Page 60 of Queen Takes Queen
“I’m sorry,” shewhispered.
“You didn’t warn her about Skye’sgeas?”
“How could I?” She shot an imploring look at me and back to her brothers. “I was afraid if she knew, that she wouldn’t even try, and I had to protect…us.”
That small hesitation sent alarm bells going off in my head. She was hiding something. Attractive or not, powerful or not, smart politically or not… Even if I disregarded exposing me to such risk by not telling me of the geas, there was no way in hell I’d sign on blindly to become her ally when she kept secrets from me. Let alone take her brothers into myBlood.
Studying them both, I started to see small differences between them. They both had shoulder-length dark hair, but one wore his hair in a high pony tail, and the other had his swept up in tight braids on each side into a ridge that fell down the top of his head like a mane. They both had tattoos on their cheeks, but one was a black sun and the other a red spiral. They wore black suits like my Blood, but with dark red shirts underneath and no tie, leaving the neck of their dress shirtsopened.
A glint of gold and green flashed at the black sun brother’s throat. Some kind of jewelry, I guessed. He looked at me and for the first time, I felt a twinge of pity for him. The abject longing on his face was like a knife to my heart. Not for me exactly, since he didn’t have any idea who I was. Not really. No, he longed for what I represented: power, honor as my Blood, and stature among his people. “You know how long we’ve waited for a queen of ourown.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Mayte repeated, swiping at her eyes. “I’ll fix this.” Squaring her shoulders, she met my gaze. “Your Majesty, name your price for full restitution, so that you may freely consider my brothers as Blood. Whatever it is, I’ll pay it, unless it harms any in this nest other thanmyself.”
“It’s not that easy.” She flinched, and I hurried quickly to explain. “I made an oath that I would never take a Blood that I didn’tlove.”
“You…” the other brother drew my attention, his voice rippling with melodic undertones that still managed to rumble. “You love them? All ofthem?”
“Yes.”
He started to step closer, but Guillaume and Xin slid in front of him, blocking his path to me. “Will you not even give us a chance to earn yourlove?”
Gina leaned close and whispered, “It would be a smart politicalmove.”
I nodded slightly, keeping an eye on them. “But can I trust them? Or her? After what they’vedone?”
She shook her head slightly. “No way to knowunless—”
I blew out a sigh. Unless I tasted their blood. And then it would be toolate.
Rik stood slowly, drawing the twins’ gazes to him as he unfolded his impressive body to his full commanding height at my side.:You don’t have to decide anything tonight. They might need some convincing about who’s alpha, and I’d rather not subject you to any further straintonight.:
That sealed it for me. If they wanted Rik to bash their heads in, they could wait another night. I had more important things on my mind. I stood too. “I will consider your request and give you a chance to convince me and my alpha that you belong with us. But not tonight. After what happened earlier, I need to restfirst.”
Resigned but with her mouth a firm slash of determination, Mayte stood. “Of course, Your Majesty. Let us show you to yourrooms.”
23
Mehen
Rather than fire,my dragon blasted me withlust.
I burned with need. All the feeding and touching and sleeping in a big sweaty hot pile was well andgood…
But Shara had only fucked me that onetime.
One. Fucking.Time.
It was all I could do not to scream:fuck me, fuck me, fuck me!:every time I touched her bond. I was going to lose my mind if she didn’t take me again. Or at least allow me to takesomeone.
I really wanted to fuck Daire senseless and see how good that purr felt with my dick inside him. But I wasn’t picky. I’d fuck any of her Blood. Hell, I’d even beg hung-like-a-horse Guillaume to fuck me. Or the bear. Ezra hated me. I didn’t fuckingcare.
As Blood, the utmost peak of pleasure would always be found with our queen, so the last thing any of us wanted was two more Blood. We’d have even less time with her. Though these two clowns might be entertaining. They kept eying Rik’s broad back like they had a snowball’s chance in hell of taking our alpha. When I, Leviathan, king of the depths, hadsurrendered.
Utter nonsense. But it would be fucking hilarious to watch Rik snap them both liketwigs.
The Zaniyah queen led us up a grand staircase. Pausing at the top, she gestured to a pair of double doors to her left. “My main quarters.” Then a matching pair of doors on our right. “The guest quarters.” She nodded to the two wannabes who’d followed us, and they pushed the doors to the guest rooms open. “I hope you find everythingsatisfactory.”
“I’m sure we’ll be quite comfortable,” Shara replied. “Thank you. Dinner waswonderful.”
