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Even now with the past act of killing Triskeles laid out between us, he still shuddered at the memory of what he’d seen, just as much as he felt the guilt and horror of the act itself. “If they were united, why didn’t they compel Desideria before you could strike?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. They didn’t speak a word aloud but perhaps they were talking to themselves. Crying out to the Mother or their Blood to save them. I’m not sure.”
“The strongest Triune queen is the Speaker of the Table,” Kevin whispered. “Determined by the amount of her goddess’ blood she carries and thus the Great Mother’s. The queens’ blood must be measured before the Speaker can be determined. Triune Articles Section 1.1.15. The Speaker is also known as the High Queen of the Triune, Addendum 8 added in 1503 AD.”
“Goddess.” Gwen let out a shaky laugh. “How’s a queen’s blood measured without taking it out of her body?”
“That’s exactly what happens,” Guillaume replied grimly. “The queen I killed didn’t bleed. The table did. All that blood,” he whispered, shaking his head. “Wasted. It drained away into the floor and was gone before the bodies were cold.”
My stomach quivered. “It would have been fucking great to know all these fun details about the Triune before I agreed to take a seat.”
“I’m sorry, my queen.” Grimacing, he squeezed my hand. “You were already scared, and rightfully so. Accepting a seat at the Triune table is only for the strongest queens, and not just in power, though of course that helps tremendously.”
“I guess that also explains why sibling queens don’t sit on the same Triune. It would skew the blood measured for the Speaker position.”
“Do you think the Skolos Triune is meeting so they can compel you to come before them?” Gwen asked.
“For what reason, though? To kill me? I haven’t done anything to them. Certainly nothing like the queen of Rome or Desideria.”
“But they could kill you and then pardon themselves,” Gina warned. “Or they could compel you to kill either the Dauphine or the queen of Rome with the promise of a pardon.”
“True,” I said slowly, letting ideas fire and die out in my mind like sparks from a fire. “Carys, what’s the probability Skolos is holding a quorum with the goal of killing me?”
“Thirty-three percent. It’s possible—but not their primary goal.”
Wait. One third. “What’s the probability one of the three queens near Houston wants to kill me?”
Carys made a soft sound of surprise. “Goddess. One hundred percent. I’ve never seen that before.”
“So it’s two against one. Maybe that’s why they haven’t been able to come to an agreement yet. Can you see which one wants me dead?”
Carys shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that, unfortunately. Though ask me when I can see their faces.”
“Could they have met anywhere? I mean, did they pick a location close to me on purpose?”
“The Speaker determines where and when the Triune meets,” Kevin said. “In the case where the table is called without a known Speaker, the blood will be measured first to determine who speaks for the Great Mother. Triune Articles Section 1.1.21.”
I looked over at Okeanos. “Your mother is the High Queen of Skolos, right?”
He nodded. “Though I don’t know how often the Skolos queens have met or where in the past.”
“Who’s the Speaker for the other Triune?” I asked.
“No one,” G replied. “They haven’t met since Desideria was killed. Even long before that, actually.”
“Did they ever meet after Triskeles?”
He shook his head again. “Not even before, at least not in my time of service. Desideria never sat at the table with the other two queens after taking my oath.”
“I still can’t believe they didn’t do something to stop her. Especially if it only took the other two queens to remove her from her seat. I have to believe the Great Mother would have immediately supported their decision to remove Desideria from her seat, even if it angered her triple goddesses.”
“They were too fucking greedy themselves. As Desideria’s reign of terror continued, more and more queens came to Rome for protection. The Dauphine fucked off into obscurity. When Desideria died, it left the queen of Rome without anyone to check her. No one was strong enough—or brave enough—to dare take a seat across from her.”
“Damn.” I blew out a sigh, my mind racing. “If I’d taken a seat with her that day in Rome, then we could have compelled the Dauphine to join us. I could have removed her then and there.”
“Which is exactly why it suits both of them to stay far away from each other and their table, while trying to murder anyone who even thinks about trying to join them,” Guillaume replied.
“Do you have a sense of when another queen may be called to join you at Triskeles?” Gwen asked.
