Page 89 of Queen Takes Checkmate
I lost track of his declaration. We all knew he was guilty. We knew he deserved eternal damnation.
But the one to deliver that justice… was Ammit, the Devourer.
Me.
In my mind, I saw the legacy box open once more with the four jars inside. As soon as I focused on the one with the conical top that looked like a crocodile snout, the jar tipped over with a clink, and the lid fell off.
My heart pounded, waiting for the gift to swell inside me.
“I am pure,” Ra said.
Something rumbled deep inside me. Claws clacked across my ribcage. Scales slithered up my spine.
“I am pure! I am pure! I am—”
Fury welled inside me. This man, this god, had been a creator. He was supposed to represent hope and light, the promise of a new day and new beginning. Instead, he had destroyed entire houses of our goddesses’ children. He had raped and tortured countless women. He had tortured his own children. He had corrupted the lives of humans and destroyed the natural balance of the world. He corrupted everything he touched. He spread hate and vileness throughout the world.
I opened my mouth to tell him to shut the fuck up, but a roar came out instead of words.
“Please,” he whispered. Perfect crystal tears glistened on his cheeks.
Even that pissed me off. He wasn’t allowed to fucking cry. He couldn’t possibly be sincere. He only cared that it was time to pay for all the horrible things he’d done. He’d wallowed in pain and suffering for countless millennia. Did he honestly think a few tears were enough to wipe away those sins?
“I only wanted her to love me.”
Of fucking course. Rage pounded in me. So many lives destroyed. Magic wiped from the face of the earth forever. Because this man’s ego was bruised when a woman he fancied chose another man over him.
I shot forward and hit the scale with my snout, knocking his frantically pounding heart up into the air. It was a fucking pleasure to chomp on that foul meat and swallow it whole.
Wailing, Ra began to puddle in his gold, losing his form.
Ezra huffed with disgust. :If I ever see another fucking gold leafed anything, I’m going to puke. At least our queen is smart enough to only eat the heart, huh, dragon?:
Leviathan huffed a plume of noxious smoke over us that made my crocodile eyes water. :I hope he doesn’t give her indigestion.:
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to feel relief. I’d done it. Ra was dead. Xochitl was safe.
But one of my loved ones still had to die.
I turned my head and Ra’s golden monstrosity of a throne was replaced with a jade throne. Two serpents rose above the goddess’s head, facing each other with their fangs bared. Two jaguars, one black and one golden, sat on either side of Her feet.
Coatlicue. Mother of the Gods.
My heart thudded heavily, aching as if the Great Pyramid had suddenly collapsed on top of me.
I stepped closer to the waiting goddess, not surprised that I’d shifted back to my human form. Diaphanous linen flowed around my legs and my head felt heavy. I reached up and felt Isis’ crown on my head, the sweeping horns holding the red sun disc. Good. I would need all the help and authority I could get.
The whispering witnesses were gone. My Blood gathered around me as they shifted. Their hands touching me, assuring me that they were all here with me.
One last time.
“Well done, daughter of Isis.” Coatlicue looked the same as I remembered from the dream. Full, heavy breasts. Stomach rounded from carrying many children. Kind, loving eyes, gleaming with sadness and joy both. She wore a living skirt of snakes like the one She’d given to me to use on Ra.
Turning her head, She held out Her hand. “Thank you for returning my most beloved son to me.”
Huitzilopochtli stepped closer to his mother and dropped down on one knee before her. He laid the turquoise spear on the ground in front of him. “Forgive me, Mother, but I’ve lost Xiuhcoatl. He breathes fire no more.”
She laid Her hand on the back of his head. “All that matters is you, my son. Now you may return to Aztlan, where your beloved star awaits.”
