Page 7 of Queen Takes Queen
Something thatmoved.
“That’s what we lookedlike?”
“No,” Rik said in his low rumble. “That’s whatyoulookedlike.”
The person filming was far enough away that it was hard to see details. Shapes definitely moved on the ground. Large shapes. A horse leaped up like it was soaring over a brutally high fence, the only clear image on thescreen.
Guillaume’s hell horse. Fuck, he was massive. Neck thick, shoulders broad, huge, powerful haunches. Definitely a warhorse built to carry a knight and all his armor into battle. All four hooves left the ground, his head straining high into the air, well back-lit by the brutal blaze. He’d tried to catch me before I could hit the ground, moments before I was able to shift and stop ourfall.
Gina paused the video. “There aren’t a lot of horseshifters.”
I knew where this was going. I sighed. “So every other queen knows that Guillaume de Payne was protecting a queen. Someone called him to be Blood, and it wasn’t MarneCeresa.”
“A fucking powerful queen,” he said over his shoulder as he stacked bacon on top of pancakes. “That kind of glow isn’t something that every queen can do. They’ll know you were feeding on something big, powerful, and winged, in the middle ofVenezuela.”
“And though Mayte Zaniyah has purposely kept herself off the Triune’s radar, it wouldn’t surprise me if consiliari were calling her first thing this morning to find out if she knew who had been so near her territory. I’m glad we placed the call to her first, but I wish we could have taken her up on her offer before the newsran.”
“So she might be pissed at me, too. If she wanted to stay off their radar, the last thing she’d want is a bunch of people calling her forinformation.”
Nevarre swung one of the bar stools out from the peninsula and sat facing me, his plate in his lap. At least his kilt was long enough to cover his knees, or I might have had to explore despite so many witnesses. “Or, she’s gladder than ever that she got to youfirst.”
“How’sthat?”
“I don’t know Mayte Zaniyah, but she’s got to be pretty fucking smart if she wants to stay out of the Triune game, and doubly smart if she reached out to you already, but I don’t know what sheoffered.”
I forgot that he wasn’t with us in Venezuela. “She offered her nest tome.”
His eyes widened. “Fuck. Yeah. She’s patting herself on the back right now. Don’t worry about her reneging on her offer. She wants you badly and if the other consiliari are calling her for information, your stock just went upexponentially.”
“I want the Triune afraid of me. Enough to leave me alone. But not afraid enough to come at us full strength. At least notyet.”
“Oh I’m sure they’re afraid all right.” Gina hit the button on the video and let it play out. Something flew up out of the brilliant shaft of light. Something huge. Withwings.
Staring at the grainy image of my shifted shape, chills raced down my spine. And yeah, my fangs ached. I remembered how I’d fed so deeply off Mehen that I’d basically sucked his dragon into myself. He’d changed my cobra queen into a half snake, half dragon beast that flew. Granted, it’d saved us both. But it was still pretty freaky to see my monstrous shape captured on television for the world tosee.
Rik sat down beside me with two plates. “Not monstrous. Beautiful. I’ve never seen a wyvernbefore.”
His plate was loaded with normal breakfast food: scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits, and gravy over everything. My plate: lovely fruit salad and a warm croissant with a bit of chocolate sticking out one end. Staring at the difference, tears burned my eyes. Because he’d been paying attention allalong.
“Of course I have, silly.” He threw his left arm over my shoulders and pulled me against him. “That’s myjob.”
“All our jobs,” Guillaume added as he set a cup of coffee in front of me. “Daire says it’s the right color, but if you need more cream, let meknow.”
I sniffed and dropped my head against Rik’s chest, even as I tore off a bit of croissant to nibble on. Goddess, it was fantastic. Warm, flaky, buttery, with just enough chocolate to be decadent, but not too sweet. I looked across the table at Winston as he returned to his seat across from me. “But how did you even know when we’d be up to have all this hot andready?”
“That’s why I’m here,” Gina said, smiling. “I figured you’d be up after noon. When I felt you wake up, I let Winstonknow.”
Wait a second. She felt me wake up? Just because I’d given her a few drops of myblood?
What else had she felt this morning? Or rather afternoon, once I wokeup?
She smiled wider, her eyes dancing with mirth. “Enough to know that Winston had plenty of time to make a full-service breakfast for your Blood before you’d end uphere.”
Wow. Okay. That shed a whole new light on how the bonds worked, especially with my human servants. Poor Frank. And yeah, it made more sense now why all my Blood had come with me last night. They felt everything I did through the bond. They alwayshad.
I’d never really tried to separate out my pleasure from theirs, but I must feel theirs too, though my pleasure was usually so quick to respond and so overwhelming that I didn’t realize I was feeling their desiretoo.
:Pleasure is magnified in the bonds.: Rik used our bond so at least I wasn’t blushing at the thought of having this realization out loud with Winston and Gina listening in.:So is pain, though. It’s a strength and a weakness. Even though you tried to shield me, I felt the moment Leviathan broke your arm as if he’d chomped down on mine. I would have gleefully slit his belly, stripped his hide, and nailed it to awall.:
