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My Templar knight—who couldn’t be killed—shuddered. “Hold on, Kevin. What the fuck was that about, G?”
“When a Triune queen takes her seat at the Mother’s table, she’s bound to it. I’m sorry, my queen, but it can be… alarming to see. I can’t imagine what it must feel like, but it doesn’t look pleasant.”
“Bound? Like tied up? Caged? I saw the table in Rome and there weren’t any chairs. Just a darkened spot where the queens stood.”
Though the Triskeles table I’d been called to did have three chairs. When I’d touched my seat, the back had changed into Isis’ horned sun-disk crown. If I’d sat down…
“Triune Articles Section 1.1.13,” Kevin whispered breathlessly. “Blood flows from the Great Mother of All, through Her daughters to Their queens, and thus a Triune queen is bound to Her table and Her will.”
“If you’d agreed to join that Triune, with her present… You would have had a quorum, activating the Great Mother’s power. The table changes. It’s like it comes… alive, and the queens are inside it. A part of it.”
“Have you seen what he’s talking about?” I asked Sekh.
He shook his head. “The Great Mother’s magic cloaks Her tables. I couldn’t even tell you where the tables are in this world, let alone what happens at them.”
“I’ve seen things no other living Blood has seen,” G ground out, his voice harsh. His bond ached with a thousand regrets, a million-ton cargo ship sinking to the bottom of the ocean. “No Blood should have seen.” He stared down at his hands, his fingers trembling. “Mother, forgive me.”
* * *
GUILLAUME
These hands had taken hundreds, thousands, of lives. Some were honorable deaths, whether in battle or protecting Shara. Like the saleswoman in Kansas City who’d been tainted by Marne Ceresa’s blood.
But I would always see the blood of Triskeles on my hands. No matter how many centuries passed since that evil deed.
“Oh, G,” Shara whispered softly, her voice breaking as her pure heart cracked open.
“It was me.” I dropped to my knees, my shoulders slumped. “I killed Triskeles at Desideria’s order.”
“But Okeanos said it was the queen of Rome.”
“Oh, I’m sure she had something to do with it. Maybe she planted the idea in Desideria’s head. She was fucking paranoid to the point of insanity. But I assure you those queens died by my sword. I was there with Desideria. She compelled me.”
“What did you hear in Rome?” She asked the kraken.
“There was a meeting between her and another queen. They talked at the edge of the koi pond, just like she did with you, my queen.” Okeanos paused, his voice softening as if even now he feared the queen of Rome’s reach.
“Did she say who the other queen was?”
He hesitated long enough I dragged my gaze up to see his face. He’d dropped to his knees beside Shara’s chair, their heads together, her hand clutched in his. “I can hear the soft whisper of music on the breeze, a hint of the name. But then it’s gone.”
She closed her eyes. “My mother. Goddess. It had to be her.”
“The queen of Rome asked her why Desideria had ordered her to Constantinople days before she died. The other queen only laughed, a sound like ringing bells and tinkling chimes, and said she would answer that question if the queen of Rome cared to explain how Desideria knew Triskeles had planned to hold a quorum in Saint Petersburg.”
I swallowed the lump of regret choking me. “Desideria and I traveled to the ruins of the fortress once called Nyenskans under cover of her magic. Saint Petersburg is its modern name.”
“The queen of Rome denied having anything to do with Triskeles, but the other queen very clearly said, ‘Queens who wish to keep their secrets shouldn’t accept gifts of mirrors from Rome.’”
“Goddess,” Shara let out a shaky breath. “That’s exactly what she did to me. Why would a Triskeles quorum have been bad news to Desideria?”
“They were Triune too,” I replied. “With three Triune queens present at the table, bound to the Great Mother, they were damned near invincible. I’m sure they intended to compel Desideria to stand for her crimes before the Great Mother, even though she was High Queen of the other Triune.”
“If they were invincible…” Gwen said slowly.
I barked out a harsh laugh. “How the fuck did I fucking kill them? It wasn’t easy, even for me. First of all, the Triune table itself isn’t of this world. It moves to where its queens are. That’s why the general can’t see them.
“Only someone carrying a Triune queen’s blood can even unlock access to the location. When three Triune queens come to the table, they each drop a blood circle around it, making it triple secure. That way, no single Triune queen’s Blood can cross the circle to take the other two queens out while they’re bound and helpless. No Blood are allowed inside with the queens, either. It’s just the three queens in the presence of the Great Mother.”
