Page 24 of Queen Takes Knights
Safe—or as safe as I’d ever been in my life.
I stepped inside, waiting to feel… something. Maybe the underlying tension I’d never been able to shake since I’d gone on the run would ease. Maybe I’d feel peace, real peace. But no, I was still fully aware of the monsters outside. The salt and iron would certainly deter them, but nothing would keep them out for long.
:Nothing but us, my queen.”Alrik said in my head.“This isn’t your nest. It wasn’t even Selena’s nest. Just as safe as she could make it without power.:
Which meant without blood. I understood that much now.
I led them into the front sitting room and pulled the curtains open so that sunlight would come in through the large window. An original four-sided fireplace dominated the heart of the home, lending heat to the sitting room, dining room, kitchen, and office on the main floor. To my knowledge, it still worked, though I don’t remember Mom ever using it. The same furniture faced the hearth: two wingback chairs at one end, with two leather loveseats on either side. I don’t know why Mom felt the need for so many seats—I couldn’t remember ever having guests. But maybe she’d remembered having many Blood and guests in her nest, wherever that had been.
:London,:Daire sent me through our bond.
That made sense. She’d told me several stories about life in London, though she’d never sounded nostalgic.
The wingback chairs looked more throne-like, which was maybe why I instinctively avoided them and went to the leather sofa. Of course that also allowed my men to sit on either side of me. Daire set the covered box down on the coffee table and Ms. Talbott stood beside it, her hands clasped in front of her.
“The night of your mother’s death, she called my office and left a message for me,” she began. “Unfortunately, she didn’t call my direct number. To this day, I don’t know why. She had it. She could have called me for assistance at any time of the day or night, same as you. By leaving the message on the office line, my arrival was delayed until 8:15 AM the next day, and you were already gone. I immediately contacted the authorities to report your absence and your mother’s murder, which the police decided had been done by a pack of wild dogs. I didn’t try to conceal her death in anyway, so as to give the police urgency, and they did search for you for months. But you must have been long gone before I managed to get word to the authorities.”
“I left at dawn,” I answered softly, not wanting to remember that terror. I’d never been alone before and my mother had just been slaughtered. “I walked down the street to the bus stop at the park. I’d seen people getting off and on it for years. I asked the driver to take me as far away from home as he could and then he dropped me off at the Greyhound ticket office. I didn’t know where to go, I just knew I needed to get away as fast as possible. So I took the next bus out of state. It just happened to be headed to Memphis.”
“Why didn’t you stay in the house, wait for help?”
My stomach churned. Alrik pressed tighter to my side and dropped his arm over my shoulders, hugging me closer. “The one who killed Mom knew I was watching. He came as close to the house as he could, even reached through the fence toward me, and he said he’d be back. He’d wait every night until I came to him. I’d never be free of him.”
“I’ll fucking cut the bastard’s head off as soon as he dares come within a mile of you,” Daire retorted. His voice vibrated with the deeper growl of his warcat.
“So I ran,” I whispered, reaching out to squeeze Daire’s hand and keep him beside me. The thought of losing him made my stomach heave. I’d seen that monster kill the two most important people in my life and survived… but I didn’t think I’d survive either his or Alrik’s death.
:Nothing will take us from you.:Daire prowled in my mind, sinuous fur winding through me. :Not even death.:
“What did you do for money?” Ms. Talbott asked, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
“Mom had a stash of coins and money in a lock box under her bed. I used that until I could get a job.”
She shuddered delicately as if she’d bitten into something nasty. “Goddess. That was never supposed to happen. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? I’m sure your Blood have explained some of our ways, but I’ll assume you know nothing, and always, please, I beg you, ask. I am fully at your service.”
Daire made a rude noise of aggravation that made her smile. “Not that kind of service. I’m not enough Aima to serve in that capacity, but closer to you than a full human. My grandmother once tracked back twenty generations and found where her mother left her queen’s nest and married a commoner. As they had children, and grandchildren, the Aima blood thinned, though enough remains in my family today that I’m able to serve as consiliarius to Isador, as my mother and her grandmother before. Though I doubt I’ll live quite as long as Grandmama, who served as consiliarius up to her one-hundredth birthday and lived over a decade longer telling my mother everything she was doing wrong.”
She smiled, pausing a moment. “As consiliarius, I’m your counsel in all things legal, whether human or Aima courts. I know the world’s laws, and I know Triune law. I’ve studied them all my life, though I haven’t personally met any of the high queens.”
“Few have,” Alrik added, “At least outside their own Blood and consiliari.”
“Who or what is the Triune?” I asked.
“The Triune is composed of the highest and most powerful queens who can track their bloodlines directly back to the great goddesses. We used to have a Triune of Triune—three seats on three courts—but over the centuries we’ve lost too many royals houses to keep all nine seats open. Generally, when we refer to Triune, we mean any of the high queens, unless they specify one court or the other. The eldest is Marne Ceresa and legend says even she doesn’t remember how old she is any longer, but we conservatively acknowledge that she’s at least one thousand years old. Queens generally become more powerful as they age, so the eldest queens currently hold the Triune seats.”
“So I probably won’t ever see one of these Triune queens?”
She grimaced and shrugged her shoulders. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, Your Majesty. If a Triune summons any other Aima, queen or not, they go. At once. The last few centuries, Aima power has waned. Greatly. Queens have been lost, like you, disappearing into the masses of humanity. We lost the third court entirely, and now the Aima Triune is down to only two seats. The queens that remain fight viciously for that third seat, and though you’re extremely young, you’re also extremely powerful. You will be viewed as a direct threat for that third seat.”
“I hate politics! The last thing I’d want to do is fight for a seat on the Triune. Besides, Dad was human. Surely they wouldn’t want a half-human queen on the Triune.”
Alrik squeezed my shoulders, but Daire’s eyes were bright, his warcat eager to jump into the fray. Evidently he thought fighting for a seat on the Triune would be great fun.
“You may not have a choice,” she continued, her face solemn. “It doesn’t matter what you say, but only what the other queens believe. Isis is one of the greatest goddesses and her gifts are fearsome indeed. You will have few friends on the mid-tier courts, I’m afraid.”
“Which is why we need to establish her nest,” Alrik said. “And we need more Blood. We have to stake her claim and keep her safe from anyone who thinks they can eliminate the upstart American queen with an eye on the Triune.”
“I can definitely help you with securing a nest, whether you want to remain here or not,” Ms. Talbott said. “I agree your nest is our first priority, but I can also counsel you on all things political and strategical. You may, of course, replace me with any counsel of your own choosing at any time. Tradition has kept Talbotts serving Isador for many generations, but we serve at the queen’s discretion.”
