Page 34 of Queen Takes Queen
Gina said, “I was thinking Dallas on the way to Mexico. There’s a beautiful boutique shop that has some of the most unique designer gowns in the country, as well as men’s clothing. I thought we could stop on our way down, without worrying about spending the night outside a nest’s protection. Dallas is one of the few cities we don’t currently own property in and I doubted Rik would be willing to deal with a hotel, even a super niceone.”
Rik shook his head. “Security would be a nightmare, and they’re not going to have rooms large enough to accommodate us all nearher.”
Gina nodded. “That’s what I thought. I’ll set up an appointment with the boutique so we have the place to ourselves, well beforedark.”
“Good. There will likely still be thralls in the area, even though the queenleft.”
“I wish we knew if she was Mayte or someone else,” I said. “Has Zaniyah always had a nest in MexicoCity?”
“According to our records,yes.”
“So if it was Mayte in Dallas, why did she leave her nest? How long did shestay?”
“There have been reports of thralls off and on for a year or two. Enough to show up on my map. Since we didn’t have a confirmed identity, I actually thought it might be you, and sent several private detectives to the area with your picture. Of course they never found the queen, since it wasn’tyou.”
I pushed my plate away and picked up my wine glass, settling back against my chair. The guys were still eating like a pack of starving wolves, and they’d need all the energy they could get. After the ant battle and growing the trees, my hunger went deeper than food. A dull ache spread across my cheeks, my fangs throbbing, even though they hadn’t descended yet. I was going to need blood. A lot ofblood.
I had a feeling that my hunger would be insatiable. My stomach quivered, remembering how I’d drained my Blood when it’d been just the three of them, to the point that they couldn’t walk. I was afraid I’d get my fangs in one of them and not let go until it was toolate.
Rik’s bond gleamed like molten lava in my mind. Red hot liquid rock.:You would never harmus.:
:I fucking killed you oncealready.:
He dropped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in close. I turned my face against his chest, breathing in his scent, even while fear gnawed through me. Thishunger…
:You’ve got seven Blood eager to give you every drop of blood in theirbodies.:
:That’s what I’m afraidof.:
:Trust me to help you control it. I stopped you when you’d drained Daire before, remember? You need. We’ll provide.Gladly.:
Gina reached down beside her and pulled a folder out of the bag she’d set down. “Ready to go over a fewthings?”
“Ofcourse.”
“I’ve been talking with Bianca and we’ve set out an itinerary for your trip.” She opened the folder and pushed it over to me so I could read the pages inside. She’d neatly typed out the dates and times. “I know you’re not an early riser, but if at all possible, we need to leave by nine, so we have time to stop in Dallas and still make it to Mexico City by dark. House Zaniyah will have cars pick us up at the airport, and we’ll drive out of the city a short ways to thenest.”
Inwardly, I groaned. I didn’t think I’d been up by nine since Rik and Daire foundme.
“We’ll have a formal dinner with Mayte Zaniyah each night and will need to dressaccordingly.”
“Howformal?”
“Black tie. Her consiliarius will introduce your Blood one by one. Each will walk in with one of Mayte’sBlood.”
Guillaume scooted his chair closer. “In the old days, a visiting queen was never allowed to bring more Blood into the nest than the host. If anyone stepped out of line, there would always be a home Blood assigned with the sole duty of eliminating their assigned target. So there’s an art to assigning Blood to Blood. It’ll be interesting to see who she pairs with each of us, though since you’re relatively unknown, she may not have enough information to build a file on each ofus.”
“How many people will bethere?”
“No idea, honestly,” Gina replied. “I don’t believe Zaniyah has a large court, but conservatively I’d guess at least fifty, maybe one-hundredpeople.”
Great. Just the thought of walking in front of one hundred strangers all staring atme…
“At least it’s not Desideria’s court,” Guillaume added. “She always made visiting queens approach her court naked and refused them a single Blood when introduced. She wanted that queen as vulnerable aspossible.”
Gina patted my arm again. “I know it seems strange, but formal processions are a holdover tradition thousands of years old. If you’re ever called to Marne Ceresa’s nest, you’ll be presented to at least five hundred of her court. Every queen is different. Some will use it as an opportunity to intimidate a new queen and reinforce the host queen’s power. Mayte Zaniyah will want to show you her power and prove her worth, if we’re right about her wanting to be your sib. She’ll want to know how much she can trust you,too.”
“Marne Ceresa uses formal presentation to prove her power, the same as Desideria,” Guillaume said with a scowl. “The old queens make their halls long and narrow, forcing the visiting queen to walk seemingly miles through hundreds ofwatchers.”
