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“Perfect. Thank you.” She glanced around at each of the people gathered around her. “A queen couldn’t ask for a better army.”
Guillaume bowed low and then headed for the stairs at a trot.
“Where are you going?” She called after him.
“Templar knights always carry their best sword on crusade.”
She leaned back against me, and I wrapped my arms around her, determined not to crush her to my heart.
“Let’s go to fucking war.”
24
SHARA
The trip through the heart tree into the basement of Isador Tower and then a short drive to my mother’s house only took a few minutes, including elevator and drive time.
I sat in the back of our car between Rik and Guillaume, waiting while the rest of my Blood deployed into and around the house. Gina and Carys sat across from me with Winnifred smashed against the tinted window so she could see the house. I had a suspicion that the owl didn’t care about where we were or what waited inside. She was terrified of the sphinx and didn’t want Sekh to sneak up on her.
Mehen and Vivian took up positions on the roof, while Nevarre and Tlacel flew overhead, scanning for any threats that might approach externally. Thankfully it was dark and none of the streetlights appeared to be working in front of the house. Bless whatever pull Magnum had with the city.
Lew led the rest of my Blood inside. I watched through his eyes as he went straight to my mother’s library. The darkest room in the house, other than where she birthed me. She’d often locked herself inside the library alone, researching and strategizing how she’d keep me alive and hidden as long as possible.
Thierry was still in the same position, curled over his knees, his arms wrapped around himself. Unharmed, Magnum waited near the door as Lew passed, though she held a powerful-looking handgun in her right hand, her arm flat against her side but ready to shoot. It might slow him down, but I didn’t think any Aima would die from a gunshot, even a direct hit to the skull or heart.
Once he heard footsteps, Thierry sat back on his heels, his hands gripping his knees. Head back, eyes closed, he bared his throat. Waiting for the stroke that would take his life. Lew didn’t carry a weapon but shifted his hands enough to bare his gryphon’s razor-sharp talons. One swipe, and Thierry would be put out of misery.
Because that was exactly what his existence had become. Absolute, horrendous misery. I didn’t need a blood bond to see pain wracking his body. Shriveled muscles twitched uncontrollably, stretched like rubber bands to the point of snapping. Dark, swollen veins stood out against his thin, pale skin. Filled with goddess only knew what kind of contamination.
Itztli’s black dog sniffed a hundred-thousand scents—all reeking of death. There wasn’t anything remaining that smelled like the man Thierry had once been.
:Can you smell where he might have been before this?:
Itztli sniffed the ground, following the invisible footprints where Thierry had walked. :A variety of ground samples, as though he’s walked a very long way. But the stench of death is too thick for me to tell any specific location.:
:I can follow his trail back to the source,: Xin whispered, gliding through my mind like a cool, still fog.
I hesitated for only a moment. :Go. She probably isn’t there. It’d be too easy. But it’s worth a shot.:
The silver wolf immediately raced out of the house and down the street. He didn’t look back at me, but I felt the surge of excitement in his bond. He loved nothing more than a good, long hunt with the promise of a kill at the end.
:I love you more, my queen.:
I pressed a kiss to his head in the bond. :Keep our bond open so I know where you are, my Blood. If anything changes, I’ll call you back.:
Offering a hand to my Blood on either side of me, I took a few deep, steadying breaths. “Any last-minute advice?”
Guillaume flicked his left wrist and a silver blade dropped into his palm. “Feed as deeply as possible before you see him. The last thing you want is to feel tempted to feed on him.”
Rik added, “Don’t even touch him unless you’re absolutely sure he’s clean. Remember the scarab.”
It’d been dead on his palm—until it touched me. Now it was embedded in my wrist. If the Dauphine had planted something similar in Thierry, just waiting for me to touch him…
I shuddered at the thought. Before I got close, I’d bring up my power and shield my entire body just to be one-hundred percent sure.
With Sekh anchoring the legion of sphinxes to me, I hadn’t felt the punishing thirst again, but I would never tire of tasting any of my Blood. My knight sliced a small, tidy cut on my alpha’s throat. Rik lifted me onto his lap, his big hand wrapping around my nape. Holding me close. Slabs of granite gliding beneath me. He didn’t ask me to allow my gryphon to do the deed without intervention. Not in words. He didn’t have to, not with the siren song of his blood burning through me.
Stay safe. Here. In my arms. Forever.
