Page 7 of Gua rdian of Blood and Shadow

“Your consort will be there, waiting for you, whether you rescue him in a day, a year, or in ten,” Isador said, drawing my attention back to her. “The only difference is how well you will be prepared to face his captors.” She sipped her tea, then set it on the table. “But I can see you’re unwilling to accept the truth just yet.” She smiled kindly, belying the steel glinting in her eyes. “I won’t waste any more of your time,” she said, groaning as she regained her feet. “Please, do discuss your training with the others.”

Ash moved from his post by the door, hurrying to meet Isador before her shuffling steps carried her to the edge of the settee. He took her hand, curling her fingers around his thick forearm once more.

“There’s only half a brain between the two of them, just so you know,” Isador tossed over her shoulder. “Helene lost her mind when her consorts were slaughtered, and Doris never had much of one to begin with.”

Ash pulled open the study door and guided Isador into the High Queen’s sitting room.

“Let me know when you’re ready to start,” she called back, like it was a foregone conclusion that, in the end, I would come back to her, asking for her help. “My lady.” The final two words floated into the room like an afterthought after Isador and Ash were out of sight.

Thane leaned into the study from his post just outside and pulled the door shut.

I blew out a breath and turned partway on my seat to stare up at Javier. “She is…” I shook my head, at a loss for words. “A force,” I finally settled on.

Javier released a dry, humorless laugh. “She had to be to retain her sanity down there.”

I narrowed my eyes, wondering not for the first time why the shifters had been holding queens as prisoners in the first place. “Why not simply kill them and be done with it?” I murmured, not really expecting an answer.

“To break the curse,” Bastian said. “Veris believes that after enough time, one of the queens will break and agree to appeal to Selene to lift the curse.”

I shook my head, looking from Bastian to Javier and back. “But I thought the goddess only listened to the High Queen.”

“Which is why Veris still hunts stray queens,” Bastian said, his jaw clenching and unclenching. “He wants to capture them all to guarantee that, when the time comes, he can make his broken queen the High Queen.”

Again, I shook my head. “But the only way he could guarantee that would be to make her theonlyqueen.” I blanched, my mouth going dry as I understood. “He’ll kill them. When one breaks and agrees to help him, he’ll kill the others.”

“Isador was the backbone of the group,” Javier said. “She kept the others strong, focused. Without her steady presence, it becomes far more likely one of the queens will give in.”

I swallowed my suddenly tacky saliva. “And then all the others will die,” I said, my voice sounding remote, even inside my own head. “Unless—” I turned, gripping the back of the settee. “What if I do something—a show of power or something—that makes it obvious thatIam the High Queen?”

“Sophie, no,” Bastian said, the vehemence in his voice catching me off guard. “No.”

“The only reason Veris isn’t launching an assault on the Moon Sanctuary this instant is because he doesn’t know your true identity,” Javier explained, the cold edge to his words somehow even more frightening than the heat in Bastian’s. “Untrained as you are, you’re helpless against him.”

“But I’m here, surrounded by all these wards,” I countered.

“Wards that didn’t protect your mother or your sister the last time they came,” Javier said, ending each word like he was biting off the final sound. “You cannot reveal yourself until your power as High Queen is at full strength.”

I balled my hands into fists. “Which won’t happen until we have Gavin back,” I snapped. “Withouthim, I willneverbe at full strength.”

“Uh,” Bastian started, drawing out the sound. “That might not actually be true.”

My attention snapped to Bastian, who now stood behind the other settee. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t need Gavin to be at full power,” Bastian said. “At least, notallof him. You need his blood.”

I scoffed. “Which is in his body.”

“Maybe not all of it,” Bastian said and glanced at the door. “You should talk to the vampires down in the infirmary. I overheard Gavin speaking to one, and it sounded like they were working on a new tincture—one made from his blood.” Bastian shrugged one shoulder and glanced at Javier. “I think he was inspired by what you came up with.

My brows bunched together. “But, why—” I shook my head. “Why would he have thought I might need a blood tincture made from his blood?”

Bastian shrugged again, both shoulders this time. “Backup plan? He seems like a thorough planner.”

“Gavin must have foreseen the possibility that someone would need to remain behind to sustain the imprisoned queens, should there be inadequate time to free them all,” Javier said, his voice a low rumble. “He knew you would never be at full strength without your Prime Consort, and he would never ask a weaker subordinate to make a sacrifice he was capable of making himself. I doubt he expected to remain behind, but he entered that dungeon prepared to do so, if necessary. For our people.” Javier’s hand settled on my shoulder once more, his fingers splaying over my collarbone and the pad of his thumb gliding up and down the back of my neck along my spine. “And for you.”

My chin trembled. I didn’t deserve Gavin. He was too noble, and I was justme. Just a glorified librarian with a tragic and troubled past. My birthright didn’t mesh with who I had become, and I felt woefully inadequate. How would I ever fulfill the expectations of all the immortals around me, both ally and foe? How could I ever become the High Queen the House of the Moon needed? The savior my people had been hoping and waiting for? The leader they deserved?

The door to the sitting room opened again, and I hastily wiped under my eyes as Ash escorted another emaciated queen into the study. This had to be Helene, based on the limp blonde hair and dull blue eyes.

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