Page 17 of Queen Takes Checkmate
The smell of his blood, even a single drop, made my voice thicken with hunger. “Unless you’d like to challenge me?”
She blinked rapidly, as if suddenly surprised to find the insignificant little mouse she’d picked up suddenly had giant teeth and claws. Had she not seen me handle Keisha Skye? Or was Alessandra so confident in her house name that she thought she’d be immune? “You need a sibling queen to hold the city. Someone well known and strong.”
“With elegance and class,” I said dryly. “We’ve been over this.”
She drew herself up, her chin rising to a haughty angle. “They say you weren’t raised in a nest, so it’s understandable that you wouldn’t know my house’s reputation or what we can accomplish together. Marne Ceresa herself arranged for my alliance with Keisha Skye.”
“But you arranged your downfall.”
Alessandra recoiled, and her perfect complexion drained of color. “Why? What have I done?”
I stared back at her steadily. “No one in House Isador will stand by quietly while others are tortured. They certainly won’t assist or participate.”
“She made me,” Alessandra whispered, her voice raw. “She made us all.”
“That’s not true and you know it,” Carys retorted. “I never participated. I never even watched, except for the one time she threatened to kill Winnifred if I refused a direct order. What happened in House Skye was sickening and I wanted no part in it.”
“A queen sibling stands with her queen. Wouldn’t you want that kind of sibling, Your Majesty? Sibs that always do as you order without question? That’s the kind of loyalty I offer.”
Slowly, I stood. Rik leaned forward, his hands on my waist, but he didn’t rise. I didn’t need my alpha’s strength and impressive size to intimidate. “Actually, no. Not at all. I don’t want people following my orders blindly. If I do something as terrible as torture another person, I want someone to stand up and tell me to my face that I’m wrong.”
“You don’t understand everything Keisha had been through.” Alessandra dabbed at her eyes, trying to sell her act of being the hapless, loyal supporter. “She lost a child. It devastated her. You can’t possibly understand that kind of pain.”
“My mother and father were murdered in front of me, so don’t tell me that I don’t understand the pain of losing your only family. It’s still no excuse for what Keisha did. And there’s no excuse for what you did if you ever assisted her in any way.”
“I didn’t assist in torturing her alphas. Not once.”
Llewellyn came forward and dropped to one knee before me, bowing low. “Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness.”
I cupped his cheek and turned his face up so I could see his eyes. “What is it, my Blood?”
“I wasn’t entirely truthful before. I neglected to tell you one very important fact, out of selfishness, I admit.”
Mind whirling, I tried to keep my face smooth, rather than betraying the thousand questions fluttering through my head. Without hesitation, he’d already torn apart his handler and many of the other Blood who’d participated in his torture. So what reason could he possibly have for hiding something about Alessandra until now?
His eyes flickered with drops of golden fire. “I was tortured by Skye’s Blood for years before they gave up trying to get much of a rise out of me. I watched everything, though, because that’s my gift. When I see something with my eyes, it becomes a permanent part of my memory. My queen can then access those memories as if they’re her own and play them aloud for others as if they’re a movie. I wanted you to see and play this particular memory with my eyes.”
I nodded, still stroking his cheek. “How do I access this memory?”
“Through the bond. Touch my mind. It’s always open to you, my queen.”
Still touching his face, I sank into his bond. His gryphon’s feathers enfolded me, a deep rumbling whirr rising from his chest. I’d often touched my Blood’s memories, but I’d never tried to play them aloud before. I wasn’t sure how that would even work. It wasn’t like he had a play button inside his head.
His life stretched out before me like a wide, slow-moving river. Deceptively calm and still, inviting me to jump in even though I could feel brutal undercurrents just beneath the surface. I brushed lightly across that smooth surface. Images flickered through my head. Faces I recognized, that squeezed and crumbled my heart into dust.
Esetta. My mother. Her face was perfectly clear in his memory. I paused, drinking in the deep, endless darkness of her eyes.
:Don’t watch that one yet, my queen,:Llewellyn whispered in our bond. :Let it be just for you and I, and your alpha, if you wish. But not here.:
Reluctantly, I let that image sink back into the river flowing through him.
:This one, my queen.:He filled my mind with an image of Keisha sitting on her throne.:Drag it up and out of me so they can all see it.:
I touched that memory and it rose up out of the river eagerly. I didn’t have to tug or wrestle, and I suddenly heard voices echoing above our heads. I opened my eyes and gasped. Llewellyn’s head was tipped back, his eyes strained wide. Red-gold rays burned from his eyes, almost too bright for me to look at. I followed them upward to an image reflected on the ceiling. He was the camera, his eyes the lens, tracking two people whispering in the corner. The room was dark. I could feel his intensity radiating in the image. He didn’t breathe or move but focused silently on the two women talking.
Their whispers clicked louder, as if he’d turned the volume up. He blinked, and the image sharpened, as if he’d zoomed in. I recognized Alessandra, speaking to another woman I didn’t know.
“When does she want us to act?” The other woman asked.
