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“It’s no small thing for all three Triune queens to come together,” Gina replied. “I think Undina is pushing them to come to the table, but one if not both of the other queens are reluctant. But they also don’t want to anger her by refusing outright since she’s the most powerful queen on Skolos currently.”
I turned to Okeanos. “Can you estimate where she is on the map?”
He closed his eyes, dropping his head to his chest. I didn’t hear any sounds with my ears, but the water rippled in the cups on the table. “My best guess is somewhere out in the gulf itself. She’s not by the land or islands.”
“If I may make a suggestion?” Sekh asked.
I nodded. “Please.”
“I haven’t Seen a meeting of three queens not already connected by blood in centuries, Your Majesty. Granted, three or more queens would likely try to obscure their meeting, but queens haven’t openly met since Triskeles was eliminated. They want to meet but they’re afraid. Not only of each other, but they’re also afraid of you.”
“I met Undina. Her son is my Blood. What does she have to fear from me?”
“You have me,” Guillaume said softly. “And they know what happened to the last Triune who met me in person. Plus, I’m sure the queen of Rome hasn’t made it easy on them. Their Triune is complete. Hers isn’t. That implies their table is more powerful, and that’s never a good thing to threaten another queen with. Let alone her.”
“So how do I get them to meet without scaring the shit out of them?”
“We could go through formal channels and request an audience,” Gina said. “I can contact House Ketea’s consiliarius first, or all three of them.”
“I think that would scare them off even more. That says I know you’re meeting behind my back, and I want to nip it in the bud.”
“True,” Carys said. “I only see a forty-percent likelihood of a successful meeting with Undina if you reach out to her through formal channels. It drops to under ten percent if you contact all three.”
“So I need something unexpected. Would it freak them out if I just showed up at our beach house? But how would they even know I’m there?”
“Carys is the numbers woman, but I think it’s unlikely any other House has the same network of affiliated offices like we do, gathering information on all the other queens. That was something your…” Gina blinked, as if she’d completely lost her train of thought.
The network of Talbott offices was something Esetta had done.
“So opening up the house wouldn’t be enough,” I said. “I need to make an appearance, but nothing formal.”
“If the beaches are full of partying college kids, it’ll be a zoo,” Rik added. “So it can’t be vampire shit or you’re going to draw unwanted attention.”
“Why can’t it be vampire shit?” Guillaume asked. “Within reason, at least.”
“Do you have something in mind?”
His eyes sparkled with wicked amusement in a way I hadn’t seen since he’d told me about what he’d done to Triskeles. “Maybe you should go for a ride on the beach.”
My eyebrows rose. “Your hell horse? On the beach? With hundreds?—”
“Of thousands,” Sekh interjected. “At least two-hundred-thousand humans coming and going throughout the week.”
Guillaume shrugged though his lips twitched. “I can’t think of anything more spectacular than a galloping warhorse on the beach with a beautiful woman on his back. It’d make the news for sure.”
Rik grunted and shook his head. “The rest of us can’t get away with that shit, and I don’t want her unprotected.”
Guillaume barely moved his shoulder, but a knife glinted in his hand. He casually used the tip of the blade to clean under his fingernails. “She’d be far from unprotected, alpha. In fact, I’d argue the Skolos queens will fear me more than all her other Blood combined. No offense, general. They’re not going to know who you are.”
“But I don’t want to scare them.”
“Within reason, you do want them scared. Just not enough to refuse to see you. They need to respect you as the mighty queen you are, and how better could you remind them than openly using the former Triune Executioner as your personal mount?”
“So I just ride up and down the coast a few times and hope they call?”
“Twenty percent,” Carys said.
“I can swim,” Guillaume said. “And Undina is out in the gulf somewhere. If Okeanos can guide the way, I’ll swim you to her. Plus Nevarre and Itztli are relatively normal looking animals, just bigger. They can come along with us. Probably not the bear, though.”
