“It seems as though a large quantity of fresh beef disappeared from the refrigerator over the last few days.”
“Ah, yeah. I’m sorry about that. My newest Blood has a taste for… uh… meat.” I could feel my cheeks heating—because that wasn’t the only thing he had a taste for. Though that went for all my Blood.
Sekh’s bond rumbled with the heavy panting grunt of his lion. :Bring it the fuck on, Your Majesty.:
“Not a problem at all, my queen, though may I suggest we add a larger commercial refrigerator built to store sides of beef, whole hogs, or whatever other kinds of meat he may prefer.”
:All the above,: Sekh said.
:Lamb too,: Mehen added, not to be left out. :I fucking love roasting mutton with dragon fire.:
I bit back laughter. “That’s an excellent idea, Winston. Though we may also want to add some livestock if we have the pasture for them. How many acres do we have here?”
“Just over two-hundred acres, but most of the land is wooded,” Gina replied. “Let me see if I can get a local rancher to come out and inspect the property to make a recommendation. What kind of livestock were you thinking? Cows? Worst case, we’ll just buy a local farm.”
“Sure. Maybe some sheep.”
:Pigs,: Sekh added.
:Mmm, bacon,: Mehen agreed. Then I felt a surge of irritation from him because they’d actually agreed on something.
Maybe they could bond over hunting and eating their kills.
“Pigs,” I said out loud, trying not to laugh.
Gina wrinkled her nose. “Are you sure? They’re smelly. Also, if we’re going to add livestock, we’ll need to hire some caretakers.”
:Not if we fucking eat them all,: Mehen retorted.
“Let’s start with a couple of cows, assuming we have enough pasture space. In the meantime, a larger fridge for fresh beef will be great.”
Nodding, she jotted some notes. Winston started to turn away but paused, his hand slipping inside his pocket to pull out a quietly vibrating cell phone. He gave me a quick look. “It’s Magnum.”
She managed the New York City house. I hadn’t been back to the city since I’d grown the tree in the basement at Isador Tower. I’d intended to stay the night with Magnum, but then the Dauphine had attacked my nest, and I’d come home as quickly as possible.
Winston answered the call, listened for a few moments, and then put the phone on speaker so we could all hear. “Say that again, please.”
“There’s a man here asking to see the queen,” Magnum said. “He looks familiar, but I’m not sure it’s him. He’s not… right. There’s something very wrong with him. I didn’t think Aima could be ill like this.”
“Familiar how?” I asked slowly.
“Your Majesty.” Magnum inhaled sharply and her voice vibrated with intensity. “I think he might have belonged to your mother.”
22
SHARA
Heart pounding, I started to reach for Llewellyn’s bond, but he was already sprinting toward me across the lawn, in the back door, and to my side in seconds.
“Who?” I asked hoarsely. “Did he give you a name?”
“Not that I can understand, Your Majesty,” Magnum replied. “He’s only mumbling nonsense for the most part. I was only able to understand ‘queen’ and ‘please.’ Hold on a second and I’ll switch to video.”
