Page 69 of Queen Takes Checkmate
Huitzilopochtli threw his head back and roared again, this time a name that I recognized. “Citla!”
:Oh, Shara,:Mayte cried in our bond.:He’s still looking for my mother.:
27
Tlacel
In the five hundred years and more of my life, I’d never thought that my affinity for the ancient language of Mexica would be of use to anyone. Yet here I sat between my queen and the god of Tenochtitlan, acting as interpreter.
Something even my mighty older twin could not do.
I’d grown up used to being second place. It wasn’t Itztli’s fault that he’d been born first. In fact, I was incredibly lucky that Grandmama had decided to ignore the old ways and allowed me to live. It wasn’t uncommon in those days to kill the weaker twin, and I had never been as powerful as Itztli. Given our heritage and how we were conceived, it was a miracle that either of us had been able to hold on to our sanity long enough to find a queen.
Shara had moved us all back upstairs to a private room. She’d offered food and drink to the ancient god, but he’d refused everything, other than a blanket that he’d casually wrapped around his hips.
“What happened to you?” She asked the man who’d once been the most important god of Tenochtitlan.
Huitzilopochtli didn’t look at me as I repeated the words for him. He couldn’t look away from our queen. Not that I blamed him in the slightest. “After the fall of Tenochtitlan, I slumbered off and on for centuries. I hoped that Mexica would rise once more, but as the years passed, I realized we were doomed. We would never again build our temples. Our ways were lost, corrupted, and destroyed, our temples torn apart to build the Spaniards’ churches. Mexica was no more.
“But then another god began to whisper to me. He promised to bring us back to our full glory. He promised golden temples would bear my name once more. Sacrifices would be offered to strengthen me again. Our cities would rise on the earth and we would destroy any who stood in our way. All I had to do was eliminate the last few witches that lived in my ancient country.”
Pausing, he tipped his head to the side, looking at Shara. “Queens. Like you.”
“So Ra woke you and asked you to kill the last few queens in Mexico?”
I repeated Shara’s words and Huitzilopochtli grunted acknowledgement. “There were so few left. I thought it would be easy. But then I found Citla Zaniyah and she conquered me with her gentle spirit. I felt great pain inside her. A great darkness. She’d endured much, but she still carried a sweetness in her that called to my hummingbird. I watched her from afar, and then I sang to her as a bird. She heard me. She answered me. I knew, then, that she was mine.”
He stared off into the distance, a pained smile on his face. “I took her from her family for a time. It was only days on this earth, but in Aztlan, it was a lifetime. She told me about the evil she’d endured in House Tocatl. I sensed the other sun god’s touch in that foul deed. He would revel in such a thing. He wanted all the queens dead, yes, but he wanted them to suffer, too. He would have laughed with glee at the thought of a young, powerful, beautiful queen being ruined by men who were supposed to protect and nurture her power.”
He focused on Shara, his face hardening. “I couldn’t bear that I had participated in the spread of his evil. I had not tortured young queens, but I had caused others to die. I knew that if he could find my love, he would destroy her. So I took her back to her home and set out to correct my misdeeds.”
Shara leaned back against Rik in her normal seat, though our alpha vibrated with urgency. If Huitzilopochtli so much as moved an eyelash in a way that Rik didn’t approve, he’d have her up in his arms. The last Templar knight casually stood behind Huitzilopochtli’s chair. He didn’t have to have the sword unsheathed to make his threat known. A whisper from our alpha, and the former god would be dead.
“I was the sun. I was invincible. I took Xiuhcoatl in my left hand and went to defeat the Egyptian Lord of Sun with all the love burning in my heart. Only to be batted down like an annoying insect. He is so strong. I’ve never seen his like. Even at the height of my glory in Tenochtitlan, I don’t think I could have defeated him.”
“I told you,” Vivian muttered beneath her breath.
Shara ignored her. “What did he do to you?”
Huitzilopochtli stared back at her, his gaze unwavering. “He hung me up by my ankles, slit my throat, drained every drop of my blood from my body, and drank it while lounging on a throne made of gold, while his priests cut my belly open and took my organs, including my heart. I was aware the entire time, though I couldn’t move or defend myself. He wears my heart with others around his neck. As long as he has my heart, I cannot return to Aztlan.”
Huitzilopochtli jerked his head to me, his eerie golden eyes blazing with conviction. “You. Tell her. She cannot defeat him. She cannot face him. Because what he did to me will be nothing compared to the horrors he will do to her.”
Shara
Tlacel threw himself against my knees and buried his face against my chest. “Please, my queen. He says you cannot go. There’s no way you can defeat him.”
I stroked his straining shoulders, but I didn’t say anything to soothe his fears. I couldn’t. I was scared shitless too.
But what choice did I have?
“Do you have any powers remaining?” I asked Huitzilopochtli.
Tlacel translated my words in their language, his words muffled against me.
The former god closed his eyes, as if he was looking inwardly. A hummingbird appeared on his shoulder. Grimacing, he opened his eyes and shook his head. “Without Xiuhcoatl, my fire serpent, this is the most I can do. Other than indulge my immense thirst for blood, which may increase my power somewhat.”
Mehen snorted. “Sounds familiar.”
