Page 9 of Queen Takes Queen
“Tell her I’d like to meet Mayte,” I said to Gina aloud. “No promises or pressurethough.”
“You got it.” Gina answered the call. “Gina Isador. Yes, hello, Bianca. So nice to talk with you again.” She listened a few minutes, nodding as she jotted some notes on a legal pad. She turned it toward me so I could read it.New Year’s Eve party in Mexico City. 3 daystay.
That’d give me a few days to mentally prepare. Inodded.
“Wonderful, yes, my queen accepts your queen’s invitation. The size of ourparty?”
I did a quick mental count. Me and the Blood. Gina. If we all left the nest, then Frank should probably stay behind to help with any workers needing access. With all my Blood, I shouldn’t need a human securityteam.
:The eight of us, plus anyone else you think should go.:I thought ather.
“Nine at this time. If that changes, I’ll call you again. Yes, thank you. We’re looking forward to it.” Eyes bright, Gina hung up. “You know what this means,right?”
“We get to use the jetagain?”
“True. Butmore.”
Rik pressed his mouth against my ear. “Queen events are generally formalaffairs.”
Even though he wasn’t present, Daire’s warcat purred loudly in my mind.:Moreshopping.:
3
Daire
When Rik pairedme up with Mehen for guard duty, I braced for the man’s arrogance and the dark twist of his bond. The oldest Blood, and by far the most grumpy after centuries of imprisonment as a dragon, he could make the simplest of duties unpleasant, to say the least. His hatred and rage leaked through our bonds, and carrying that much negativity took its toll, poisoning our minds with hisbitterness.
So it was a very good thing that Rik and Shara had fucked him so hard last night. It’d definitely knocked the mighty dragon down a few pegs and taken the edge off his rage. But what had helped the most was the cuddling after the fact. Sleeping with several warm bodies made it difficult to sulk and plot revenge. Though I’d die of old age before I’d ever hear the man admit that he’d actually enjoyed sleeping tangled up in that big pile of warmbodies.
Listening in on our queen’s bond as much as possible at least helped pass the time when I wasn’t physically near her. I couldn’t wait to take her shopping again, and a queen’s court visit would be off-the-chains fun to prepare for. She’d need a formal gown for each night, and we’d need to dress uptoo.
Her first political challenge had ended in the death of another queen’s Blood. Hopefully this visit with Zaniyah wentbetter.
“So why are you banned from her bed?” Even Mehen’s voice was harsh and abrupt, slicing through my thoughts like a red-hotpoker.
I couldn’t suppress the twitch of surprise. I’d totally forgotten he was with me. Stupid. We were supposed to be on guard duty, not listening in on our queen’s bond and plotting a wardrobe. “I fuckedup.”
Since he’d distracted me anyway, I cast my senses out as far as possible, feeling for anything amiss. A few rabbits had braved the fresh snow in search of food. A bird with long green tail feathers sat on a low limb at the edge of the woods, watching as we paced our queen’s blood circle. But I sensed nothing else formiles.
Mehen grunted beneath his breath. “That doesn’t tell memuch.”
I shrugged uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze. “I made a mistake, okay? She shifted into a cobra and was hurting Rik. I tried to free him before she killed him. I would have hurt her to save him, and Rik banned me from her bed until he’s sure I wouldn’t put his, or anyone else’s, welfare over our queen’s everagain.”
Mehen’s eyes widened. “She managed to hurt ouralpha?”
“She fucking killed him,” I said flatly. “Though being Isis’s descendant has its advantages. He’s got two huge scars on his stomach from where she bithim.”
“She loveshim.”
“Her cobra didn’t care. At least when she bit you, she didn’t poison you too. Rik’s poisonous, but Guillaume said anyone of her blood carries the antiveninnow.”
“Alpha won’t be feeding usanyway.”
Probably not, though sometimes I missed the taste of his blood. Though I loved my queen and tasting her blood was fucking fantastic, I loved Rik too, and I’d known him for far longer. I needed my queen’s blood forpower.
ButRik’s…
He just tasted like home. Family. When it’d been just him and me against Keisha Skye’s court. I’d never in a million years want to go back to that. But he’d been the best thing I’d known for nearly fortyyears.
