Page 41 of Queen Takes Rook
“Power. She holds great power, so much that no one can unseat her, even if she chooses not to interact with any other court. However, I wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking she’s not actively doing anything. She absolutely does still act to influence events to her wishes, but from a distance so great that by the time the deed is done, no one realizes it was a whisper from the Dauphine that started it.”
“Influence, too,” Nevarre added, plopping down beside Daire. “Even if she hasn’t been seen for hundreds of years, every queen still knows of her. A whisper from the Dauphine is enough for even Marne Ceresa to pause and consider whether she wishes to continue her course or not.”
“Did you ever meet the Dauphine?” I asked Guillaume.
He shook his head. “No one from Desideria’s court would have been allowed anywhere near the Dauphine. Especially me.”
“Where’s her court, her nest?”
He shrugged. “No one knows.”
My eyes widened. “Wow, really? From her name, I would have expected somewhere in France.”
“Rosalind Valois is descended from the Dauphine and does claim Paris as her home. But she’s nowhere near as powerful as the Dauphine.”
All these names were starting to blur in my head. “Rosalind is Keisha Skye’s sib and lover?”
“Yes. They both covet Desideria’s Triune seat and have been jockeying back and forth for decades. They finally allied, hoping that would put one of them on the Triune, but it still wasn’t enough.”
“Who determines which queen will take that seat? Is it a vote from the Dauphine and Marne?”
“If only,” Nevarre snorted. “Though getting even those two to agree on anything would be a feat indeed. The Triune decides.”
“But they are the Triune.”
“Ah, I see your confusion,” Guillaume said. “Sometimes I forget that you weren’t raised among us, my queen. Forgive me for this minor history lesson, but I think it will help. The Triune was originally three courts of three queens each. A Triune of Triunes, a perfect number. Over thousands of years, we lost one court entirely, and the other two courts diverged and sided more against each other. Skolos is typically ruled by queens with darker gifts, and the other court simply became known astheTriune, though even the dark queens are still part of the original Triune that Gaia founded. Each of the original three courts had a relic from the Mother that symbolized their power and their connection to Gaia. We often call those relics the Triunes too, since there were three of them, and they represent the true power of Aima courts. As a queen calls her Blood, so each Triune calls its queens to take a ruling seat.”
Rik grunted softly. “That’s way more than I ever knew, and I grew up in a nest, though House Hyrrokkin has always been isolated and remote.”
“You and Daire are still babes,” Guillaume said. “And Keisha Skye, for all her efforts at gaining a seat on the Triune, has never fully understood what that means exactly, nor how it’s achieved. Your home queens did you no favors by fostering you with House Skye. A Triune seat is not something to be won. It’s a blessing from the Goddess, a great blessing. But you know what they say about great blessings.”
“They can also be a curse,” Daire said.
The more they told me, the less I wanted any part of it, and I’d already dreaded having any dealings with Marne Ceresa. “The one court that was lost—what happened to it? Did the other Triune queens destroy them?”
“It was lost before my time, so even I’m not clear of the details, but it’s my understanding that they lost their relic. Either it was stolen or destroyed, and their court was broken. As a result, the remaining Triune and Skolos relics were hidden away by their queens to protect them. Since Desideria died, the Triune relic hasn’t called forth a queen for the third seat.”
“Does Marne have the Triune relic?”
“It’s possible, but I would suggest it more likely that the Dauphine has it, and that’s why she disappeared entirely. Desideria certainly didn’t have it.”
The wheels started turning in my head, slowly, like they were coated in molasses, but definitely moving. I stared at a huge map draped in a cloak of fog, that was slowly starting to thin enough that I could make out the shadow of trees and hollows between mountains. “Marne is a Triune queen. She understands how she was called to take her seat. Yet she strings Keisha Skye along like it’s something she can personally guarantee her.”
“Ding, ding, ding,” Daire said, nodding. “That’s Marne’s game. That’s her angle. She plays other queens against each other, while maneuvering them on the board in a way that hopefully aligns them on her side, rather than the Dauphine’s.”
“Or Skolos’,” Nevarre added. “When they split from the Triune, they fell off most queens’ radar as insignificant.”
Leviathan plummeted down from the sky, shifting into Mehen at the perfect moment to land on his feet and walk the last few steps to the new grotto. “Which is a mistake. The Gorgons and Krakes have always been the stuff of nightmares. I should know.”
“What’smyangle? I don’t want her to read me like a book.”
“That’s not the right question to ask,” Daire replied. “She’s going to read you like a book. It’s what we do. The question is, what book do youwanther to read? Deep down, what do you really want? Ignoring all the politics and games.”
Looking at them, my throat tightened. “This.”
Rik took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “A home. A family. Blood that you love, and who love you in return, so much that we’d gladly do anything you asked.”
“Yes.” The word was harsher than I intended, but only because I fought back the surge of fearful tears. I resisted the urge to touch the ruby snake around my neck. “Plus, safety for Zaniyah.”
