Page 14 of Queen Takes Knights
I took a step toward the pyramid, but Mom suddenly threw her arms around me, squeezing me tightly one more time. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom. I’m so sorry that you died because of me.”
“I’m not. I’ll never be sorry. Hurry. She says there’s little time remaining and She has much to show you.”
Sands shifted beneath my feet as I neared the pyramid. I glanced back one last time, and Mom raised her left hand, her right crossed her her chest. It made me feel like she still held me, even as she said goodbye. I turned back to the steep stone walls of the pyramid, impossibly old and worn. The surface was pitted by centuries of sand and wind, but when I laid my palm against the stone, it didn’t budge. A low hum vibrated through my skin, energy racing up my arm, down my spine. Hairs lifted on my arms and nape. I pulled my hand away, but I still felt that charge pulsing in my body.
The door was narrow and dark, just a hole in the side of the pyramid. I took a deep breath and stepped inside, terrified stone would slide shut and lock me inside forever. A torch gleamed ahead, pulling me through the tight hallway into a chamber. I stopped, holding my breath as I looked around at the brightly colored walls. Everything gleamed, gold and jewels. Luxurious woven rugs of deep royal purple covered the floor. The walls were etched in hieroglyphs, each perfectly clear and strangely legible. I shouldn’t be able to read them… but I knew what those symbols said.
I, Isis, am all that hath been that is or shall be.
Music began to play, drawing my gaze to another door on the opposite wall. She was there, waiting, I knew it. I swallowed hard, trying not to shake as I walked toward the door. Above the archway, I read,Blood of Isis. I had the irrational fear that all of this was a lie, and as soon as I attempted to enter the room, I’d be sucked away in a sandstorm or killed by a giant scorpion for daring to intrude. Yeah, maybe I’d watched too manyMummymovies. I certainly knew not to open and read aloud from any ancient texts I discovered.
A royal purple rug led to a raised dais in the center of the chamber. A woman sat on a golden throne, illuminated by squares of silvered moonlight gleaming down into the pyramid. She wasn’t larger than life, or fearsome to look at. My eyes didn’t catch fire for gazing upon Her. She wore a simple white Egyptian dress, with a heavy golden collar, many tinkling bracelets, and gold and lapis ornaments held Her heavy braids coiled into an intricate pattern on her head. A crown arched above her head like massive golden horns. She held some kind of lyre on her lap and its tinkling sounds drew me closer. I almost felt like a cobra, bespelled by her snakecharmer’s flute.
She could have been any beautiful woman playing in a band or walking past on the street—until She looked up at me.
My stomach pitched like the ground had suddenly fallen away beneath my feet and I was falling into an endless pit. Her dark eyes gleamed with immense power, as if She carried the tidal power of every full moon since time began.
“Daughter of Isador.”
Her voice made my bones ache. My ears rang with a dull roar and I feared I wouldn’t be able to hear a command and She’d kill me on the spot. I shouldn’t have been worried, because when a goddess wants to tell you something, She will be heard.
“They will not be pleased that Isador still walks this earth. They will try to silence you. They will try to kill you, before you can come to full power, and certainly before you can continue my line. I send the finest warriors to you, full of powerful, burning blood. Drink them for protection and power, always keeping them near. Their blood will be a shield until you hone your own weapons and need no shield to protect you.”
“They who?” When I realized I’d spoken aloud, I clamped a hand over my mouth. Eyes wide, I stared at Her, waiting for Her reaction. Would She smite me down for daring to speak in Her presence?
She made a sound, a deep, low rumble that sounded like earth growling and shifting. It took me a moment to realize She was laughing. She lifted her hand and gestured me to come closer.
“Theyare the Old Queens Who Rule, the Triune. They don’t like change, and you, dear child, represent our future on this earth. They will think your birth an abomination, but you have been created by my design. When they realize fully what you are, they will hate and fear you. They will try to control you, and when that fails, they will try to kill you.”
She gestured again with that come-hither lift of Her fingers, Her long nails polished gold and honed to a tip. I sidled closer, not scared, exactly, but wary. The fine hairs on my body rose, my skin tingling with the energy pouring off Her. My skull throbbed with Her power. Up close, She was even more beautiful. Her skin absolutely flawless, glowing with power, gleaming like polished obsidian and diamonds. My eyes burned as if I’d stared too long at the sun, but I couldn’t look away. It hurt to be so close to Her—yet now that I’d seen Her, I never wanted to leave.
She turned her left wrist up and used one of those vicious-looking nails to puncture her skin. Crimson blood welled at the hole—but didn’t spray like mine would have if I’d torn a hole in my vein. The blood didn’t even look real. It was too shiny, glowing like molten lava and rubies.
“Drink, Last Child of Isador. Drink long and deep. You are the last of my line, and thus I give youallmy gifts.”
I’d practically fallen on Daire and Alrik like a starving wolf, but I hesitated to taste Her blood. If their blood had made me feel so incredible, powerful, and beautiful… what would a goddess’s blood do to me?
She pressed her wrist to my mouth and I took a small sip. Afraid to take too much. Afraid to draw that much power into my body. I’d never been powerful. After a lifetime of hiding and running and fighting, I didn’t know what significant power would do to me. I wanted to fight. I wanted to strike down the monsters who’d killed my mother. I’d be glad to kill them.Glad.
Would I start murdering people once the thralls were dead? Would I slaughter humans for sport? I didn’t think I had such evil in me, but I’d never guessed I was a vampire.
A monster.
If I fed that monster…
“So polite.”Her voice a soothing sing-song whisper in my head.“You are female. You are Isador. You’ve always been powerful. Think you that anyone else could have survived alone as long as you have? Take your birthright and use it. The world needs it. The world needs you.”
She folded Her other arm around me, drawing me closer into Her embrace. My skin screamed with the contact, electric shocks racing through my nervous system. I quivered, waiting for an explosion. Or maybe my brain would just shut down, all its fuses blown.
Her blood filled my mouth. But it didn’t taste like copper and hot salty blood. She tasted like liquid moonlight, filtered through a bottomless lake fed by an icy-blue glacier. So cold, I could feel ice crystals on my tongue. I had a moment to feel ice spreading, numbingly cold, sealing my throat. An image flashed through my mind—me, frozen solid, buried in an avalanche. Somehow I still managed to swallow, and her blood changed from ice to sweet honeyed nectar that glowed with all the power of the sun. It melted the ice as quickly as it’d formed, spreading warmth through my body. The heat grew, as if I’d swallowed the sun itself. My insides felt tender and burned, my skin blistered. Tears sizzled on my cheeks. I tried to throw myself away from Her, but She whispered again, holding me close.
“Some of my most wondrous powers come at a steep cost. Will you pay the cost, Daughter of Isador?”
I remembered Dad, bleeding on the street, dying so I could escape. Mom’s throat torn open, the monsters taunting me, trying to draw me out of the saferoom she’d locked me into. They’d paid the ultimate cost for me, so I could be here, now, receiving these gifts. The hell if I’d chicken out and waste their deaths.
I lost count of the swallows, but each one brought new sensation, some so strong that I flinched and gasped against Her. The most surprising was burning lust. Need exploded in me. I pressed harder against Her, rubbing against Her, somehow on Her lap though I had no memory of climbing onto the throne. I had just enough brain cells left to fear that now I’d really gone and offended Her.
