Page 8 of Queen Takes Checkmate
“Can you watch this cell and alert me if anyone tries to enter or leave the room?”
She nodded and squeaked again, a complicated response in rat speak that I couldn’t follow. I listened to the dark power, trying to gain a sense of what she said, but all it told me was her intent. She wanted to serve me. Her excitement flavored the power like a punch of spice despite her diminutive size. She looked at me, her nose twitching, and I felt a sense of waiting from her. Hope. Expectation.
Of course. She wanted some kind of payment, or at least an exchange. The raven had wanted a strand of my hair. I wasn’t sure what offering the rat would want, but I figured my blood was the universal currency. She would gain power from my blood, and it would give her a bond to me. Though I couldn’t see myself tasting her blood so I could understand what she was saying.
I held my index finger out to her. She shivered, her whiskers working rapidly. Her eyes closed, and I was afraid I’d made a mistake. Perhaps I’d insulted her with an offer of blood. Rats weren’t vampiric in nature.
But then she grasped my finger in her little paws and rubbed her face against the tip of my finger. Relieved I hadn’t insulted her, I stroked the top of her head with my finger.
She turned her head slightly and bit the tip of my finger. She had sharp little teeth that had no problems puncturing my skin. She lapped delicately at the wound and then released me. I stroked my fingers down her back, enjoying the softness of her fur. “Thank you for helping me.”
She squeaked and scurried back up to the vent, taking up position in the darkness there.
As we walked back down the hallway toward the elevator, Mehen snagged my hand and scowled at my injured finger. It was only a little bite and I didn’t think we could carry infections, at least not like humans.
He finally grunted. “I almost regret eating so many of her kind.” Then he swiped his tongue over the wound and took the tip of my finger into his mouth so he could suck. Thoroughly.
I didn’t try to hold back the low moan of approval that made his eyes glint like faceted emeralds.
“I had to make sure the wound was clean.”
“Yeah, sure,” Rik growled without any real heat. “I think you were just thirsting for some rat spit.”
For once, Mehen actually laughed. “I’d drink rat piss if my queen’s blood was mixed into it.”
I shuddered at the thought, but the rest of my Blood said, “Agreed.”
3
Shara
When the elevator doors opened, Gina stood waiting for me with a no-nonsense look that told me we wouldn’t be leaving Skye Tower for the evening anytime soon.
“We have a situation.”
Sighing, I nodded but didn’t ask Rik to put me down. If I had to do some queen-level shit, I was going to conserve my energy as much as possible.
“Rosalind Valois has reached out to me and indicated that she will take over House Skye since she was Keisha’s sib.”
“Like hell she will.”
“She could take the issue to the Triune, though I think that was a bluff on her part. Her sib relationship with Keisha was weakly defined, to my understanding, at least. They both put forward the claim that the other queen was subordinate, but naturally, that’s impossible in a true sib relationship.”
My lips quirked as a thought came to me. “Tell her if she’d like to push the sib relationship, she’s welcome to come to House Isador and accept me as her queen. I’d be thrilled to make her my sib in Keisha’s place, since she’s no longer with us.”
Gina laughed. “Now that will be a pleasure to tell her. We do want to be sure and put forward a strong, united front. That means you need a fairly strong sib established here as quickly as possible to hold the territory for you.”
“Do you have a few candidates?”
She nodded. “I’ve interviewed all the queen sibs that remained after Keisha’s demise. Most are fairly weak as far as I can tell, though you’ll be a much better judge of their strength. There are a few that have the power and stature that I’d like you to meet and evaluate yourself.”
“Will I be able to tell how strong they are? Even before I take their blood?”
Gina nodded. “It takes a little experience, but for me, it’s like a weight in the air. A weak queen is like a grain of sand. Annoying, and it might sting a little if the wind blows hard enough, but ultimately, not dangerous. Others are more like pebbles or slightly larger stones. Truly strong queens can make it difficult to breathe if they wish. It’s like they clog the air with their power, making it unbreathable for mortals.”
“I don’t do that, do I?”
She smiled and patted my arm. “Not deliberately.”
