Page 2 of Queen Takes Checkmate
I’d fed on her. I’d drank her blood. Was that corruption inside me now? I’d been so careful to burn Tanza’s tainted blood out of Rik and Ezra, but I’d never thought to check myself. My heart pounded so hard I swayed, my vision swimming.
Rik closed his hands around my upper arms and squeezed, breaking through some of my panic. His bond surged through me like a giant searchlight, shining on every nook and cranny inside me.
“There’s nothing.” He dragged me up in his arms. “You’re fine. She didn’t contaminate you.”
“Are you sure?”
I hated the quiver in my voice, the tears on my cheeks, and the burn of acid in my stomach. I hated being afraid.
“I’m sure. Whatever’s wrong with her isn’t inside of you.”
I breathed deeply, dragging his scent into my body to help ease my panic. Hot rock and smoke, a tang of iron and steel. His rock troll hovered just beneath his skin, ready to surge out and defend me to the death.
I turned my head, keeping my cheek on his chest, and looked at the body again. “Do all Aima decay so quickly?”
Guillaume squatted down beside the body, completely unaffected by the smell or creepy crawlies. “Thralls can decay like this while they’re still alive, but I’ve never seen an Aima do this before, let alone a queen.”
Mehen let out a disgusted hiss and averted his nose. “I’ve seen this fucking shit before. That’s not demonic taint. That’s what Ra’s touch does to an Aima queen once he’s got hooks in her.”
She had gone to Ra to try and sire a child with a god, the same as my mother. But how could the god of light make her rot like this?
“It’s a perversion of the old vampire myths,” Mehen said. “If she’d died in sunlight, she would have burst into flame and disintegrated into dust and ash, but there’s no sunlight down here. I can shift and blast her with fire, if you like, my queen.”
“No, thank you, Mehen. I’ll take care of it.”
Rik’s chest rumbled against my ear. “There’s no need for you to get closer to her or do this yourself. We live to serve in any way possible, and there is no restitution or punishment you need to put yourself through. You saved me. You saved us all.”
I forced my feet to start moving toward the body. No, toward Guillaume. I focused wholly on my Templar knight as Rik moved with me so smoothly that I didn’t even have to move my head. I held my hand out to Guillaume and the flash of silver told me he’d cut me. I didn’t feel the pain of his knife. “I killed her. I should make sure she’s taken care of.”
He must have made a fairly large cut, because it didn’t take long for me to bleed the full length of her body. I made myself watch as I coated her in blood. Blue-black beetles moved beneath her skin, devouring her from the inside out. I swallowed hard. “Are these scarab beetles?”
“Looks like it,” Guillaume agreed. “Knowing your heritage, and his, it makes sense.”
“Can they report back to him in some way? Or infiltrate the rest of the nest?”
They looked at each other and shrugged. “I’m sorry, my queen, but anything is possible,” Rik finally said. “Keisha was able to use ants before. Maybe these beetles carry the same magic. Maybe that was Ra’s power all along.”
Fuck. I needed to be sure that I blasted them all to be safe. The last thing I wanted was a beetle horde spying on us.
I bled on Keisha’s body until my tongue felt like a wad of cotton and my knees wavered. Even if I thoroughly destroyed her and these beetles, I didn’t know if I’d ever feel safe enough in this building to sleep. Though sleep sounded heavenly right now. I must be near the end of my reserves. I didn’t want to wipe myself out for weeks again.
Something Mehen said earlier tickled in the back of my mind. “There’s no sunlight down here.”
Guillaume’s brow creased with concern, and Rik picked me up in his arms, cradling me carefully in his arms. “Enough, my queen. You have to rest.”
“No, not yet. This is important.”
He paused mid-turn to the elevator. “Do what you must, my queen, but then I’m taking you back to the Isador house.”
“It’s dark, here. Complete darkness. My mother said I should always work my greatest magic in complete darkness. Can someone turn out the lights, please?”
I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, relaxing fully into his arms. My alpha had me. My Blood were here. My loved ones were safe and close. There wasn’t anything in the darkness that could hurt me.
I’d rarely ever gone outside at night. It wasn’t safe with the thralls constantly hunting me. My bedroom at home in Kansas City had been pitch dark like this, because I couldn’t sleep in a room with windows. Glass wasn’t enough to keep the monsters out.
I let my mind drift for a moment, resting in that darkness. Ra couldn’t touch me. He had no power here.
This power is yours.
