Page 86 of Queen Takes Checkmate
The one howling was Ra.
Neck and shoulders straining, head back, he gripped both arms of his throne and bellowed like I’d cut his dick off. The frosted white of his eyes spread across his cheeks, and his dick felt like a giant icicle in my hand, though the spurt of his seed was hot on my flesh. He came so hard I felt droplets landing in my hair and on my shoulder, burning like acid. I couldn’t imagine taking that come inside me with the hope of bearing a child. It must have felt like icy-hot pokers stirring Keisha’s insides.
Only to fail. Even the God of All Things Light and Day had not been able to give her a daughter. She’d resorted to dark magic, trading a life for a life in the process.
His roar of release turned into a deep, rumbling chuckle. “You waste the gift of life.”
His hand came to my head and he petted me. Almost fondly. Before he seized a handful of my hair and pulled me up on top of him.
I didn’t fight him. Not when I now had him exactly where I wanted him. His skin didn’t even burn me any longer. The molten gold had run off his body, revealing more of his true features. His head was bald, but he had a long prince’s lock at the base of his skull that hung down his back, probably to the floor. He wore a chunky necklace, the chain heavy enough to hold at least a dozen large charms. I fingered one of them, trying to make out what it was. Gold had settled over the carvings, blurring the image, but it looked like a scarab.
A heart scarab. The amulet that was worn over the deceased’s heart to protect it on its journey through the underworld.
One of these probably belonged to each of the sun gods he’d absorbed. Including Huitzilopochtli. I didn’t look up to see what he was doing. I didn’t want Ra to realize he’d moved.
He gripped my chin, a little too firmly, as if he was out of practice. Staring into my eyes, he gave my head a tiny shake. “Tell me. If you’re her true daughter, then you know what I want to hear. What I’ve yearned to hear since the beginning of time.”
I nestled closer to him, pressing my breasts against his chest.
And he took her heart to heart, so her body would know his secret name.
Smiling up at him, I reached up and cupped the back of his head, pulling him down closer to me. As if I would kiss him.
“What makes you think that She could ever love a monster like you?”
His eyes bled back to molten gold. His skin started to sizzle against mine. With a fierce scowl, he gripped my waist so hard it felt like he was bruising internal organs. But he couldn’t dislodge my hand on his neck.
I closed my eyes and whispered,“now.”
The red serpent tore from my flesh and sank fangs into his face, directly over his left eye.
He erupted from the throne to his feet, tossing me aside. Molten gold sprayed from his mouth like a geyser rather than any sound. It poured from him, a flood of liquid sun, dimming his harsh brilliance.
The High Priest screamed, “Witch!”
Something brushed past me, invisible fur, a whisper of death. My ghostly wolf materialized as he tore out the priest’s throat.
Ra still stood, screaming out liquid gold like I’d punctured the sun itself. I needed my power to finish him. All of it.
I touched the Shadow buried inside me and commanded it to dispel. Thousands of wings fluttered through me like rushing winds. My ears roared as my bonds blazed to life inside me.
:Rik!:
36
Rik
Iwaited.
My head braced against hot golden stone. Sun beating down on my head and shoulders. Barely breathing. Waiting.
She would call me. She would.
When it was time.
Not before.
I could endure. I could wait as long as it took. She would be enduring far worse.
