Page 76 of Queen Takes Checkmate
Shara
Something was burning. It took me an embarrassing long time to realize it was me.
I was sure that I screamed, though I couldn’t hear anything. The pain was too great. Light burned into me, charring everything it touched. Nothing would ever blot out that light. It was too bright. Too hot.
I tried to flee. I tried to reach for help. Someone. If I could reach him—
Cool, dark Shadow enfolded me, and I sighed with relief. Emptiness. That was a good thing, though I couldn’t remember why.
“I told you. No bonds.”
I recognized that voice but I couldn’t place it immediately. The light dimmed slightly, enough that the pain went to from excruciating death to merely sharp agony.
“Where did you find her?”
I didn’t know that male voice. I tried to remember what I’d been doing. Where was I? Where was…
My Blood.
The cool Shadow whispered back to me.
Shara fucking Isador.
“She was stupid enough to resurrect me after you gave me to the Skye witch.”
Huitzilopochtli. So that other voice had to be… Ra.
But it didn’t sound magnificent and awe-inspiring, let alone terrifying.
He didn’t sound like a god.
“No bonds, hmm? Then what’s this?”
A body thumped down beside me. But I couldn’t see. A body? Goddess help me. If one of my Blood were dead…
“Pardon, High Lord. We found him outside the wall trying to worm inside. He surrendered peacefully enough.”
Who was it? I fought down the sobs. I couldn’t react. I couldn’t betray myself. I couldn’t have bonds or Ra would blast them out of me.
I needed my bonds to remain deep in the Shadow. Until it was time.
The light faded another notch and I blinked furiously, trying to get my eyes to work. They should be watery, teary, right? After that brightness? But every movement hurt, as if I was ripping my eyeball apart. I smelled blood, and realized it was my own. I bled from my eyes. I tasted blood in my mouth. I swallowed it, willing that small amount of blood to heal my eyes.
I had to see which Blood they’d captured.
First, I took in the three men standing over me. High above me, so I was on the ground. Huitzilopochtli was almost unrecognizable. My blood had pumped him up to rival my alpha’s rock troll. His dark skin was painted blue again, his eyes flashing like twin suns in a brilliant sky. Green and blue feathers rose from his ponytail in a high crest, and he wore a leopard skin around his waist. Definitely not what he’d been wearing on the other side of the portal.
The man beside him was dressed like a high official in a pristine white linen sheath complete with collar, but no crown. A recently-healed scar cut across his eye. The other man was dressed very similarly but his sheath was shorter, and he wore more gold. His eyelids were painted blue with dark kohl outlining them into a bold point, giving him a sinister look.
The first was bald, the second was not, but he wore a crown.
Something told me it wasn’t Ra, though. The crown wasn’t dramatic enough. Surely the Lord of Sun would bedazzle with his clothes.
But who’d hurt me with the light? Did his priests have the same power?
I closed my eyes a moment, even though the simple movement felt like razor blades slipping into my skull. I sank deep within myself, centered in Shadow. Whoever it was, I couldn’t react. They couldn’t know he was my Blood.
Or all would be lost.
