Page 26 of Queen Takes Rook
Finally, the golden blaze dissipated into the night.
Rivulets of sweat tracked down my face and chest. My knees trembled. I ached deep inside. Stress fractures, maybe, as if I’d fallen off a horse onto the rockiest ground imaginable. I forced my eyes open and lifted my head to look around.
The heart tree still stood, though the very highest branches were a little scorched, and a few smaller limbs littered the ground. Mayte blew a kiss to me and then turned to round up her people and see if anyone was hurt. Groups started moving around, checking on the houses and outbuildings, but everything seemed okay.
“Amazing,” Rik whispered, shaking his head. “You’re incredible, my queen. To hold off an attack like that… What made you suspect anything amiss with the prisoner? Xin, did you feel anything off with him?”
Xin sat back on his haunches but kept his head low.:Not at all. Forgive me, alpha, my queen. I sensed nothing in his scent that led me to believe he was a ticking time bomb. If I’d brought him into the nest…:
Yeah, that would have been bad, to say the least. If I hadn’t been able to react quickly enough, we could have had several casualties. Exactly as Ra intended.
“Did he say anything to you while you were guarding him? Was he some kind of Blood to Ra? Do the gods even have Blood like that?”
:He remained a black dog until Mehen killed the eagle, then he shifted. He told me if I didn’t release him, he’d take me and everyone with me to hell.:
“Hell? That’s the word he used?” My words slurred, and I had to concentrate to make the words string together. “That seems like a weird thing for the sun god’s minion to say.”
Rik swept me up in his arms and started for the house. “You need to feed long and hard, my queen.”
“Rest,” I mumbled, fighting to keep my eyes open. “Home.”
Either he was extremely fast, or I passed out momentarily, but the next thing I knew, he was settling me into bed and kissing my forehead. “Tomorrow. I can’t wait to get you home and rested up.”
I made a low hum of agreement. I didn’t have the energy to say the words, but I made sure he knew what I was thinking.
Hot flesh pressed against me. Skin and blood and sweat. Too many dicks to count.
He huffed out a laugh and drew me closer. “As you wish, my queen.”
12
Shara
In the dream, I stood on top of a pyramid, but it wasn’t Isis pyramid that I’d seen the first night when Rik and Daire had found me. This pyramid was made of large blocks of weathered gray stone. Instead of sand dunes stretching into the distance, I saw the lush green jungle that I smelled when I tasted Mayte’s blood. The rooftop was flat, with a low wall of carved stones along the edges. Sinuous feathered serpents with gaping jaws raced along the top of the stones.
Great Feathered Serpent, like my Blood, Tlacel.
“Are you well pleased with my gift to you, Daughter of Isis?”
I turned toward the voice, musical, lovely, and echoing with power, just as Isis’ did.
This goddess sat on a carved jade throne that rose above her in the shape of two large serpents, facing each other with mouths gaped, fangs bared. Her hands rested on two massive jaguars, one black and one gold. They panted softly with their distinctive grunting growl, their eyes shining eerily in the night.
Her face was painted blue, her dark hair long and thick, curling over her bare chest. Her breasts were heavy, her stomach soft and rounded, and even from several feet away, I could see the stretch marks. She was the embodiment of Mother Earth, and she’d nurtured many.
She wore a thick white sash around her waist with one long end that hung down in the front to cover her genitals. Something moved in the thick shadows that hung around her. The dry rustle and strong musky scent told me what wound around her ankles and knees.
Snakes.
The same ghostly shape I’d seen hanging over Mayte tonight. I clasped my hands together and bowed at the waist, but kept my gaze locked on hers. I didn’t know why. It just felt right. I wasn’t terrified, like I’d been when I first met Isis. Reverent, absolutely. Grateful for all They had given me. But not scared.
“Thank you, Mother of the Gods, for my twins.”
She smiled and gestured for me to come closer. “They’ve already proven themselves loyal to you, but they offer much more. They’re as close to my sons, Xolotl and Quetzalcoatl, as you are to Isis.”
“Why give them to me, rather than giving twin gods to your daughter? She needs protection for Xochitl.”
“Mayte’s a healer. While this world needs healers more than ever, you are the warrior we have selected to end the sun’s tyranny. Your twins burn for war and destruction and death.”
