Page 66 of Queen Takes Queen
I stroked his hair back out of his face. “Youokay?”
“Mmmmm.Fabulous.”
“I should look at those scratches on both of you and see if they need to behealed.”
Mehen grunted, shifted beside Rik, and almost fell off the bed. He grabbed at Daire’s hair and Rik’s thigh, holding on until he got his balance. “Don’t be ridiculous. These scratches aren’t worth you wasting a single drop of effort to heal. They’ll all be gone in themorning.”
My eyes were already heavy. I yawned and Rik immediately said, “Go, find a place to sleep. She needs herrest.”
Daire buried his head against me. “No cuddlestonight?”
Even Mehen looked disappointed, though he sat up and smacked Daire’s ass lightly. “Come on, D. Let’s go see if G’s had any problems with those twoidiots.”
I wished they could stay, but this fuckingbed…
Daire kissed me and then padded after Mehen. “I call thecouch.”
“Fuck that shit. You can sleep on the floor. There’s plenty ofpillows.”
I bit my lip. If they had to sleep on the floor, then I should sleep withthem.
Rik shifted me off to the side so he spooned against me. “Fuck that shit. My queen doesn’t sleep on thefloor.”
And I fell asleep before I could argue withhim.
25
Shara
The absenceof Rik’s heat against me woke me more than the low voices. I sat up and immediately, both Rik and Xin turned away from the French doors leading out to the plaza and came tome.
Rik sat beside me and wrapped his arm around my back, his hand sliding down beneath my opposite thigh, offering his shoulder up as a back rest. “Sorry, my queen. We didn’t mean to wakeyou.”
“Did you findsomething?”
Xin crouched down beside the bed. “Indeed, I did. She’s hiding another Blood, my queen. An extremely powerful, old Blood, likeLeviathan.”
“She has aking?”
Xin shrugged. “Maybe he’s a king. Maybe he’s something else. I smell her blood in him and he’s ancient. At least as old as your king. He couldn’t see me, but he knew something was near. I didn’t dare push deeper to see what he wasguarding.”
“When her brothers pressured her about why she hadn’t warned me, she said she was protecting ‘us’, but she hesitated, like there was something else.Someoneelse. Maybe that’s who this old Blood isguarding.”
“It’s concerning that she never mentioned him,” Rik added. “All she had to do was say she had another Blood she’d assigned elsewhere and none of us would have taken that amiss. A queen may send her Blood to any task. Why hide that she has a fifth Blood, unless she specifically doesn’t want you toknow?”
I tried to think through scenarios. She wanted to become my sib. She’d offered before we retired for the night. She’d invited me to her nest, without warning me of the geas that made such a visit extremely dangerous. Each secret alone was enough to make me not trust her. But addedtogether…
“Could this Blood be a member of Skye’s court? And that’s why she hid him—so you and Daire don’t recognizehim?”
Rik focused on Xin. “Picture him in your mind. I’m going to try and see him through ourbond.”
Xin nodded and sat back on his heels, his hands loose on his thighs. “I’m ready,alpha.”
I closed my eyes so I could see our bonds more clearly. Rik’s bond was always like a volcano with streaks of red, molten rock sliding down his sides, even if his bond was quiet. Xin’s bond was more like his wolf. Still, quiet, nearly invisible, a blanket of soft, damp fog. I watched as Rik sent a stream of lava rolling toward Xin’s fog. I tensed, afraid it might hurt him, or burn his fog away, and I’m sure Rik could have done either if he’d wanted. I’d felt him send an alpha surge in the bonds before that had affected even Mehen’s dragon. Xin’s bond vibrated in response, but rather than dissipating, his fog thickened around Rik’s bond, drawing him in. I reached for him too and immediately stood with his wolf in a dark hallway. The air felt heavy and smelled slightly of damp, like a basement. I felt the impression of weight and distance above us. Interlocking stones covered the floors, walls, and ceiling. So maybe a man-made tunnel rather than ahallway.
Light flickered at the end of the tunnel and a man stood in front of a thick wooden door. Arms crossed over his chest, feet planted wide, the man definitely screamed protector, his glare sending a clear message.Leave thisplace.
Rik moved past me, ducking a little to pass beneath one of the lower sections of the ceiling, until he stood in front of the man. It was so strange, because it wasn’t real. We weren’t really there, even though I could smell the dank, thick odor of dirt and something else. Somethingferal.
