Page 79 of Queen Takes Checkmate
My blood pounded in my veins as mercilessly as the sun. I had to reach her. I had to find her. Before it was too late. Every instinct I possessed told me she was in desperate need of assistance.
Daire and Itztli came trotting back to me. The black dog’s tongue was lolling and Daire’s fur was streaked with sweat. At this rate, we’d all be dead from dehydration and sun poisoning before we even found her.
It was the strangest goddess-damned place. Buildings with no roofs. Was it ever night here? How did people sleep? I knew the answer.
There was no sleep in Heliopolis. No rest. No safety. Unless you were a sun demon or a minion of Ra.
I had to do something, though, before the Blood keeled over. I finally knocked a wall over and propped it up enough to provide a modest amount of shade. We all crammed inside in the blessed shadow. I shifted to make more room for the others, and Daire and Itztli shifted so they could talk.
Not having our bonds was damned inconvenient.
“Soldiers,” Daire panted, dripping with sweat. “Skeletons. They guard the temple avenue.”
“Blood,” Itztli said in between breaths. “Smelled it. Some our queen’s, but mostly Guillaume’s.”
I slammed my fist down on my thigh. “I knew it. Something went wrong. Any sign of Xin or Vivian?”
They both shook their heads.
“How many skeletons?”
“A hundred. At least.”
“What the fuck is this skeleton shit?” Ezra said. “Can’t you just tear them apart?”
“They’re Soldiers of Light,” I told him grimly. “The best soldiers down through the ages who came to Ra’s call. They’re nearly impossible to kill. The last time we faced them, it was three of us to ten, maybe twenty, and we nearly died. Daire took a wound to the chest that would have killed him without Shara, and the rest of us were injured. Even Guillaume, though he held his own way better than me and Daire. She had to shatter the portal to destroy them.”
“Fuck me sideways,” Ezra gasped, shaking his head. “I’m not a fighter. I mean, I’ll hold my own against anything a grizzly would fight. But I don’t know a fucking thing about weapons and warfare. I’ll be fucking useless in hand-to-hand combat.”
I needed to come up with a way to even our odds. Shara depended on me. They all did. I could wade into the battle and let the soldiers break their swords on my rock hide, but eventually, they’d avoid me and go after the rest. They didn’t have the same protection, and I wouldn’t be able to hold off a hundred. Not alone. Even if the dragon could help from the sky…
Vivian popped her head down over the side, startling us. “I have an idea. If you don’t mind a few humans dying, I think I know a way we can get most of the skeletons out of our hair.”
“Fuck humans,” Ezra growled as he climbed out of the troll-made cave. “Let’s go get our queen so she can get us the fuck out of here.”
Shara
“Most impressive,” the man with the golden disk on his chest said. “That’s much better. His Imperial Majesty will enjoy you very much. Do you know your lineage, witch?”
Licking Guillaume’s blood from my lips. I slowly straightened. I refused to cry. I refused to show any weakness, regret, or indecision. I’d been blessed by the Great One Herself so that I might stand here, now, and put an end to Ra’s self-righteous bullshit. I wouldn’t flinch now.
Though it hurt something deep inside me to step over Guillaume’s lifeless body like he meant nothing to me at all.
I drew myself up proudly, shaking my hair back from my face. “First of all, it’s queen, not witch. You may refer to me as Your Majesty, or even Shara Isador, but not witch.”
The bald one gasped, his hand darting up to touch the vivid scar over his left eye. I had a feeling he’d gained that scar when he’d attacked me through the portal in Kansas City.
I gave him a slow, feral smile. “You recognize me. Good. You know my power.”
The other man narrowed a hard, suspicious look on me. “You know this witch?”
“She’s the one who detonated the portal,” the bald man whispered.
Bingo.
His eyes widened. “So it’s true. You are descended from…her.”
“Yes.” I looked around the temple with disdain, as if every golden ornament offended me. Because it was true. I’d never seen a tackier, more self-indulgent display of ridiculous opulence in my entire life.
