Page 12 of Up in Smoke

Want to take this outside, mémère?

Saturday, May 30, 2043.

New Orleans, Louisiana.

The South.

What should have beena restaurant and a music hall had become a meeting place for the few who could still reach it, although the restaurant portion of the House of Blues survived. Twelve Voodoo queens sat around a collection of tables laid out to become a square, with three open seats for Ryleigh, myself, and Sandro. Ryleigh claimed the leftmost seat, and she patted the chair beside her. “Come, Jade, and bring your pet with you.”

My ears twitched back, but I obeyed. At my fox’s insistence, I waited for Sandro to come a little closer before kissing his cheek to make it clear to the Voodoo queens he belonged to me.

My fox approved.

Only when certain the gathered women understood my point did I sit, and I placed Peace on the table in front of me and Sandro.

“Your vixen makes an interesting statement,” the oldest of the Voodoo queens stated, and she stared at me with no expression on her wizened face. The rotund, gray-haired woman with dark skin that had darkened over the years could take on most of the other queens in a fight—except for Ryleigh.

None of the Voodoo queens could take on Ryleigh, and they knew it.

The spirits listened to the woman who had taught me my tricks, and they favored her.

“He saved her, so she saves him. Theirs is a balanced partnership that will last through the years. But he is our salvation as much as she is, for all he is her pet while in our city. And, should all go well, it will be her city and we will be grateful for what she can do that we cannot.” Ryleigh lifted a single shoulder in a shrug, the slightest of motions indicating she didn’t give a damn if the other queens agreed with her.

“If he’ll sing for us,” Yasmin countered. “And if she’ll speak to the spirits she so fears during the pulses she so hates.”

Nice. The old bitch wanted to insult me out of the gate. “Want to take this outside, mémère, or did you leave your wheelchair at home?”

Yasmin stared at me for a long moment, and then she cackled. “She has not lost her fire, Ryleigh. This is good. I’d wondered after Prisilla had reported your vixen had been sold at auction.”

“She wished to use the Morettis to save her beloved Tulsa, the home of her heart, which struggles as our beloved New Orleans struggles. We come to the table with equal to gain and equal to lose. Let us not disrupt the balance with pettiness,” Ryleigh rebuked. “I have spoken to her, and she has agreed to make the attempt. Should she succeed, her pet will be at her side as a king and will no longer require leash or collar.”

I snorted a laugh at that. “Good luck getting that collar off.”

“Is that a challenge, ma chéri?” Ryleigh asked in an amused tone.

“Alisia did the enchantments on it,” Sandro stated, his tone a match for hers. “And while I would enjoy watching you two duel, I’d rather have my head still on my shoulders when you finished. Only Jade can take off the collar now. It is sealed with blood and will. I wish you the best of luck, although I’d really appreciate if I left New Orleans alive.”

Ryleigh held up her hands in surrender. “I won’t tamper with that one’s magic. Only a fool would, and no fools sit at this table. I see Jade has taken excessive steps to protect you.”

“Take off his jacket and get him wet, and you’ll understand why,” I announced, refusing to feel even an iota of shame over my interest in him. My fox wanted me to wag my tail and squeal from excitement.

Even when we agreed, my fox sometimes drove me crazy.

Ryleigh snickered. “Ah, yes. Young love. You’re a vixen on the prowl, and you’ve never had a mate worth keeping.” The Voodoo queen regarded her fellow queens with a solemn expression. “The Moretti family has already instated her as its heir with her pet as her partner. Stephani is hopeful they will pair in all ways, and having seen them together at the airport, I am confident her hopes will become a reality. By the time winter rolls around, I expect young Jade will be chasing him far more than he chases her.”

Damn it. I hadn’t asked for any secrecy in terms of my relationship with Sandro, so I only had myself to blame for being outed. “Well played, Ryleigh.”

“When I summoned Jade and her pet here, I asked for six months to have the teaching of them both, not yet understanding the true severity of the situation and how our problems might be linked to the scourge destroying her Tulsa. This was an unfair bargain. Should we continue, everyone must go into the agreement willingly, or our magic and the spirits—and New Orleans herself—will turn against us. That means we must tell them the truth of our city and why she must be Queen for a while.”

“You want to make Jade the Queen Mother of New Orleans?” Sandro blurted.

Ryleigh smiled. “I see you are versed with the Vodun. It is similar, but not precisely the same. The Vodun believe the first-born daughter of a generational line is the Queen Mother, with the next Queen Mother rising when the prior falls. Jade does not meet those criteria for all she is the first of her line and worthy of being a matriarch. But, for our purposes, it is close enough. The Queen is the one person we can all bow our head to without reservation. None of us can accomplish this for many reasons. We have the burden of long years and strained relationships dividing us. We are as much allies as we are enemies. Jade lacks those burdens, and while she is untrained, she possesses the potential. Most importantly, the city herself adores our young vixen. The spirits also respect her, perhaps more so than they respect even I.”

In New Orleans, the spirits ruled—and the wise remembered that.

The Voodoo queens exchanged glances, but eventually, they all nodded their agreement.

“She will not be the only one to make sacrifices, nor will her pet be the only one to make sacrifices. They will put their lives on the line for our city. We must likewise put our lives on the line for our city, and in exchange, for theirs. But we must do so without reservation, for the spirits will know. If you are not certain, summon your successor.”