Page 47 of Queen Takes Rook
“I know,” Guillaume broke in. “That’s not why you’re doing this. But maybe this is why your goddess set you on this path.”
“Nature abhors a vacuum,” Gina added. “Killing a major queen of America’s largest city will create a massive vacuum. We can’t leave those loose ends dangling without a plan, or you may find someone even worse than Keisha Skye stepping in. Chaos would be worse than Keisha’s rule.”
Chaos. Mother had said I was to be controlled chaos in the world. Isis wanted me to shake things up—but remain in control too. Which to me, meant I had to have a plan.
I nodded, even though my stomach tightened with dread. Taking House Zaniyah as sibs had been one thing. Taking a house the size of Skye… It was terrifying and overwhelming. “How many people are we talking?”
“We haven’t been in her court for over a year,” Daire replied. “But I’m guessing she has at least a thousand sibs now. She’s been actively increasing her base for a very long time.”
Xin nodded. “She probably gained a hundred sibs when my queen left San Francisco.”
“That’s only sibs,” Gina added. “Like you, she has many humans and weaker Aima scattered all across the globe who work for her house in some way. She will have properties in all the major cities. She will have staff and offices that need to know who to report to and how. Plus, all her finances will need to be accounted for.”
My head pounded. Rik slid his hands up to knead my shoulders, easing the tension straining up my neck. “I don’t care about her money. I have more than I could possibly spend now.”
“Yet it will be yours. If you take the queen, you take her house. If you take her house, you take her legacy.”
“Legacy wealth—or legacy power?”
“Both, if her goddess finds you worthy.”
Rik made a low rumble like distant thunder. “Which She will, without question.”
“Who’s Keisha’s goddess again?”
“Scathach,” Rik replied. “She’s best known from the Ulster Cycle for training Cu Chulainn. She had a training facility on the Isle of Skye.”
“Keisha’s a warrior?”
Daire huffed out a laugh. “Not at all. She loves towatchfights, the bloodier the better.”
“Like duels? Or what?”
He nodded. “Mostly hand-to-hand combat. She even has a cage built in her nest like the Ultimate Fighting Championships.”
“I need to know as much as possible about her nest too. How many Blood does she have? What happens to them when I kill Keisha?”
“What do you want to happen to them?” Daire asked. “We know you’re not going to claim them all as yours, if any, so we’ll probably have to kill them.”
At first, I thought he was being cheeky, but for once, my warcat was actually serious. “I’m not going to kill them all. I mean, if they fight us, and someone gets killed as a result, that’s one thing. But execution? Just because they served Skye? I won’t do it.”
“Blood need a queen, or they’ll turn,” Rik said. “Remember Greyson? Even when a new queen is found quickly, the bond doesn’t always take. Sometimes it’s kinder to kill them all cleanly, and some may very well ask for death.”
My stomach quivered. I’d been fully prepared to kill Keisha, but I hadn’t realized I might have to have her Blood killed too. It seemed so wasteful and horrible. If I died…
“We would all be dead too.” Boulders crashed in Rik’s voice. “We would not allow you to die and still live ourselves.”
“But—”
“No, Shara. There is no other option. In fact, I’ll make the formal request. Guillaume, if the worst happens and our queen falls, yet I still live, I order you to kill me.”
“On my honor, I will do as you ask, alpha.”
“And me,” the rest of my Blood said one by one. Even Mehen. Though he scowled at me. “You’d best not fucking die, my queen.”
I swallowed the lump trying to choke me. “I don’t intend to anytime soon. How soon after Keisha’s gone will I have to find her Blood a new queen?”
“It varies greatly,” Guillaume replied. “Some, like me, have gone for decades or even a century and more. Others can’t make it a week. It depends on the Blood’s strength of will, how strong the old bond was, and how strong the future queen’s call is. Your call was so strong that I would have crossed oceans of time to find you.”
