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“So beautiful,” Shara whispered softly. “I wonder how she did it. If I could do the same.”
“You are your mother’s daughter. Will it to be so.”
She sighed again, prompting G to lift another bite to her mouth. Before she opened her lips, she said ruefully, “I wish you would all rise. I don’t like to see you so subservient.”
I’d started the impromptu demonstration. No one moved a muscle, waiting on me to decide if I was done proving a point yet.
“Again, my queen, you know exactly what to do.”
I waited, flat on my belly. I wanted her to command me to step down. I deserved the shame. The agony of watching another take my place. She needed so much more than me. Other than shutting down her bonds so she could get close to Ra in Heliopolis, she’d never truly forced me to do anything.
She’s Triune. She needs to be able to force us into uncomfortable, even horrible situations, without hesitation. Even me.
Especially me.
:Don’t you fucking dare wish to be forced from her side.: Llewellyn growled in my head, his gryphon screeching in the bond. :Or I’ll play that memory of my former queen hacking off her hair. What it felt like when she simply disappeared. That torture was worse than anything House Skye managed to do to me.:
They’d put out his gryphon eyes. Chained, hooded, and bound, he’d been raped.
Yet losing his queen had been worse.
:I don’t want to lose her, goddess forbid. But I can’t be the reason she fails to step fully into who she’s meant to be.:
:You’re a fucking idiot,: Mehen retorted. :Nothing can stop Shara fucking Isador. She’s been doing Triune-level shit all along. No other queen managed to free me in thousands of years. I killed them all. Yet here I am, wishing she’d decide to seize my throat in her jaws and take me again.:
“Rise.” Her single word knitted my muscles into action before the word even registered in my head.
On my feet, not my stomach. Not my knees. She didn’t say the words, but I felt the compulsion in my bones. Return to my seat. My place. At her back, with her tucked back against my chest between my thighs.
Guillaume fed her another bite once I had her settled again. “What are you afraid of, my queen?”
She swallowed hard, as if the creamy eggs had turned to dust in her mouth. “Failing. Watching you die because I screwed up.”
“My queen never fucking fails.” Mehen blew out a deep draconic snort of displeasure. “She merely finds another, even more bloodthirsty way to get what she wants. Leviathan hasn’t feasted in months, my queen. Allow me to bring justice for House Isador.”
“No.” Xin stepped closer, his silver wolf flashing in his eyes. “Allow me to kill in your name, my queen. There could be no greater honor.”
She allowed the back of her head to rest against my chest. Longing flooded me. The urge to pull her close, wrap her in my strength, and never let her step foot out of our safety. To shield her. Forever. Not just from external threats, but also the turmoil whirling in her mind.
“The only way you fail is to not try at all.” Guillaume gave her another bite, a smile playing on his lips. “You have Blood who were bred to be well-honed, brutal weapons. We’re meant to be used—and used well—in your service. We’re all eager to kill for you. You decide where to point us, and when you’re willing to pay the cost. Besides, if they fail to accomplish your goal, you always have the headless knight at your disposal.”
Tension bled away from her shoulders, but she didn’t melt into my embrace. Not like before. “Not yet. But soon, I may have need to send my assassin Blood to bring justice for House Isador.”
Fierce joy burned like quicksilver in Xin’s eyes. “I await your orders, my queen.”
* * *
SHARA
Dread still thickened my throat at the thought of incurring another goddess’s wrath for killing Her queen. But I couldn’t deny the jolt of anticipation shooting through me, matching the wicked glee sparking in Xin’s eyes.
When he’d first come to me in Kansas City, he’d almost decided not to answer my Call to become my Blood. Not because I was too young or not powerful enough. But because he feared I wouldn’t be a queen who’d use him like the assassin he was.
He’d killed countless queens before he came into my service, rivaling Guillaume’s kill count when he’d served Desideria. Between the two of them, they’d probably done more to wipe out Aima blood on this earth than Ra had accomplished despite his hatred. Add in all the queens who’d braved Leviathan’s prison in the hope of gaining the dragon king’s power, and it was no wonder there were precious few queens left.
I didn’t intend to start killing the competition. Far from it.
But I would protect my nest and all my loved ones inside. Especially my vulnerable human friends like Gina and Frank. A seemingly unlikely couple, my regal, brutally efficient consiliarius and my head of human security had found a second chance at love. They were absolutely adorable together.
