“What’s the probability I could heal a Blood of thrall contamination?”
Tipping her head back, Carys guffawed as if she’d heard the best joke of her life.
“Okaaaaaay,” Shara replied, her voice dripping with irritation. “Let me phrase it differently. What’s the probability I can spring a trap the Dauphine planted in one of my mother’s former Blood?”
Jerking her head back, Carys gaped at her. Then paled. “Zeros. All around.”
“Even if you don’t know what kind of trap it is?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Carys replied hoarsely. “What’s done is done. All the blood in the world can’t change it. Not even yours, Your Majesty.”
She turned her attention to Sekh. “What do you see of him?”
“Nothing, Your Majesty,” he replied softly. “He’s blank.”
Nodding, she didn’t seem surprised. “So we have to assume he might be one of the blanks that has followed me since I left Kansas City.”
Rather than clamping my hands back around her shoulders, I dropped my head down toward her so I could press my mouth to her hair. “He might even be the thing you sensed in the bar. Even more reason not to go.”
She leaned back against me but didn’t agree to avoid this threat. Not that I expected Shara fucking Isador to avoid any danger if she could help someone she loved. Thierry had belonged to her mother. Of course she loved him, no matter the fucking cost.
“Is there anything else my Templar knight or General of the All Seeing can recommend before we go to war? Because once I take direct action involving the Dauphine, that’s exactly what it is.”
“War.” Carys nodded vigorously though she fanned herself like she was about to faint.
“Don’t tell me our odds yet,” Shara replied wryly. “I still don’t have a plan of attack.”
“Assume the worst of her in all things,” Guillaume said. “She hides in plain sight and wears different faces and identities to blur the truth.”
Gina stepped back into the room, phone pressed to her ear. “Is there anything else you want me to tell Gwen?”
“Have her bring all the queens currently in the tower where she can personally see them. Weak, strong, it doesn’t matter. Make sure none of them leave, and if anyone acts suspicious…” Her chin inched up and she stiffened against me, her shoulders straight and proud. “Order her to see that queen dead at all cost.”
She normally kept her sibling bonds so muted I didn’t even feel them, but the White Enchantress of Camelot blazed inside my queen, and I heard Gwen’s voice echoing through our bonds.
:It will be done immediately, Your Majesty.:
No questions asking why. No protests or doubt. Just the fierce determination of the Once and Future Queen and her legendary knights of the Round Table.
:Touch my bond,: Shara replied. :I’ll pump you with enough power to level the entire city if you need it.:
Aloud, she asked, “Has Mayte formally taken Queen Jacinta’s blood yet?”
“Not yet,” Gina replied. “The ink is barely dry, and it’ll take some time for them to arrange to meet.”
“Tell Mayte to delay until I’m sure who the Dauphine is.”
Nodding, Gina started to step back into the living room, but Shara asked, “Do you want to go with us? Or would it be smarter for you to stay here?”
She flashed a broad smile and stepped over to the front door. No one knocked, but Frank stood there carrying a massive weapon slung over his shoulder. “It’s safe to say we’re both planning to go with you, Your Majesty.”
Shara huffed out a laugh. “What kind of gun is that?”
“Flamethrower, Your Majesty. Winston recommended it after the last attack.”
She glanced back toward the kitchen as Winston came out of his private quarters. Still impeccably dressed in a suit but loaded with guns that he started depositing at every door and window.
“I’ve also got a team of twenty security guards at the gate,” Frank added. “With your permission, we’ll bring a squad up to the house and into the grove.”