Page 79 of Fortune's Blade

“Doesn’t matter. Nothing’s worth your life, and we’re outta here. Never thought I’d agree with Mircea about something but—”

He cut off, but not because he was finished. But because the tiny guards I had almost forgotten about all but shoved him out the door and slammed it in his face. They must have warded it, too, because he did not immediately rip the whole affair off its hinges.

I could hear him faintly on the other side, beating against the heavy ward, and then throwing his body against it, cursing all the while. But he did not get in, which didn’t surprise me. These wards protected the queen’s greatest treasure, and were likely the very best they had.

I glanced at the beautiful boy in his flower crib, and despite everything, I smiled.

No, Ray would not get in here.

I looked back to find the queen watching me.

“I know that look,” she said softly. “I know that hunger. I’ve seen it on my own face often enough, and on those of minister after minister at my court.”

“But I’m not hungry,” I said, confused, and this time, I heard the words in my own voice.

It was distant, a sleepy mumble from far away in my room. Yet it somehow echoed here, as her voice had done in the outer room of the Great Hall. It seemed that she did not need Ray, after all.

She smiled slyly at me. “Do you know how I became queen?”

I shook my head.

“It wasn’t because of my charming personality. It was this,” she made a gesture and pulled something out of thin air.

It was maybe an inch tall and appeared to be carved out of an old piece of bone. It had a small hole in the top through which a slim, golden chain had been passed, I suppose so that someone could wear it. Someone who was not a pixie, presumably.

But the chain looked rather strange on such a weathered piece. An old scrap of leather would have suited it better, as it reminded me of something a cave man might have used as an ornament. Or a talisman, as the queen was staring at it as if at the face of God.

“What is it?” I asked, intrigued.

“The greatest gift a dying people could be offered. It is Jera, an ancient rune of unspeakable power. Not to mow down armies or to siege cities, but to do something far more precious.”

She looked back at her child, and her face grew fierce and possessive and vulnerable and a thousand other things I couldn’t name. “Before I obtained it, I was barren, as are many of my people. Now, I have a son.” She looked back at me, and the huge lavender eyes were wet. “And it can be used more than once, do you understand? It needs to charge up for a month after each casting, yes, but it can be used over and over. I’ve a list, longer than my arm, longer than yours, of favors already promised to members of my court, but it’s up to me who goes next. And for the right person . . .

“Well, I could make an exception. Couldn’t I?”

I felt strange suddenly, light headed and overly warm, and my heart was thudding in my chest. I could feel it, even this far away, beating like a wild thing. And felt my body move restlessly on my bed, as if in the throes of a nightmare.

But this was no nightmare.

This was . . .

“I don’t understand,” I heard myself say hoarsely.

But the queen didn’t believe me. Her eyes were still wet with emotion, but her smile was back, and it was that smile. Knowing and sly and triumphant as it curved her lips.

“Oh, I think you do. Didn’t I say I saw your eyes? And I can give it to you, what you’ve always fiercely desired but never thought to obtain. I can put you at the front of the line. I can give you a child.

“As long as you do a little something for me.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

I sat up in bed abruptly, the room dark and quiet around me. I was back in my body and feeling it, with my heart thudding almost painfully in my chest, my head jumbled, and my fists grabbing the covers below me as if I would tear them to pieces. For a moment, I thought it had all been a dream.

But no. That had been real; I knew it had. I could still taste the fey ale on my tongue, rich and heady and burning. Could see the sparks flying as Ray and I danced, fast, fast, so very fast, a jubilant expression of life and joy and wonder that had made our heels sound like castanets on the flagstones. Could still see the tiny face of the queen’s child, and the downy fuzz on his little head . . ..

I got up and threw the covers back.

I did not feel well. Part of it was too much food, as I had rarely eaten that much at one time and suspected that it wasn’t healthy, even for a dhampir. But that wasn’t why I was swaying on my feet, and stumbled when I took a step forward.

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